MRAVNÁ VÝCHOVA V ŠKOLÁCH NA SLOVENSKU A V ZAHRANI ČÍ

models in individual categories of European regions, where the regions of Scandinavia, western
Europe and partially some countries of south-western, southern and central Europe show particularly
progressive connotations. (KORIM, V.: 2008, s. 10 et seq.)
Concerning this there has been some progress made in Slovakia. Modern tendencies in formation of
ethical education teachers´ personalities are positively reflected in the educational process. During
their educational activities teachers perform series of practical exercises that are connected with group
reflection and individual self-reflection in such basic areas like communication, empathy,
assertiveness, positive self-assessment and assessment of others, pro-social behaviour and its forms in
particular situations and the like. Under the influence of emphasizing new educational procedures plus
foreign literature, teachers adopted to a large degree mainly the methods of active learning and
learning through experience, playing of roles or methods of drama. While, for example, until 1993
there were 300 qualified teachers out of 7000 ethical education teachers, in the next 5 years
methodological centres in Slovakia prepared more than 4000 teachers and nowadays the number has
risen to more than 5500 teachers. (VALICA, M.: 2007, s. 27)
In spite of these positive figures, it is still being criticised that according to the Ministry of Education
guidelines of May 2004, ethical education on the 1 st grade of primary schools should be taught by
teachers who by September 1, 2004 will have only attended a one-day course and later gradually by
September 1, 2007 they will have attended continuous courses on ethical education in the extent of 80
hours. At the same time, the qualification requirements of religion teachers were standardized, i.e.
stricter. The fact that there were no ethical education course books, although the Ministry provided for
the distribution of religion course books for the 1 st grade of primary schools in 2004/2005, was also a
demonstration of depreciation of ethical education. What is more, according to the Institute of
Information and Prognosis of Education, teachers with majors religion – ethical education dominated
the structure of qualified ethical education and religion teachers at primary schools in 2001 and 2005.
Thus religion teachers who teach also ethical education can find the alternative teaching of ethical
education in contrast with their beliefs.
The personal level of educational process is not sufficiently developed in current documents or actual
school practice and yet the outcome of the personalisation should be a mature complex personality of
the educated with a developed sense of self-recognition, its own teleological orientation (aims, plans),
pronounced opinions and certain knowledge and skills in order to be able to act in real life in terms of
its opinions, aims and knowledge. That is the reason why the issues of personalisation development
should be involved in the contents and time continuity to the same extent as the pro-social education.
Over-enthusiastic pro-sociality can be in certain life situations demonstrated as unjustified loyalty to
deficits and faults of sociality, social politics and even to misunderstanding of the whole social area of
the society.
Our preliminary findings based on leading experts´ statements refer to the absence of several basic
educational means in the ethical education concept, such as self-regulation (regulation of person´s self
and behaviour), self-control, self-direction, which is closely connected with inner as well as outer
discipline. According to professor Miron Zelina, there is lack of psychosocial training that could be
applied to topics, such as family, environment, marriage, parenthood etc. In his opinion, we should
refer to Kohlberg and other authors who determined the moral development hierarchy. He emphasizes
the self-regulation of the educated that must be based on knowledge, discipline, demands and
motivation. The trainings on lessons should focus on the self-regulation in critical situations. Ethical
education should not adopt the character of another “school subject” but it must be an experiencebased
subject. However, this experience should not only be reduced to fun or unproductive games.
Impersonal and unsubjective attitudes to pupils and their understanding only as objects of education
are contra productive and should not be a part of ethical education.
We are aware of the fact that these critical notes belong due to their character not only to the personal
but partially also to the institutional level of education. More defects and mistakes have their roots in
traditional problems of Slovak education system. However, some are created by and originate in
insufficient general knowledge, and sometimes even unwillingness to be inspired by the European
dimension of education, especially by countries that have a leading role in theory and practice of
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