Socijalistička učiteljica – novo lice roda
The Female Socialist Teacher – The New Face of Gender

Author(s): Sanja Petrović Todosijević
Subject(s): History, Gender Studies, Cultural history, Sociology, Gender history, School education, State/Government and Education
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: female teachers; “new school”; policy on education and upbringing; girls; mothers; solidarity; patriarchal society
Summary/Abstract: The political decision to reform the entire school system in Yugoslavia, along with the decision to reform the primary school system as one of its component parts, was taken at the Fifth KPJ (Communist Party of Yugoslavia) Congress at the Third Plenum of the CK-KPJ (Central Committee – Communist Party of Yugoslavia) in December 1949. The reform of the primary school system conducted in Yugoslavia (and thus in Serbia) in the period from 1949 until 1958 (which actually began in 1953) when the General Law on Schools introduced a unified eight-grade primary school system across the country, was a framework for the implementation of new policies on education and upbringing. Starting from the legislator’s belief that “the new school” could not be built unless the whole community took responsibility for it, education policies and upbringing moved from the school to the streets for the first time. One of the key roles in establishing new policies on education and upbringing, but also in building a modern school system, was entrusted to the men and women who taught in it. The cultural transformation of society could not be imagined without the contribution of the teachers who were important not only in raising awareness of the importance of attending school and gaining an education, but also in the environments where they worked: their role was as a “lighthouse”, intended to bring the entire community together in the process of enlightenment. The “exit” of the teacher from school, their positioning in the public space, in a predominantly agrarian society, particularly exposed the women who devoted themselves to the teacher’s vocation to great challenges. The role of “female leaders” in small communities, expected to set an example for others through their behaviour, placed many female teachers at the heart of the challenges and demands of patriarchal society. In the course of doing their work, the female teacher adapted to, yet also changed that society. The presence of women “teachers” in small and conservative environments was particularly important for empowering two social groups: girls and mothers. Others were given a particularly important role in the process of establishing the new policy on education and upbringing, even though one in five of the mothers of children afected by the reform was illiterate when the reforms of 1953–1958 began. The solidarity that was established among women has especially contributed to the greater visibility of women in society and their empowerment in the further course of the education and upbringing process.

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