THE INFLUENCE OF UNESCO ON EDUCATIONAL PROCESSES IN YUGOSLAVIA UP TO 1974

Abstract

The negative consequences of the Second World War were particularly evident in the sphere of education. Upbringing and instruction were not disrupted solely by the destructive effects of the war itself. The very structure and course of education came to be regarded as a contributing factor to the outbreak of the latest conflict in Europe. Thus, in addition to rebuilding the system, there arose a pressing need to reform education as such. The new international order, embodied in the establishment of the United Nations, sought to address these challenges through the creation of a specialized agency — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) — whose mission was to reform education in the spirit of promoting peace and global understanding. Yugoslavia, as a socialist state undergoing profound transformations in its foreign policy, found in UNESCO a strong and reliable partner for the renewal and reorganization of its entire educational process in the aftermath of the war. The influence UNESCO exerted on education in Yugoslavia was substantial and will be examined in this study through three distinct phases. This article is based on unpublished archival materials, as well as relevant scholarly literature and periodicals, offering a new perspective on the dynamics between UNESCO and the Yugoslav educational system during the post-war decades.