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FUNDAMENTELE PEDAGOGIEI
Repere tematice pentru studenţi şi profesori
FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY
Thematic highlights for students and teachers
© Prof. Univ. Dr. Vasile Chiș
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FUNDAMENTELE PEDAGOGIEI
Repere tematice pentru studenţi şi profesori
FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY
Thematic highlights for students and teachers
FUNDAMENTELE PEDAGOGIEI
Repere tematice pentru studenţi şi profesori..................................... 9
Cuvânt înainte..................................................................................... 11
Tema 1
EDUCAŢIA ŞI SISTEMUL ŞTIINŢELOR EDUCAŢIEI............. 15
1.1. Educaţia. Evoluţia conceptului.................................................. 15
1.2. Concepţia pedagogică a lui J.A. Comenius................................25
1.3. Sistemul ştiinţelor educaţiei. Evoluţii contrastante....................27
Bibliografie....................................................................................... 38
Tema 2
FACTORII DEZVOLTĂRII PERSONALITĂŢII..........................39
2.1. Concepţii referitoare la dezvoltarea personalităţii..................... 39
2.2. Cercetările de genetică şi relevanţa lor în educaţie....................42
2.3. Rezultate ale unor cercetări ereditariste,
clasice și ale cercetărilor de psihologie genetică.............................. 49
2.3. Studiile de psihologie genetică
şi teoria dublei determinări............................................................... 55
Bibliografie....................................................................................... 62
Tema 3
PRINCIPIILE FUNDAMENTALE ALE EDUCAŢIEI................. 64
3.1. Ce sunt principiile fundamentale ale educaţiei?
Ce rol au ele în educaţie?.................................................................. 65
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Tema 4
FINALITĂŢILE EDUCAŢIEI........................................................101
4.1. Idealul educaţional – analiză pedagogică.................................102
4.2. Taxonomia obiectivelor educaţionale...................................... 105
4.3. Operaţionalizarea obiectivelor educaţionale............................110
4.4. De la pedagogia pentru cunoștințe
la pedagogia pentru competențe......................................................115
Bibliografie..................................................................................... 133
Tema 5
SISTEME EDUCAŢIONALE CONTEMPORANE ŞI
DEZVOLTĂRI ÎN PEDAGOGIA CONTEMPORANĂ...............135
5.1. Tipuri de sisteme educaţionale şi caracterizarea acestora........135
5.2. Analiză comparativă a sistemelor organizate ierarhic şi a
sistemelor organizate în reţea..........................................................140
5.3. Curriculumul – rețele conceptuale........................................... 148
Bibliografie..................................................................................... 156
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FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY
Thematic highlights for students and teachers...............................159
Foreword............................................................................................161
Theme 1
THE EDUCATION AND THE EDUCATIONAL
SCIENCES SYSTEM....................................................................... 165
1.1. Education. The concept evolution............................................165
1.2. J.A. Comenius’s pedagogical conception................................ 175
1.3. The system of the educational sciences.
Contradictory evolutions.................................................................177
Bibliography....................................................................................189
Theme 2
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT FACTORS........................... 191
2.1. Conceptions related to personality development..................... 191
2.2. The genetic investigations and their relevance in education...194
2.3. Results of heredity, classical researches
and of genetic psychology research................................................ 201
2.4. Genetic psychology studies and the theory
of double determination.................................................................. 207
Bibliography....................................................................................214
Theme 3
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION....................216
3.1. What are the fundamental principles of education?.................217
What role do these play in education?............................................ 217
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Theme 4
THE FINALITIES OF EDUCATION............................................ 252
4.1. The educational ideal – pedagogical analysis.......................... 253
4.2. The educational objectives taxonomy......................................256
4.3. The operationalization of the educational objectives...............261
4.4. From the knowledge pedagogy
to the competences pedagogy......................................................... 266
Bibliography....................................................................................285
Theme 5
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS AND DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE CONTEMPORARY PEDAGOGY...................................287
5.1. Types of educational systems and their characterisation......... 287
5.2. Comparative analysis of hierarchical systems
and of network-organized systems..................................................292
5.3. The curriculum – conceptual networks....................................300
Bibliography....................................................................................308
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FUNDAMENTELE PEDAGOGIEI
REPERE TEMATICE PENTRU STUDENŢI ŞI PROFESORI
Cuvânt înainte de
Mușata BOCOȘ
Olga CHIȘ
Notă: în textul lucrării s- a utilizat următoarea simbolistică:
Suport teoretic
? Interogaţii
Esenţializarea conţinutului
Surse bibliografice
CUVÂNT ÎNAINTE
Cele cinci teme explicitează argumentativ câteva idei- ancoră ale lucrării:
Pedagogia este ştiinţa care studiază fenomenul educaţional în toată
complexitatea sa, în vederea atingerii următoarelor scopuri majore:
optimizarea teoriei şi practicii educaţiei şi optimizarea influenţelor
educaţiei asupra formării personalităţii educaţilor;
Dezvoltarea ştiinţelor educaţiei are loc concomitent cu dezvoltarea
societăţilor şi a lumii;
Educaţia este ghidată şi orientată axiologic de o serie de principii
fundamentale, care îi asigură fundamentare ştiinţifică, coerenţă,
rigoare şi eficienţă;
Acţiunile educaţionale au caracter axiologic şi teleologic, indiferent
de complexitatea şi anvergura lor;
Învăţarea reală, cu sens, nu este o învăţare de cunoştinţe (adeseori
pe dinafară), ci este o învăţare pe dinăuntru, o învăţare care
presupune dobândirea de competenţe demonstrate în situaţii
acţionale;
Învăţarea are ca trăsături fundamentale participarea şi anticiparea;
Participarea se referă la punerea în mişcare a tuturor instrumentelor
de care dispune cel care învaţă: limbajul, gândirea şi operaţiile ei,
imaginile, asocierile (relaţii, grupuri, mulţimi), percepţiile,
reprezentările, acţiunile concret- operatorii, acţiunile interiorizate,
alegeri, decizii, valori, atitudini critice, atitudini favorabile schimbării
etc.;
Anticiparea se referă la atitudinea prospectivă, la necesitatea de a
învăţa din viitor, nu numai din trecut, de a anticipa cerinţele
viitorului, de a forma şi dezvolta capacitatea de anticipare,
capacitatea de a face faţă schimbărilor, capacitatea de a se adapta
noilor situaţii, de a le soluţiona aplicând şi operaţionalizând, în mod
creativ, inovativ şi prospectiv, sistemul de achiziţii dobândite;
În prezent, sistemele educaţionale din lume se diferenţiază prin
concepţiile pedagogice care le fundamentează, exemple ilustrative
sunt relevate de sistemele educaţionale organizate ierarhic şi de cele
organizate în reţea.
Principalii beneficiari ai lucrării sunt studenţii care se specializează în
domeniul ştiinţelor educaţiei, doctoranzii, profesorii de toate specializările, elevii
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TEMA 1
EDUCAŢIA ŞI SISTEMUL ŞTIINŢELOR EDUCAŢIEI
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Aristotel (384 î.H.- 322 î.H.) a fost unul din cei mai importanţi filosofi ai
Greciei antice, cu preocupări relevante în domeniul educației. A studiat la
Academia lui Platon din Atena, apoi a fost la Curtea Împăratului Filip, în calitate
de învățător al tânărului Alexandru, o personalitate care a rămas în istorie cu
numele de Alexandru cel Mare prin calitățile sale de mare strateg şi conducător
militar al Macedoniei.
