The Future of Education

The paper analyzes the emergence of home education in European post-communist countries after 1989. The case of the Czech Republic representing the development and characteristic features of home education in the whole region is studied in detail. The paper concentrates on the analysis of the driving forces behind the emergence of home education in the country, namely the civic organizations and the parents associations. The history of home education after 1989 in the Czech Republic is described in detail, with the emphasis on the relation between home education promoters, schools and state authorities, and the development of legislation regulating home education. Current homeschooling legislation is analyzed in detail with special attention paid to the processes of the legal enrolment of individuals into home education, the process of supervision and assessment of educational results of homes educated children. The article concludes that despite the existence of country-specific characteristics, many features of Czech home education are similar to more general pattern of home education in the post-communist countries. These generally include the rather strict regulation of home education and the high importance of schools as both gate-keeping and supervising institutions.