The divided town of Český Těšín/Cieszyn as the most integrated part of the Czech-Polish borderland: A life in the cross-border educational togetherness or side by side?

Abstract

Abstract The (non)contribution of schools towards cross-border integration in the divided town of Těšín/Cieszyn, located on the Czech-Polish border, is analysed in this article. The pandemic-related border closures revealed a substantial level of togetherness in this town, manifested by various social activities. Moreover, a part of these (during the pandemic restricted) cross-border social practices were those in education. We applied a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to diagnose the directions of cross-border educational flows, the approach of schools towards the identified joint cross-border social practices, and the possible level of togetherness. As a result, one-sidedness (Polish pupils attending schools in the Czech Republic) of cross-border flows was identified – which also follows the direction of a cross-border workforce. Except for the schools with Polish as the instruction language, located in the Czech part of the town, primarily serving Polish speakers living in the Czech Republic, we can mention hardly any mutually shared feeling of togetherness and an actual place-based approach towards educational governance in this divided town. We observe some ties in education between the autochthonous Polish minority in the Czech Republic and the Poles in Poland, without the involvement of pupils or teachers of Czech ethnicity, who do not reflect opportunities behind the border.