Deşi bazele filosofiei la vremea aceea au fost puse de Platon, Aristotel
este cel care a desprins concluziile necesare din filosofia lui Platon şi a
dezvoltat- o. El afirma că: „Nu spiritele produc transformările în lume, ci
transformările sunt date de ceea ce poate fi interpretat.”
În educația din antichitate, Aristotel este consecvent cu semnificaţiile
naturale ale conceptului „educaţie” – acelea de creştere, cultivare, hrănire. El a
înfiinţat la Atena o şcoală celebră – Lykeion sau şcoala peripatetică. Filozoful
obişnuia să educe plimbându- se cu discipolii săi prin Lykeion, o grădină în natură.
Prin şcoala peripatetică, se încurajau studiile clasice de gramatică, retorică, logică,
matematică, teologie, ştiinţele naturii, arte, euritmie. Corespondentul termenului
Lykeion pentru Roma antică era Lyceum, din el derivând termenul Lycée (limba
franceză) şi Liceu (limba română). Este interesant de menţionat că educaţia şi
şcoala peripatetică fondate de Aristotel are prelungiri în educaţia contemporană:
profesor itinerant, „şcoala altfel”, activităţi extracurriculare, educație nonformală
etc.
Socrate (470 î.Hr.- 399 î.Hr.) a fost un filosof al Greciei antice, care a
beneficiat de educaţia aleasă de care aveau parte tinerii atenieni din vremea sa –
studii de muzică, gimnastică, gramatică ş.a.
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FUNDAMENTELE PEDAGOGIEI. REPERE TEMATICE PENTRU STUDENȚI ȘI PROFESORI
Pedagogul ceh Jan Amos Comenius a trăit între anii 1592 şi 1670 şi este
autorul lucrării de referinţă „Didactica Magna”, tipărită, după unii, în jurul anului
1630 şi, după alţii, în 1650 – reper la care ne vom raporta şi noi.
Lucrarea „Didactica Magna” este importantă pentru că ea reuneşte şi
structurează toate cunoştinţele de pedagogie existente până în acel moment. Să
comparăm acea epocă istorică – a doua jumătate a secolului al XVII- lea, perioadă
în care toate cunoştinţele de pedagogie erau cuprinse într- o carte şi epoca actuală,
în care vorbim despre milioane de cărţi.
O dată cu apariţia cărţii lui J.A. Comenius, o dată cu apariţia pedagogiei
ca ştiinţă, s- a formulat o nouă definiţie a educaţiei, la un nivel superior faţă de
prima definiţie etimologică, o definiţie împrumutată din ştiinţele naturii. Dacă în
antichitate „educatio” însemna „creştere”, „cultivare”, în epoca modernă a
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ridicate şi acces mai larg la educaţie pentru indivizii săi. Cu cât o educaţie este
mai bine dezvoltată, mai deplină, mai potrivită, cu atât progresul societăţii este
mai sistematic, continuu.
Aşadar, putem conchide că între educaţie şi dezvoltare se naşte o relaţie
cauzală circulară. Această relaţie este demonstrată şi de situaţia statelor slab
dezvoltate, în ţările slab dezvoltate, în care există familii dezavantajate, sărace,
comunităţi dezavantajate şi comunităţi sărace. În cazul acestor categorii de
populaţii, întotdeauna sărăcia se leagă de accesul la educaţie, care este îngrădit din
motive economice.
Accesul la educaţie este la parametrii mai scăzuţi sau mai ridicaţi, în
funcţie de gradul de dezvoltare socio- economică al ţării respective. Dar, lipsa
accesului la educaţie permanentizează sărăcia, o reproduce, o menţine şi o
adânceşte, tocmai pentru că între sărăcie şi nivelul scăzut de educaţie, de acces la
educaţie, se aşează această relaţie cauzală circulară. Relaţia este esenţializată
sugestiv de George Văideanu, pe care îl parafrazăm cu un accent personal: Acolo
unde domneşte sărăcia şi ... prostia. Cu alte cuvinte, cantitatea de incultură este
direct proporţională cu lipsa de educaţie sau, aşa cum spunem uneori, cu proasta
educaţie. Iată că relaţia educaţie- dezvoltare poate fi analizată şi semnificată la
diverse paliere, începând cu individul şi terminând cu societatea şi cu dezvoltarea
globală a întregii planete. Şi în acest context legat de educaţie şi dezvoltare
globală, discursul se poartă frecvent şi ferm în prezent, pe tema educaţiei pentru
dezvoltare sustenabilă, durabilă, pentru dezvoltare continuă, sistematică,
profundă a întregii planete.
Cea de a doua carte referitoare la rolul educaţiei este a lui Mircea Maliţa, J.
Botkin şi M. Elmandjara şi se numeşte „Orizontul fără limite al învăţării.
Lichidarea decalajului uman” (1981), dar, foarte bine s- ar putea numi „Orizontul
fără limite al educaţiei”. Aceasta pentru că, în contextul cărţii, învăţarea are sens
generic, educaţional, global, vorbindu- se despre orizontul fără limite al învăţării.
Autorii cărţii sunt trei personalităţi, care au fost consilieri UNESCO, forumul
internaţional UNESCO (Organizaţia Naţiunilor Unite pentru Educaţie, Ştiinţă şi
Cultură, conform denumirii originale din engleză, United Nations Education,
Science and Culture Organization), un forum extraordinar şi foarte activ în
domeniul educaţiei şi culturii.
Mircea Maliţa, la fel ca George Văideanu au fost experți din partea
României în forumul internaţional UNESCO, iar aceste două cărţi au fost, de fapt,
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Timp
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poate face uşor loc educaţiei prin şoc, o educaţie cu mare risipă de resurse
umane şi materiale.
Societăţile contemporane au opţiuni majore în orientarea educaţiei pe
axa temporală. Dacă sistemul educaţional este preponderent focalizat pe tradiţii
şi istorie, curriculumul şcolar şi experienţele de învăţare vor situa pregătirea
elevului doar în experienţa bunicilor şi a străbunicilor.
Sunt sisteme educaţionale care promovează învăţarea anticipativă,
învăţarea pentru viitor. Este pedagogic oportun ca elevii să înveţe „ce va fi
mâine”, dar, fireşte, să înveţe, eventual, şi din „ce a fost ieri”.
Ipoteza lui M. Maliţa privind lipsa preocupărilor pentru educaţia de
viitor este una evidentă, una semnificativă. Dacă sistemele educaţionale nu
promovează educaţia pentru viitor, în prezenţa schimbărilor intempestive, se
instalează educaţia prin şoc. Este o stare de criză, de educaţie de adaptare
forţată la condiţii noi şi în mod accelerat, dezorganizat, cu consecinţe
individuale şi sociale negative.
Soluţia pedagogiei contemporane este ca sistemele de învăţământ să
reprezinte optim în curriculumul şcolar experienţele de învăţare de menţinere şi
experienţele de învăţare pentru viitor. Un exemplu negativ îl identificăm în
curriculumul şcolar exclusiv focalizat pe experienţele din trecut, din viaţa
bunicilor şi a străbunicilor.
Este necesar ca cetăţenii să fie pregătiţi, prin bune practici şi din punct
de vedere atitudinal, pentru a întâmpina viitorul şi mai mult, pentru a- l construi.
