Political changes in the Czech Republic after 1989 made it possible to consider new approaches to and concepts of the teaching of literature in secondary schools. This included the beginning of lengthy discussion of the form of the new final school examination. There also appeared new difficulties, such as a fundamental increase in literary-historical data (many authors had previously been banned) which tended to steer teachers even more towards the "factographic" base of the subject, offering space in only a limited way to more modern methods of teaching. One reason for the ever greater use of literary-historical methods was that universities, due to limited capacity, introduced entrance exams which demanded knowledge of precisely these data. The demands of the national matura exams are the same for all kinds of secondary schools, which means more uniformity rather than developing special programmes at different schools. The question thus arises as to what opportunities there are for Czech secondary school teachers to introduce new approaches and methods. Also, whether teachers, pupils and their parents are ready for them.
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