The transformation of the educational system in Slovakia after 1989 on the example of primary education and primary teacher education

In the paper, the framework, the process, the impediments and the perspectivesof the transformation of the Slovak educational system after 1989 are discussed.Individual phases of the transformation process and their characteristics andcontradictions are analysed. The example of the primary level of education is used toillustrate the contradictions and lack of planning inherent in the changes on the levelof educational policy in comparison with the microlevel of schools and teachers. Theanalysis of the current state points to serious limitations to profound systematic changesin teacher education courses.