Devin priorităţi educaţia pentru viitor, pentru construcţia noului, învăţarea de tip
creativ- inovator, cu caracter participativ, anticipativ şi prospectiv.
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PEDAGOGIA GENERALĂ
TEORIA TEORIA
EDUCAŢIEI INSTRUIRII
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FUNDAMENTELE PEDAGOGIEI. REPERE TEMATICE PENTRU STUDENȚI ȘI PROFESORI
PEDAGOGIA VÂRSTELOR
PEDAGOGIA PREŞCOLARĂ
PEDAGOGIA ŞCOLARĂ
PEDAGOGIA UNIVERSITARĂ
PEDAGOGIA ADULŢILOR
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PSIHOLOGIA EDUCAŢIEI
FILOSOFIA EDUCAŢIEI
SOCIOLOGIA EDUCAŢIEI
ECONOMIA EDUCAŢIEI
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Bibliografie
TEMA 2
FACTORII DEZVOLTĂRII PERSONALITĂŢII
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FUNDAMENTELE PEDAGOGIEI. REPERE TEMATICE PENTRU STUDENȚI ȘI PROFESORI
Ne aflăm într- o eră a culturilor genetice de tot felul, într- o eră în care pe cale
genetică se stăpâneşte o parte a proceselor şi fenomenelor biologice, dar sunt
incertitudini, zone semnificative de necunoaştere în ceea ce priveşte componenta
umană, psihopedagogică a problemei. De aceea, pedagogii, profesorii, specialiştii
din domeniile psihopedagogiei trebuie să se asocieze acelor organisme şi instituţii
care pledează pentru instituirea unor reguli ştiinţifice şi etice în privinţa
produselor create genetic.
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Decupăm, din cercetările lui Francis Galton două exemple despre legile
sau regularităţile formulate, pe baza datelor obţinute prin măsurători
antropometrice.
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direct ca individul Ion sau Petre să fie excepţionali sau ca un alt individ să fie
mediocru. Legea eredităţii ancestrale reglează transmiterea caracterelor umane
pe lanţul generaţional, de la părinți şi bunici, până la ultimii (primii) donatori
genetici (proto- părinţii). Mecanismele ereditare, ancestrale îşi fac cu stricteţe,
cu generozitate şi cu seriozitate datoria de a reproduce caracterele umane din
aproape în aproape pe toată istoria, pe toată întinderea filogenetică. Dacă luăm
legea eredității ancestrale în generalitatea ei, omul este numit în termeni
generici şi nu în mod specific, particular. Pe om îl marchează ereditatea nu
atât pentru că este un om, ci cât pentru că este un membru al speciei umane.
Mecanismele genetice nu asumă menirea ca un individ să fie excepțional, iar
un altul să fie în stare precară. Ereditatea asigură ca fiecare om nou născut să
se înscrie cu trăsăturile lui în intervalele definite ale speciei umane.
În concluzie, mecanismele ereditare sunt puse în slujba speciei şi nu a
unui individ specific, aşa cum multe lucruri în viaţa socială sunt puse în slujba
societăţii şi nu în slujba unui individ sau a unor indivizi.
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urmaşi are loc potrivit Legii eredităţii ancestrale, dar acest cumul istoric,
filogenetic de trăsături este guvernat de Legea regresiunii filiale spre
mediocritate.
? Cum vor fi urmaşii părinţilor de dimensiuni minime (îm)?. Vor fi mai mici
decât părinții lor, vor fi la fel, vor fi mai mari?
? Cum vor fi urmaşii părinţilor de dimensiuni maxime (ÎM)?. Vor fi mai mari
decât părinții lor, vor fi la fel, vor fi mai mici etc.
Răspunsul lui Galton este magistral și este redat într- un grafic complicat,
mai greu de înțeles fără o cultură statistică (figura IX în articolul citat).
În figura nr. 1, se observă că părinții cu înălțimea sub valoarea medie a
populației, au copii mai înalți, cu dimensiuni spre valoarea medie. Părinții cu
înălțimea peste valoarea medie a populației, au copii cu înălţime diminuată, cu
dimensiuni spre valoarea medie.
De formație și matematician, Galton vorbește de legea regresiunii filiale
în termeni statistici, fiind de altfel recunoscut astăzi ca fondator al analizei de
regresie din statistica modernă. În reprezentarea noastră, în figura nr. 1, linia de
regresie este tocmai axa care unește valorile bipolare (îm) și (ÎM), După cum se
vede, pe această linie de regresie are loc reproducerea, transmiterea caracterelor/
trăsăturilor de la părinți la urmaşi.
Concluziile care se desprind de aici sunt directe și accesibile:
Părinții foarte înalți, nu vor produce copii tot mai înalți. Este evident
că înălţimea nu este o trăsătură în creştere ne- definită prin naștere.
Părinții foarte scunzi nu vor produce copii tot mai pitici. Este
evident că înălțimea nu este o trăsătură în scădere ne- definită prin
naștere.
Caracterele, trăsăturile se transmit de la părinți la urmaşi între limite
valorice și în frecvenţe regularizate din punct de vedere statistic.
Pe temeiul datelor antropometrice culese de Galton, savantul are o
celebră exclamație: Gad lovesc normal curve! Dumnezeu iubește curba normală.
O imagine intuitivă a regresiunii filiale prin întoarcerea spre mediocritate, în
distribuție gaussiană (curba normală) este redată în figura nr. 2.
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Veri primari
Persoane fără
grad de
rudenie
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Spre exemplu, dacă ne raportăm la două persoane, doi copii, aceştia pot să
fie asemănători din punct de vedere genetic, chiar echivalenţi, dar pot fi și total
diferiţi. Deci, echivalenţa, asemănarea sau diferenţierea persoanelor din punct de
vedere ereditar reprezintă similaritatea sau variabilitatea genetică a acestora.
Persoanele, cei doi copii, de exemplu, pot să trăiască pe parcursul vieţii
lor în acelaşi mediu, un mediu de viață comun, identic. Astfel definim
similaritatea de mediu. Sau, copiii pot să trăiască în medii total diferite. Astfel
definim variabilitatea de mediu.
Fireşte, se pune și problema similarităţii sau variabilităţii de profil
psihologic. Acest concept este o generalizare a unor rezultate/ scoruri obţinute,
prin aplicarea testelor psihologice la copiii studiaţi, în diverse condiţii de
determinare genetică și de mediu (similaritate versus variabilitate).
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atunci mediul este mai tare. Nu este aşa că întrebarea este pertinentă? Ce părere
aveţi? Care au fost rezultatele?
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Bibliografie
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TEMA 3
PRINCIPIILE FUNDAMENTALE ALE EDUCAŢIEI
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? Care sunt criteriile, cerinţele în baza cărora ştiinţele sunt validate ca ştiinţe?
Care sunt cerinţele pe care trebuie să le îndeplinească o ştiinţă?
să aibă un domeniu, un obiect de studiu, de cercetare propriu şi
anumite finalităţi;
să posede metodologie proprie, metode proprii de cercetare,
adecvate obiectului cercetării;
să formuleze legităţi, legi în sensul strict al termenului (spre
exemplu, legităţi ale naturii, legităţi universale, universal
valabile, legi tari, cum sunt cele din fizică, legea gravitaţiei, de
exemplu ş.a.);
să aibă domeniu de aplicare teoretică şi/ sau practică,
aplicabilitate.
