The use of oral history in researching education in Serbia on the eve of World War II

This paper presents the results of a study carried out with pedagogy students in the academic year 2013-14. The subject of the study was education in Serbia on the eve of World War II from the perspective of its immediate participants, i.e. persons who were students at the time. The method of oral history was used, with students conducting structured interviews, which we analyzed and interpreted. The interviewees were aged between 75 and 89. The sample consisted of 12 women and 8 men, 13 from rural and 7 from urban environments. The aim of the study was to collect testimony about education in Serbia on the eve of World War II from immediate participants, those who were students at the time. The focus of the study was on the social dimension of education and on the pedagogical process in schools in that period. We conducted a narrative analysis of obtained data, sought to identify similarities and differences in schooling, particularly between children in urban and rural environments. The paper is intended to contribute to the picture of school life on the eve of World War II, to present the voices of "those who have not been heard" in the textbooks on the history of education, and thus shed additional light on this period of our educational past.