Abstract

Aims: The aim of the case study on educational policy is to add to the knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of the career system for teaching staff in the year 2017 in the broader context of the approach of the educational policy after the year 1989. The presented case demonstrates strong and weak points of the educational policy that had been implemented in the course of the past years.

Methods: To answer the main research questions – (1) What was the main cause of the non-acceptance of the career system in the year 2017? (2) What was the role of the key participants in the process of non/acceptance? – qualitative research methods were used, particularly: the analysis of the documents from the negotiations of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Czech Republic, analysis of mass media, and semi-structured interviews with the key participants who approved and disapproved of the career system.

Results: What is described are the processes of communication and interaction of the key participants of the educational policy and the impact of the new subject (Pedagogical Chamber), which, in the situation of fragmentation of the professional community into many associations, interest and influential groups are becoming a loud, organized voice that is representing populistic attitudes of the teaching public. Furthermore, there is analysis of: the in/ability of the ministry to communicate with the representatives of the educational practices and with “opinion markers”, the degree of politicization in decision making, the factual knowledge and understanding of politicians towards specialised queries, the impact of professionals and expert opinions in political decisions about specialised queries of school management, and the impact of social networks in influencing public opinion etc.

Result discussion and conclusions: What is reflected is the phenomenon of the “crisis of expertise” (Nichols, 2017) – the trend of ignoring expert knowledge and research-documented data, the dialogue between experts and the broader public is disappearing, the strengthening of a certain form of political correctness, where all the opinions are regarded as equally valuable, every opinion must be heard etc. Part of this trend in public decision-making is the rise of an “aggressive ignorance” that is understood as adhering to one’s own opinion even when facing contradicting facts. Aggressive ignorance is strengthened by social networks. The research opens a variety of questions such as factual, methodological and even ethical questions. The study outlines the opportunities and risks of Czech educational policy in the context of different activities that are affecting de/professionalization of the teaching profession in the Czech Republic.