6 December – a holiday for education
Ljubljana, 6 December 2024 – 250 years ago, on 6 December 1774, Empress Maria Theresa signed and issued the General School Ordinance. This was the first state law on primary education to apply in the major part of the territory of today’s Slovenia. Today, a quarter of a millennium later, the Slovenian School Museum commemorated this event by presenting the first translation of the General School Ordinance into modern Slovenian.
The year 2024 marks a quarter of a millennium since the publication of the “General School Ordinance for all German primary schools in all imperial and royal hereditary lands” (Allgemeine Schulordnung für die deutschen Normal-, Haupt- und Trivialschulen in sämmtlichen Kaiserl. Königl. Erbländer). Published in 1774, it was the first state law on primary education to apply in the main part of the territory of today’s Slovenia. In line with its scope and purpose, it can be defined in modern language as a school code.
The authorities, led by Maria Theresa (reign: 1740-1780) and her son Joseph II (reign: 1780-1790), began to establish a centrally managed state education system in the Austrian part of the Habsburg Empire. It officially included all social classes and children of both sexes from the age of six to twelve, and marked the beginning of the process of making education compulsory and widely accessible. The creation of the school code was significantly influenced by Enlightenment thought, which emphasised the role of human reason and the expansion of education to increase the efficiency and wealth of the state. The Ordinance influenced the printing of school manuals and other books in regional or vernacular languages, thus contributing to the development of expressive capacities and to the greater public recognition of the Slovenian language.
Despite its imperfect implementation, the School Ordinance of 1774 brought about profound and lasting changes in the field of education in Central Europe. Above all, it established a public space in which the state became permanently present among all levels of the population. It also contributed to the consolidation of certain principles that are still valid in social life today: education as a state concern, the awareness of the need for all children to have access to the core body of knowledge, the importance of group teaching, and the consideration of the moral formation of pupils.
250 years since the promulgation of the General School Ordinance
A quarter of a millennium later, the Slovenian School Museum commemorated this groundbreaking moment. On 6 December 2024, we held the closing event in this year’s series of celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the General School Ordinance.
Initially, Mag Stane Okoliš, the director of the Slovenian School Museum, addressed everyone present. Curator Dr. 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐥 presented the significance of the General School Ordinance and the museum’s anniversary events in the current year, and D𝐫. 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐫 from the Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovenian Language, ZRC SAZU, shed light on the linguistic features of the General School Ordinance. She emphasised: “For Slovenian linguistic history, the General School Ordinance is important as an example of an early and long printed official Slovenian text; it is one of the first pieces of evidence for the functional segmentation of the Slovenian language, i.e. writing in technical language and the formation of the oldest Slovenian pedagogical terminology.”
2024 saw the first translation of the General School Ordinance into modern Slovenian. The process of translation and the related reflections were summarised by Dr. Matic Batič from the Study Centre for National Reconciliation.
Anton Arko, the editor of the School Chronicle of the Slovenian School Museum, presented a thematic issue of the School Chronicle journal with contributions from the scientific symposium on the 250th anniversary of Maria Theresa’s General School Ordinance. the translation of the General School Ordinance into modern Slovene is also included in the School Chronicle.
The curator Mag. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐣𝐞𝐭𝐤𝐚 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐜 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐜 gave a reflection on Maria Theresa’s school reform in the context of the permanent exhibition and presented this year’s publications.
The event was hosted by Andreja Cigale, with a musical interlude provided by Mr. Gregor Gartner.
Foto: Andrej Peunik