Acta Musealia

Baťa Company started developing their own educational system as early as 1904. At that time, however, any courses were only random educational events aimed at momentary needs of the company, mostly in the field of engineering. Education was casual, short-term, and mostly in the form of short practical courses that were to help the employees to acquire skills necessary for new technological methods in the production. Only in 1918, when the School for New Employees was founded, we can talk about the company's attempt to provide systematic education through specialised institutions. It needs to be said that the term 'school' had, in the framework of Baťa Company management, various meanings. Even sets of training courses, or one of courses, would be called school. We can talk about a school in the sense of long-term and regular education only from 1918; even the School for New Employees would, from today's point of view, be considered rather a course than a school. It was a training course. The school in the real sense of the word was founded by the company only in 1925, when Baťa School of Work for Young Men was established. The main objective of this educational institution was to ensure the company had enough qualified young co-workers, the education of who was directly linked to the company needs and practical skills required by Baťa company. Students of this school were known as young men. Four years later, in 1929, the company concluded, that to complement young men, who acquired general education and are financially independent, it is also necessary for women to be equally well educated and independent. In reaction to this conclusion, the company established Baťa School of Work for Young Women. The objective of this school was to prepare young women for life in the dynamically developing town, whose ambition was to become the biggest footwear producing metropolis in the world. The aim of this research is to map education of these women and its influence on their later activities in the society. The research is based on using predominantly two methods, namely the method of oral history and the method of analysing historical data. Between 2009 and 2017, 44 surviving witnesses, women who had been educated in Baťa School of Work for Young Women before 1945, took part in this research.

Keywords: Baťa School of Work for Young Women, Baťa, Tomáš Baťa, Baťa system of management, education, gender, upbringing