POLITEIA – THE WAY TO THE SCHOOL DEMOCRACY (TO HELP THE CZECH REFORM OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES)

The Skeleton Educational Programme – the greatest reform improvement after the year 1989
In 2004 the Czech Ministry of Education confirmed new principles in policy for the education of pupils between 3 and 19 years. This decision radically changed the system of the programme – curriculum documents which are now being created on the following two levels:
- on the government level
- on the school level.
The state level represents the National programme for the development of education (the so-called White Book) and the skeleton educational programmes. The National programme defines the initial education as a whole, and the skeleton programmes define binding the “scopes” for particular stages of education (preschool, basic and secondary education).
The school level represents the educational programmes according to which the education at particular schools is put in to effect.

Under the concept “politeia” Platon understood a kind of civic administration, something that could probably approximate the present democracy. This approximation may also be helped by school if, however, perceived in this way (e.g. in the theory of social constructivism). The project “Politeia – the roots of European democracy”, which is put into practice by the civic association Gemini, was developed in harmony with this idea. The association collaborates, besides others, with basic schools and with the Department of School and Social Pedagogy of the Pedagogical Faculty of Charles University of Prague. This association focuses its attention especially on the support of democratization of the school climate and on the implementation of the topic across subjects of the skeleton educational programmes for basic schools “The education of a democratic citizen”.