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Meritul lui Jean Piaget este conturarea unei noi direcţii în pedagogie, o
direcţie foarte cunoscută – pedagogia constructivistă, o pedagogie a dezvoltării
experienţiale, a învăţării experienţiale, foarte productivă. Această idee este foarte
bine preluată în curriculumul învăţământului preşcolar românesc, şi nu numai în
curriculumul de la acest nivel al învăţământului. Ne referim la acest curriculum
întrucât la grădiniţă s- a renunţat (ceea ce este foarte bine) la elementele de
curriculum concepute ca arii curriculare şi s- au propus domenii experienţiale,
domenii de învăţare experienţială, domenii de dezvoltare experienţială. Pedagogia
pe care o propune Jean Piaget este o pedagogie experienţială, care a fost numită
pedagogie constructivistă, pentru că, în concepţia lui Jean Piaget, dezvoltarea
trăsăturilor de personalitate se produce după un anumit proces de construcţie şi
reconstrucţie a personalităţii.
În lucrarea sa „Judecata morală la copil” (1980), psihologul elveţian Jean
Piaget analizează, prin prisma concepţiei sale interacţionist- cognitiviste, evoluţia
diferitelor forme ale judecăţii morale infantile.
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I II III IV
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De exemplu, copilul îşi mişcă mâna în câmpul său vizual, în spaţiul său
de vedere şi, totodată, are percepţia vizuală a mişcării. Din întâmplare, copilul
îşi atinge cu degetele gura, buzele, moment în care se declanşează un alt act
instinctual – reflexul de supt. În acest fel, copilul este gratificat, mişcarea şi
vederea sa sunt gratificate de reflexul suptului. Din acest moment, copilul va
repeta tot mai frecvent această înlănţuire de acte, astfel încât, la un moment
dat, copilul va duce intenţionat degetul la gură, pentru a fi declanşat reflexul
suptului. Acesta este momentul în care două fenomene separate anterior,
mişcarea şi văzul, sunt integrate într- o structură nou, într- o structură
senzorio- motrică.
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? Cum răspunde copilul la întrebarea: Cine e mai frumos?, Cine este mai tare?
Răspunsul unei studente: Copilul răspunde: Eu!
Acesta este răspunsul modal al copilului mic, atunci când este pus să
se compare cu alţii. Este un comportament tipic, de vârstă, în copilăria
timpurie, determinat de o caracteristică denumită egocentrism.
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la unitate, la unu, la unu etc.. în mod concret- acţional, în actul de seriere. Spre
exemplu, spune copilul, aici este locomotiva, apoi un vagon, alt vagon ... Pe cale
concret- obiectuală, în seriere, copilul face, chiar dacă nu spune, clase de
echivalenţă, de unitate: unul/ una, unul/ una ş.a.m.d., copilul are acces la realitatea
concret- obiectuală pe care o organizează în chip personal.
Se pune întrebarea: sunt mai multe feţe decât steluţe/ ... sunt mai puţine ...
decât ..., sau sunt tot atâtea? Exerciţiul poate fi făcut cu variate obiecte, de
exemplu, creioane şi radiere etc.
Este de observat că în aşezarea mulţimilor, în corespondenţă termen cu
termen, în acest exemplu, avem o dublă echivalenţă:
echivalenţa elementelor mulţimilor, 5 feţe, 5 steluţe;
echivalenţa de spaţiu, întinderea primei mulţimi este egală cu
întinderea celei de a doua mulţimi.
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Se pune iar întrebarea: sunt mai multe feţe decât steluţe/ ... sunt mai
puţine ... decât ..., sau sunt tot atâtea?
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sau strică obiectele, ci, dimpotrivă, să lăsăm pentru copii deschisă poarta
experienţelor, să îi sprijinim să urmeze calea experienţelor acţionale, în vederea
influenţării benefice a personalităţii lor.
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ţesătura de operaţii mintale de care ei sunt capabili (Radu, I., Ionescu, M., 1987)
sau când sarcina şcolară este situată în zona proximei dezvoltări (L.S. Vîgotski,
1972). La acestea se adaugă cerinţa ca materia de studiu să fie prezentată
interesant, atractiv, să stimuleze procesele intelectuale şi emoţionale ale elevilor.
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Bibliografie
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TEMA 4
FINALITĂŢILE EDUCAŢIEI
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preluate din state foarte dezvoltate, la al căror nivel nu vor ajunge. Deci, deşi acest
ideal este al şcolii româneşti, el nu este realizabil în societatea românească.
Răspunsul oferit de studentă reprezintă o analiză critic- constructivă
referitoare la rolul idealului educaţional. A apărut aici o interogație pertinentă:
avem ideal educaţional, dar ce facem cu copiii cu cerinţe educaţionale speciale?
Așadar, vorbim în acest context despre necesitatea integrării, despre necesitatea
şcolii incluzive, care ar trebui să fie în atenţia teoreticienilor şi a practicienilor cu
scopul realizării unui raport optim între ideal şi posibil, între dorinţă şi realitate.
? Dar: Este acest portret, descris de ideal, reper util în proiectarea şi realizarea
practică a educaţiei? Suntem, cu adevărat, personalităţi libere, integrale şi
armonioase? Considerăm că, indiferent de societatea în care trăiește, nicio
persoană nu poate trăi pe deplin nici libertatea, nici armonia, nici integralitatea,
deoarece libertatea este o responsabilitate asumată. Prin urmare, noi, ca membri
activi ai societății, asumăm diverse constrângeri, în sensul că anumite aspecte ale
vieții sunt uneori mai mult constrângere decât libertate.
este cu adevărat util din perspectivă educaţională pragmatică. Din nefericire, din
punct de vedere al politicilor educaționale există o lipsă de viziune articulată,
unitară, o incoerenţă legislativă, o marginalizare sau chiar o eludare a unor
aspecte fundamentale ş.a.m.d. De aceea, este necesar să adoptăm o atitudine
critic- constructivă și să reflectăm sistematic pentru a manifesta discernământ în
abordarea diferitelor situaţii și pentru a cunoaşte fundamentat ştiinţific ce anume
este de folos practicii educaţionale.
Din păcate, tocmai la nivelul politicilor educaţionale, sistemul românesc de
învăţământ pare să fie încă disfuncțional și incoerent. Analizând cele două planuri:
planul legislaţiei din domeniul educaţional şi planul activităţilor educaţionale
practice, constatăm că ele nu sunt concordante. Mai mult, există încă în vigoare,
atât documente vechi, cât şi documente noi, care sunt divergente, care intră în
contradicţie unele cu celelalte.
Având în vedere analizele realizate anterior, reținem următoarele definiții:
Idealul educaţional reprezintă finalitatea educaţiei cu gradul cel mai mare
de generalitate, care se referă la modelul proiectiv şi programatic de personalitate
spre care se tinde în educaţie, într- o anumită perioadă istorică, funcţie de sistemul
de valori promovate în societate.
Scopurile educaţionale permit o conturare mai clară a finalităților
educaţionale şi se formulează pentru segmente de şcolaritate mai largi, cum ar fi
nivelurile de învăţământ (spre exemplu, scopurile învăţământului primar),
profilurile şi specializările. Ele vizează evoluţii şi schimbări mai cuprinzătoare
decât obiectivele educaţionale, schimbări înregistrate în mod comprehensiv în
toate dimensiunile de dezvoltare a personalității – cognitiv, afectiv- motivaţional
şi psihomotor.
