State, Value Systems and Education

The central activity of this initiative is the academic symposium “State, Value Systems and Education (from the Late Eighteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Century),” which will take place on 14 May 2026 in the library of the Slovenian School Museum.

The symposium participants – eleven experts from various research, educational, and cultural institutions – will publish their contributions in a thematic issue of the journal Šolska kronika. The symposium is structured around three thematic sections that primarily address the Austrian period from the beginnings of mass-accessible elementary education under Maria Theresa to the First World War, while also extending into the periods of the first and second Yugoslav states. On this basis, the interventions of the state, the Church, and other stakeholders in the field of education are examined across a longer time span and within a broader ideological and political context.

The symposium is coordinated by Dr. Simon Malmenvall, curator at the Slovenian School Museum.

PROGRAMME

9:00–9:10 Opening Address
(Moderated by Andreja Cigale)

• Stane Okoliš, Director of the Slovenian School Museum

9:10–10:25 The Intertwining of Religion and Knowledge
(Moderated by Anton Arko)

• Simon Malmenvall, Cooperation Between the State and the Church in the Formation of Compulsory Education During the Theresian-Josephine Period
• Renato Podbersič, Rabbi Izak Reggio from Gorizia
• Stane Okoliš, Church Control in State Education

Discussion

10:25–10:40 Break

10:40-12:15 The Social Charge of Education
(Moderated by Simon Malmenvall)

• Aleš Maver, Church and School in the Eyes of Maribor’s Free-Thinking Bourgeoisie in the Last Third of the 19th Century
• Robert Devetak, The Catholic Press’s View of the Public Activities of Women Teachers in the Last Third of the 19th Century
• Barbara Riman, Slovenian Teachers at Imperial and Royal Grammar Schools in Croatia
• Kristina Riman, The Prevailing Value Systems in the Children’s Stories of Teacher Ljudevit Tomšič

Discussion

12:15–12:30 Break

12:30-14:05 Education System Within and Beyond Political Constraints
(Moderated by Renato Podbersič)

• David Hazemali, War in the Classroom: Education, Patriotism, and the Americanization of Slovenian Immigrants in the United States during World War I (1917–1918)
• Matic Intihar, The Role of the Church in the Education of Slovenian Youth in Argentina before World War II
• Matic Batič, Fascist Education in Primorska: Between Italianization and the Anthropological Revolution
• Nik Trontelj, Prof Dr Vilko Fajdiga and His Attitude to Social Reality in Slovenia after World War II

Discussion and conclusion.

Cordially welcome!