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This presentation, delivered at the Methodological Seminar for PhD History Students at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava and Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, focused on outlining my dissertation project and presenting preliminary results concerning "Minor Schooling in Late 18th-Century Moravia". As a key component of my participation, a written text summarizing my project and initial findings, along with expert reviews from a fellow PhD student and internationally recognized specialist Dr. Eva Kowalská from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, were submitted. My dissertation project specifically examines minor schools within the modernization processes and state reforms in education under Maria Theresa and Joseph II, particularly following the General School Ordinance of 1774, which established minor, major, and normal schools (Trivial-, Haupt- und Normalschulen). I investigate the success of the implementation of these minor school reforms, focusing on regional and local differences in their enforcement, and factors that either accelerated or hindered their effectiveness. This includes an analysis of the influence of nobility, considering whether the minor school reforms were more successful in dominions owned by members of the "prominent nobility". Furthermore, my research delves into the practical functioning of minor schools and addresses the potential for gender disparity in education, examining if boys were prioritized over girls in cases of insufficient school capacity. I also analyze the impact of the existence and quality of minor schools on the local community, including their influence on social mobility and literacy. Additionally, the project explores the influence of other reforms, such as tolerance patents or the dissolution of monasteries, on the development of education, specifically concerning minor schools. My methodology employs quantitative and statistical analysis, comparison, prosopographical, geographical, case study, gender history and women’s history approaches, and discourse analysis. Key archival sources for this project include school reports from 1787–1791 and 1807, official and private correspondence, and monarchical decrees and patents. Preliminary results highlight regional and local differences in the success of the implementation of minor school reforms in Moravia, examining aspects such as the number and network of schools, school attendance and school personnel.
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