Obiectivele educaţionale reprezintă o concretizare/ detaliere a scopurilor,
constituie ipostaza cea mai concretă a finalităţilor educaţionale, ele reprezentând
finalităţile unor activităţi educaţionale determinate, concrete: definite în relație cu
unităţi de învăţare determinate, capitole, sisteme de activităţi didactice, respectiv
comportamentele aşteptate ca urmare a studierii acestora.
Între idealul educaţional, scopurile şi obiectivele educaţionale există o
relaţie de strânsă interdependenţă. Astfel, idealul educaţional este unic – lui îi
corespunde un sistem de scopuri educaţionale, iar unui scop educaţional îi
corespunde un sistem de obiective educaţionale. De aceea, idealul educaţional
poate fi atins numai dacă sunt atinse scopurile şi obiectivele educaţionale.
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întrebări ar putea fi: Cum ai clasifica aceste tipuri de ...?, Ce aspecte comune
există între ...?, Ce aspecte diferenţiatoare există între ...?, ş.a.m.d.
3. Aplicarea este un nivel taxonomic al procesării cognitive, al rezolvării
de probleme noi, utilizând informaţii, reguli, modalităţi de lucru, strategii
rezolutive, cunoştinţe însuşite anterior în anumite contexte de cunoaştere.
Pe acest nivel taxonomic, cuvintele- cheie relevante în formularea
solicitărilor sunt: Aplică ..., Utilizează..., Scrie ..., Rezolvă ..., Alege ...,
Transferă ..., Extrapolează ..., Restructurează ..., Propune ..., Construieşte ..., iar
câteva exemple tipice de întrebări ar putea fi: Ce exemple se pot oferi pentru ...?,
Cum ai organiza exemplele ...?, Ce ai propune pentru a ...? ş.a.m.d.
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Nu se confundă cu:
- conţinuturile instructive- educative;
- ideile principale din lecţie;
- evenimentele instruirii;
- scopurile (acestea sunt mai generale şi nu se pot realiza într- o
singură activitate didactică).
În completarea analizelor mai sus realizate, este de menţionat faptul că,
operaţionalizarea obiectivelor educaţionale comportă atât avantaje dar şi unele
limite. O sinteză a acestora poate fi observată în tabelul nr. 6:
Avantaje Limite
- obiectivele asigură rigoarea - nu toate obiectivele pot fi
necesară acţiunii educaţionale; precizate în termini concreţi,
- au rol orientativ pentru profesori specifici, spre exemplu, cele care
şi stimulativ pentru elevi; urmăresc formarea trăsăturilor de
- reprezintă repere în proiectarea, caracter, a atitudinilor, a
realizarea şi evaluarea sentimentelor;
rezultatelor învăţării. - nu toate comportamentele pot fi
anticipate în mod riguros, mai
ales când vizăm dezvoltarea
creativităţii elevilor, rezolvarea
de probleme prin metode
euristice.
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Modele
Rolul elevului Dinamica tehnologiilor
organizaţionale
Obiect al predării Materiale tipărite Organizare verticală:
Înregistrări A/V - ierarhică
Audioconferinţe
Videoconferinţe
(Internet, Satelit)
Circuit TV Organizare orizontală:
Multimedia - în matrice
Sisteme integrate - în reţele
ADL - Clase virtuale - în proiecte
Subiect al învăţării
Figura nr. 2: Elevi, tehnologii şi modele organizaţionale şcolare
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relaţiile elev- elev, dar mai ales conexiunile necesare între şcoală, educaţie şi
experienţele reale de viaţă. Această integrare tridimensională: acţiune
pedagogică – relaţii interpersonale – viaţa reală defineşte noua pedagogie,
pedagogia interactivă.
Sinteza în pedagogia nouă este una de maximă concentrare, tabloul
disciplinar mozaicat şi diseminat în zeci de ramuri este condensat în domenii
comprehensive, fundamentale: management educaţional; teoria curriculumului;
teoria instruirii şi teoria evaluării.
Acum, la debut de mileniu III, sunt bine conturate noi dimensiuni şi
tendinţe ale educaţiei şi învăţământului. Şcoala unică şi curriculumul comun şi
obligatoriu au trecut şi la noi, cu paşi decisivi în istoria pedagogiei. Noile
modele educaţionale asumă dinamism, flexibilitate şi adaptare la nevoile de
pregătire individuale şi comunitare. Apoi, şcoala ca unitate de sine stătătoare, ca
actor solitar într- un spaţiu socio- profesional delimitat sau în izolare faţă de
comunitate, îşi încetează definitiv existenţa.
Viitorul aparţine şcolii inovatoare, unor reţele de instituţii educaţionale
conectate la programe comune de experimentare a predării, învăţării, gestionării
şi promovării calităţii. Mai mult ca oricând, şcoala modernă caută să identifice
şi să dezvolte structuri de învăţare alternative, cu parcursuri multiple, adaptabile
şi eficiente în contexte formale, nonformale şi informale, active pe durata
întregii vieţi sociale şi profesionale. Fenomenul educaţional nu mai poate fi
redus la instituţiile şcolare corespunzătoare diferitelor niveluri de studii; el
integrează şi articulează toate sursele, experienţele şi influenţele educative
coroborate cu cadrele nonformale şi informale şi inclusiv autoeducaţia.
O pedagogie nouă pentru spaţiul şcolar în întregul său, inclusiv pentru
învăţământul superior, dar şi pentru educaţia continuă, pe durata întregii vieţi
devine imperios necesară. Construcţia acesteia va încorpora, în chip esenţial,
dimensiuni şi tendinţe de noutate sau în premieră în domeniu, aflate continuu în
concertare şi complementaritate. Între aceste dimensiuni sunt enumerate
următoarele:
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Studenţi 2
ADL
Învăţământ
clasic
Rata învăţării
Caracteristici
Caracteristici ale educaţiei în viitor
ale educaţiei în trecut
Focalizare pe programe de
Focalizare pe performanţe
studiu
Organizare pe criterii de timp/
Organizare în funcţie de obiective/ rezultate
orar
Învăţare extinsă, cuprinzătoare Învăţare intensă, în adâncime
Centrare pe obiecte de studiu, Centrare pe procesul învăţării, pe competenţe şi
teme, cunoştinţe abilităţi de învăţare
Învăţare prin memorare şi Învăţare prin rezolvare de probleme, gândire
reproducere critică
Monitorizare pe baza
Monitorizare prin performanţe ridicate, succes
eşecurilor, insucceselor şcolare
Proiectare şi management prin
Proiectare şi management în parteneriat, şcoala
sine, şcoala izolată de
ca servicii pentru comunitate
comunitate
Studiu programat în secvenţe
Studiu în orice timp şi în orice loc, la opţiunea
de timp de activităţi şcolare
beneficiarilor
(semestre, ani, cicluri)
Educaţie centrată pe profesor Educaţie centrată pe elevi/ adulţi
Investiţii în manuale şi cărţi Investiţii în resurse (centre de resurse)
Ritm uniform de învăţare Ritmuri şi stiluri de învăţare variate
Educaţie în şcoli, în clădiri Educaţie în locaţii cu acces multiplu pentru
destinate special elevilor diverşi utilizatori
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Intensificarea competiţiei îngreunează planificarea, organizarea şi
realizarea activităţilor şcolare.
