Girls' Schools of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul – Sathmar Sisters in Ružomberok as a Space of Ideological Transformation
Girls' Schools of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul – Sathmar Sisters in Ružomberok as a Space of Ideological Transformation

Summary/Abstract: Background: Girls’ education in Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia represented an important space for the formation of gender identities, social values, and ideological conceptions of the role of women in society. Confessional schools played a significant role in linking education with the religious, moral, and social upbringing of girls. After 1945, however, the school system became the subject of fundamental political and ideological interventions that profoundly affected its organisation, content, and value framework. Objectives: The aim of the study is to analyse the transformation of the aims, content, and social function of girls’ education through a case study of the girls’ school of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul – Sathmar Sisters in Ružomberok from the late nineteenth century to the second half of the twentieth century. The research focuses primarily on a comparison between the confessional model of education before 1945 and the ideologically shaped school system that emerged after the nationalisation of the school. Methods: The study is based on historical-analytical and comparative research grounded in the examination of archival sources, particularly school chronicles, records of pedagogical meetings and parents’ associations, annual school reports, and church documents. The research is complemented by historiographical literature dealing with the history of girls’ education, confessional schooling, and socialist pedagogy. The interpretation of the sources is based on content analysis and a microhistorical approach. Results: The findings demonstrate that until 1945 the school represented a confessional model of girls’ education grounded in religious upbringing, moral discipline, and the preparation of girls for family and social roles. At the same time, however, it also provided opportunities for social mobility and broader educational advancement for women. After 1945, the school underwent gradual nationalisation, accompanied by the weakening of religious education and an ideological transformation of teaching. The socialist regime redefined female identity toward the model of the working socialist woman, and the school became an instrument for shaping the collective and politically loyal identity of young people. Discussion and conclusions: The study shows that the transformation of the school after 1945 was not merely an administrative change of founder, but rather a profound shift in the value-based and ideological framework of education. Despite these fundamental changes, several pedagogical mechanisms, such as an emphasis on discipline, collectivity, and social engagement, persisted within the socialist model of schooling, albeit reinterpreted within a new ideological context. The case of the Ružomberok girls’ school thus represents a model example of the transformation of girls’ education in the Central European context, while also highlighting the importance of educational institutions as spaces for the formation of social values and gender identities.

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