Estimarea numărului de elevi pentru înmatriculare în noul an şcolar, cât
şi a necesarului de personal didactic şi administrativ în noile state de funcţiuni ale
şcolilor, devin operaţii complicate, rămân în afara unor baze de date sigure, care
să furnizeze decizii precise. Efectivele de elevi şi necesarul de personal devin
parametri influenţaţi direct de calitatea pregătirii elevilor şi de performanţa
profesorilor. Capacitatea şcolii de a câştiga aprecierea comunităţii atrage, cu sine,
o poziţie bună în asigurarea cererii pentru reţeaua următoarelor structuri şcolare
sau pentru piaţa forţei de muncă. Totodată, dacă elevii şi profesorii nu vor
demonstra performanţe înalte, unitatea şcolară respectivă va pierde competiţia.
Între performanţa şcolii şi cerinţele pieţei se instalează o relaţie circulară, la fel ca
în orice segment al pieţei concurenţiale. Cu cât programele şcolii vor fi mai
competitive, cu atât aceasta va atrage mai sigur elevii şi resursele necesare.
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Bibliografie
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TEMA 5
SISTEME EDUCAŢIONALE CONTEMPORANE
ŞI DEZVOLTĂRI ÎN PEDAGOGIA CONTEMPORANĂ
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Înscrierea elevului într- un anumit tip de gimnaziu este la opţiunea familiei, dar
alegerea este sprijinită de rezultatele obţinute la testul final de evaluare, la
încheierea ciclului primar, care are o valoare diagnostică şi prognostică
recunoscută în rândul părinţilor. De asemenea, este de menţionat că, dacă un elev
a fost admis iniţial în gimnaziul inferior, nu înseamnă că nu o să poate accede,
ulterior, la celelalte gimnazii, inclusiv la cel preuniversitar. Oricând, dacă elevul
conştientizează că are alte opţiuni şi dacă dovedeşte că este capabil, poate să
treacă dintr- un tip de gimnaziu în altul; este permisă trecerea firească, în funcţie
de evoluţia elevului, de progresul său şcolar. Altfel spus, în sistemele
educaţionale organizate în reţea se oferă o multitudine de trasee flexibile de
şcolarizare. Prin urmare, nu se oferă o singură rută, cum se întâmplă la noi în
ciclul gimnazial, care propune, un singur parcurs şcolar. Această rută de
şcolarizare, în România, este denumită rută obligatorie, pentru că face parte din
segmentul obligatoriu de învăţământ. În mod inevitabil, fiind o singură rută rigidă
de formare, ea determină omogenizarea elevilor, deci îi pregăteşte şi îi formează
pe toţi la fel. Trebuie să admitem că, în mod pragmatic, acest fapt nu este posibil,
nu este realist să îi pregătim pe toţi la fel, pentru că fiecare elev este diferit de
celălalt şi trebuie să fie stimulat în funcţie de caracteristicile lui şi valorizat ca
atare. Toţi elevii sunt diferiţi, sunt persoane unice, cel puţin prin două
caracteristici diferenţiatoare şi corelate între ele, care au legătură strânsă cu
educaţia, şi anume:
a) Posibilităţile şi capacităţile de învăţare. Ne referim
aici la capacităţile educaţionale ale fiecărui elev, care sunt
personale, deci care diferă, uneori foarte mult, de la un elev la
altul.
b) Nevoile educaţionale ale copiilor şi ale familiilor lor,
deci, orizontul profesional şi orizontul de aşteptări vocaţionale al
fiecărei familii. Nu toate familiile doresc să îi pregătească pe
copii pentru a deveni medici, ingineri etc. Spre exemplu, în
Olanda, sunt destui copii care ar putea accede fără nicio problemă
în gimnaziul preuniversitar, dar nu aleg să urmeze acest tip de
gimnaziu pentru că aceasta nu corespunde intereselor şi nevoilor
lor educaţionale. Deci mulţi pot alege gimnaziul inferior,
respectiv pot face o alegere la polul opus, pentru că acesta îi poate
pregăti pentru o anumită meserie pentru care elevul are anumite
abilităţi. Spre exemplu, în gimnaziul inferior elevii se pot pregăti
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Din explicitările realizate mai sus, rezultă cu claritate că diferenţele dintre cele
două tipuri de structuri – ierarhică şi în reţea – determină şi procese diferite în
interiorul lor, respectiv în ceea ce priveşte:
- modul cum funcţionează şcolile zilnic;
- programul zilnic;
- viziunea şi valorile pe care se axează programul
şcolilor;
- managementul sistemului la macronivel
pedagogic;
- managementul educaţional la micronivel
pedagogic.
Caracteristicile unei structuri, modul în care se realizează construcţia
curriculară, influenţează, deopotrivă, funcţionarea acelei construcţii şi
administrarea acelei construcţii.
Răspunsurile studenţilor:
Elevul să se adapteze la şcoală Şcoala să se adapteze la elev
- elevul trebuie să răspundă - şcoala trebuie să vină în ajutorul
cerinţelor şcolii; elevului când acesta are nevoie de
- elevul este obligat, într- un fel sau sprijin şi atenţie deosebită;
altul, să facă ceea ce nu doreşte; - şcoala trebuie să cunoască limitele
- elevii trebuie să se conformeze elevului;
regulilor şcolii; - şcoala trebuie să valorifice exact ce
- elevii trebuie să îşi procure singuri are fiecare elev mai bun şi să îl
materialele necesare învăţării; determine pe acesta să dorească să
- elevii trebuie să urmeze un înveţe;
curriculum general obligatoriu; - şcoala trebuie să se asigure că
- cadrele didactice predau unor clase îndeplineşte nevoile educaţionale ale
unitare şi omogene. elevilor;
- şcoala trebuie să ofere fiecărui elev
materialele necesare învăţării;
- programele şcolare să fie adaptate
nevoilor educaţionale ale elevilor;
- fiecare cadru didactic trebuie să
predea diferenţiat, în funcţie de
potenţialul elevilor, de aptitudinile şi
competenţele lor;
- şcoala trebuie să creeze mediul
oportun pentru elevii cu cerinţe
educaţionale speciale.
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Aşadar, şcoala de tip uni- formă este şcoala care, prin tot ceea ce
oferă şi prin felul în care funcţionează, îşi propune omogenizarea elevilor şi
standardizarea formării lor. Altfel spus, se doreşte ca toţi elevii să aibă aceleaşi
performanţe la matematică, la biologie, la limbi străine etc. În realitate, însă,
unii elevi fac faţă cu succes cerinţelor şcolare, dar mulţi, uneori foarte mulţi,
rămân în decalaj destul de important faţă de exigenţele curriculare. De aceea,
este imperios necesar ca vechiului model – cel al uni- formei în educaţie, să i se
contrapună optim modelul diversităţii, al pluri- formei, care să promoveze
diferenţele. Concepte şi practici noi cum sunt: „şcoala deschisă”, „şcoala pentru
toţi”, „şcoala inclusivă”, „şcoala centrată pe resurse”, „învăţământul integrat”
etc., reflectă soluţii globale pe care sistemele educaţionale organizate în reţea le
fac operante în structurile învăţământului contemporan.
De asemenea, o altă caracteristică foarte importantă a sistemului
educaţional ierarhic, este aceea că promovează sistemul segregaţionist, care
produce segregare, care nu produce incluziune, includere, ci care, dimpotrivă,
produce separare. Respectiv, elevii sunt organizaţi (separaţi) în grupe de
performanţă: elevul extraordinar, elevul foarte bun, elevul dezirabil, elevul de
performanţă, elevul cuminte, elevul conformist – elevul care se adaptează,
elevul care răspunde cerinţei de adaptare la şcoală. Cu acest elev lucrează, de
regulă, profesorul din şcoala ierarhică, în timp ce ceilalţi elevi sunt, mai mult
sau mai puţin, toleraţi. Prezenţa lor este acceptată în sala de clasă, dar cu
condiţia ca ei să nu deranjeze activitatea, să stea „cuminţi”, adică să nu
vorbească. Este vorba de un sistem care împarte copiii pe niveluri de
performanţă şi care îşi dezvoltă această predilecţie de a lucra cu elevul bun şi de
a- l neglija/ nesocoti pe elevul cu dificultăţi de învăţare. Întotdeauna elevii cu
dificultăţi de învăţare evidente au fost excluşi din sistem şi trimişi la şcoala
specială – la şcoala pentru copii cu dificultăţi mintale, cu dificultăţi de limbaj,
cu dificultăţi de auz, de vedere etc. Practic, şcoala ierarhică este ierarhică şi
pentru că produce segregarea/ împărţirea/ separarea pe diverse criterii, respectiv:
- Separarea pe criterii de gen – fete şi băieţi, în sensul că şcoala nu
accepta să realizeze activităţi comune ale fetelor şi băieţilor.
- Separarea/ segregarea pe criterii de statut socio- economic şi
cultural al părinţilor – care, în forme elegant mascate, persistă şi
astăzi.
Aşa cum am amintit, inexistenţa comunicării dintre elevi, este o altă
caracteristică a şcolii tradiţionale, organizată ierarhic. Realizând în acest sens o
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analogie, este cunoscut obiceiul mamelor etiopiene care obişnuiesc să îşi poarte
copilul în spate, într- un fel de rucsac şi să nu aibă contact vizual cu el;
procedând astfel, copilul nu este capabil să aibă contact vizual cu ceilalţi, iar în
momentul în care el reuşeşte acest lucru, se blochează.
Aşa se explică faptul că, în cazul elevilor şi al absolvenţilor şcolilor organizate
ierarhic, există riscul apariţiei anumitor dificultăţi în realizarea comunicării
nonverbale şi paraverbale; această pentru că au stat ani în şir unul în spatele
celuilalt şi nu au stat faţă în faţă, astfel încât să aibă posibilitatea să discute, să
comunice, să îşi confrunte opiniile, să problematizeze ş.a.m.d. Este cunoscut
faptul că spaţiul fizic creează un spaţiu psihologic sau, cel puţin dă posibilitatea
creării unui spaţiu psihologic. Astfel, dacă spaţiul fizic este restrictiv, atunci şi
experienţele psihologice din acel spaţiu sunt restrictive şi sărace în conţinut, în
mesaje şi în influenţe educative. Importanţa acestui spaţiu poate fi evidenţiată la
toate nivelurile învăţământului, începând cu grădiniţa, locul în care ei mereu
rămân în contact unii cu ceilalţi şi mereu rămân în contact cu educatoarea. În
momentul în care elevii sunt înscrişi în clasa pregătitoare, aranjarea lor va fi în
bănci, unul după altul, ceea ce generează disconfort şi disfuncţionalităţi, atât
pentru ei, cât şi pentru învăţătoare. În situaţiile în care copiii nu stau aşezaţi în
bănci, „cuminţi”, învăţătoarea afirmă că „elevii nu sunt pregătiţi pentru şcoală”.
De aici deducem importanţa caracteristicilor definitorii a sistemelor
educaţionale organizate în reţea şi anume diversitatea şi flexibilitatea. Acestea
sunt atribute absolut necesare unei educaţii incluzive şi unui învăţământ
incluziv; fără diversitate şi fără flexibilitate, nu se poate vorbi despre incluziune
şi, dimpotrivă, se poate vorbi despre segregare în sistem.
Graţie diversităţii, educaţia devine eficientă dacă asigură şi pune în funcţiune
resurse curriculare cât mai diverse şi adaptate specificului organizaţiei şcolare,
cerinţe şi programe educaţionale cât mai flexibile.
Concluzionând, considerăm că următoarele două dimensiuni ale sistemului
educaţional pot asigura cel mai mare grad de flexibilitate programelor
educaţionale şi implicit, pot creşte eficienţa pregătirii elevilor:
1. Structura sistemului educaţional: dacă structura este ierarhică,
ea este inflexibilă, prin urmare este nevoie de o structură în reţea,
care este flexibilă şi face posibilă manifestarea diversităţii. Aşadar,
a fi flexibil înseamnă a promova şi a dezvolta diversitatea.
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curriculum retoric
curriculum intern
curriculum electronic
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CURRICULUM OPŢIONALE
INDIVIDUAL
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PROF. UNIV. DR. VASILE CHIȘ
Bibliografie
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FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY
THEMATIC HIGHLIGHTS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
Foreword
Mușata BOCOȘ
Olga CHIȘ
The symbols used in the text represent the following:
Theoretical supports
? Questions
Key contents
Ideas to remember
Examples
References
FOREWORD
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
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Defining for the present book is the term "experience", this being written
in the name of the educational experience possessed by Professor PHD Vasile
CHIŞ, experience with at least two dimensions:
- one related to a solid, active and comprehensive knowledge of the
Romanian educational system in its entirety and to his reign
contributions to its development;
- the other one related to knowledge of European and international
debate topics in the field of education and to participation in
European educational projects, from the pedagogy lived in
different countries and professional contexts.
At the base of this work are the audio-video recordings of the lectures
held by Professor PHD Vasile CHIŞ, recordings made by PhD student Ciprian
BACIU, with the modern technological resources of the Department of
Educational Sciences. This was followed by a beautiful, challenging and fruitful
teamwork, conducted by dr. Muşata BOCOŞ, dr. Olga CHIŞ and dr. Daniel
ANDRONACHE, aiming the transcription and the refining of the text and also
designing of some cognitive organizers, charts, figures, tables etc. In order to
expand access to information and to ensure an international visibility, the
translation of the text in English was realized by dr. Adina GLAVA, dr. Angela
PRECUP, dr. Alexandra BOLBOACĂ and PhD student Raluca PETRUŞ. For all
these contributors, the experience of participating in the elaboration of the book
was a relevant one for the individual professional training and the emotional
involvement was a referential one.
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THEME 1
THE EDUCATION AND
THE EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES SYSTEM
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
Aristotle (384-322 BC) was one of the most important philosophers of the
ancient Greece, with relevant contributions on the field of education. He studied
at Plato’s Academy in Athens and then, at the Emperor Philips’s court, he became
the teacher of young Alexander the Great, a personality recognised in history by
this name due to his strategic and military qualities as leader of Macedonia.
Although the basis of philosophy was set back then by Plato, Aristotle
was the one to extract the necessary conclusions from Plato’s philosophy and
develop it. He stated that: “The transformations of the world are not generated by
the spirits, but by what can be interpreted.”
In the ancient education, Aristotle was consistent in following the natural
significance of the “education” concept – those regarding the raising, the
cultivation, the nourishing. He set up a famous school in Athens – Lykeion or the
peripatetic school. The philosopher used to educate his disciples by walking with
them into Lykeion, a natural garden. The peripatetic school encouraged the
classical grammar studies, rhetoric, maths, theology, natural sciences, arts, and
eurhythmy. In the ancient Rome, the correspondent of the Lykeion was the
Lyceum, from which derived the French term Lycée and the Romanian term
Liceu. It’s interesting to mention that the peripatetic school and education
founded by Aristotle have extensions in the contemporary education: the
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peripatetic teaching, the “other” school, the extracurricular activities, the informal
education etc.
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
The Czech pedagogue Jan Amos Comenius lived between 1592 and 1670,
and is the author of the reference work “Didactica Magna” edited, in some
opinions, around 1630, and by others, in 1650 – the moment to which we will
relate.
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pedagogy, dealing with the study of education, is “the queen of sciences”, the
universe, and the centre of the entire scientific universe.
The pedagogy is one of the most powerful weapons (in the positive sense)
for the construction of the contemporary societies, with a force difficult to
describe, immeasurable, in relation to the development, because of the tight,
reciprocal relations existing between education and development. The education
represents a force and a cause for the development, which is, at its turn, a
challenge for education and for its progress on higher levels. The more developed
a society is, the more prepared it is to provide higher educational levels and a
larger access to education for its individuals. The more developed and suitable an
education is, the more systematic and continuous is the progress of society.
Therefore, we can conclude that between education and development
raises a causal circular relation. This relation is proved by the case of the poorly
developed countries, with disadvantaged, poor families and communities. In the
case of these populations, the poorness is always related to the access to education,
restricted due to the economic reasons.
The access to education is in higher or lower parameters according to the
level of the socio-economic development of the country. But the restricted access
to the education perpetuates poverty, reproduces, maintains and aggravates it,
exactly because of the causal circular relation existing between poverty and a low
level of education. George Văideanu concentrates this relation in a single phrase,
I paraphrase in a personal note: Where’s poverty, there’s also … stupidity. In
other words, a poor culture is directly proportional to the lack of education or, as
we often say, to the bad education. So the education-development relation can be
analysed and interpreted at various levels, starting with the individual and ending
with the society and the global development of the planet. In this context related
to education a global development, there is a frequent and firm discourse on the
theme of the education for sustainable and durable development, for a continuous,
systematic and profound development of the entire planet.
The second book referring to the role of education is Mircea Maliţa, J.
Botkin and M. Elmandjara’s “The limitless horizon of learning. The
extermination of the human differences” (1981) which could be as well called
“The limitless horizon of education” since the work gives a generic, educational
and global meaning to learning, talking about the limitless horizon of learning.
The three authors are former UNESCO counsellors (The United Nations
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FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY. THEMATIC HIGHLIGHTS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
Education, Science and Culture Organization), and extraordinary and very active
forum in the field of education and culture.
Mircea Maliţa, as well as George Văideanu, were Romanian experts in
the international forum of UNESCO, and the two books were in fact, UNESCO
reports on education. Mircea Maliţa also states that the education has special
powers and influences. For the education to valorise an multiply these powers, we,
the society, must take care of the way we see and organise this education, and the
way we articulate and contextualise the educational components in a systemic
manner, taking into account the cultural, social, economic and political
characteristics of the societies.
Identify in the Romanian textbooks, for the second and the third grade,
curriculum sequences which express realities from the past, present and from the
future (as shown in table no. 1).
2. The world of
tomorrow represents a
challenge for the new
X
generations Textbook...
grade ..., page...
The present world experiences major changes, the societies are forced to look
towards the future and to promote a prospective, anticipative, education, an
education for the future. The preservation education, related to traditions, the
conservation education and the education for the future become complementary
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past-history Future
Present
Time
conservation education shock education education for the future
Figure no. 1: The conservation education versus the shock education and the
education for future (elaborated after M. Maliţa, J. Botkin and M.
Elmandjara, 1981)
The conservation education incorporates into the curriculum and into
the learning experiences ideas, attitudes and traditional practices, inherited from
old times.
These conservation and historical values have their role in the education
of the new generations, but if they become exclusive or dominant, is less probable
to assure the children’s adaptation to the present and future realities. A simple
surface observation of the Romanian school books and school programmes
allows us to identify the increased frequency of the learning experiences at the
past time.
The education for future is an anticipative education, oriented towards
preparing the human structures for the acceptance, valorisation and management
of the changes induced by the life dynamics. The new events, the technological,
social, cultural, biological, climate changes etc. are profitable or less aggressive
and harmful if they are anticipated and welcomed with the suitable knowledge,
attitudes and practices, according to the new situations.
The shock education is an intense human experience, aggressive,
chaotic and disorganized; an experience encountered when an essential and
unpredicted major change occurs and when the human attitudes and practices
related to that specific situation are untrained, precarious and vulnerable.
The conclusion regarding the two perspectives on education – the
conservation education and the education for future are multiple; their unbalanced
management can easily make room for the shock education, with a great waste of
human and material resources.
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The education represents the systematic process for the child’s and young
personality development. The contemporary pedagogy identifies the causes and
the influences which mediate the development and the formation. They are
influences generated in the context of certain interpersonal relationships, placing
the education in a psycho – social environment.
The classification of these influences leads us to a multifactorial
taxonomy of the education types, as follows:
Criteria 1: characteristics of the educational influences
Runa Patel (1984), in the work Educational activities in developing
countries: a discussion of types of education in relation to culture and a
suggested model for analyses, offers the following classification of the types of
educational influences and of the types of education:
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Jan Amos Comenius’s ideas were revolutionary for his times. Not
only they marked the appearance of pedagogy as a science, but they also set
the fundaments for the first educational system dedicated to all individuals in
the society, the first educational system with a global, mass opening, engaged
in an education for all.
We will characterize Comenius’s work by referring to two
coordinates of analysis:
support to travel abroad and know what was happening in other universities –
a practice that is also present today.
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The word “pedagogy” comes from Greek, from the terms “paid, paidos”,
meaning “child” and also from “agoge, agogos”, meaning “to lead”. The
association of these terms suggests that, etymologically speaking, the pedagogy
meant at its beginnings leading the child.
? Who were the first pedagogues of the Antiquity, called “paid - agoge”?
The answer of a student: The slaves, the persons used by the aristocrats
in different activities and domains.
So, we can say that during the Antiquity the wealthy families organised
educational activities in the family, with the help of a teacher or master with
pedagogical attributions, in the present sense of the term, and with the help of a
slave who had accompanying attributions, who accompanied the child to his
teacher.
We discussed in the previous course about Aristotle’s peripatetic
school, about Socrates’ contribution, about Plato’s Academy. So, in education,
as in other activities, slaves were used, since the social activities were held by
the slaves.
The proverbial saying is that the gods got upset with the teachers and
transformed them into slaves. It is a metaphorical part of the observation,
because indeed, teaching equals a noble slavery.
? What do you think about this personal definition, elaborated based on the
studies regarding the pedagogues’ origins and their lives? A noble slavery!
Interesting – being a slave as well as a noble! We notice that today, a teacher
is not real without devotion, without that note of total self-giving, for the
mission he assumed and for which he prepared. Today also the teachers carry
on this slavery enriched by contemporary values and competences.
It’s interesting to observe how, at his origins, the pedagogue is
assimilated to an irksome layer of the society, and how, over time, this
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
Of course, since the appearance of pedagogy till now more than two and
a half centuries passed. We talked in the previous courses about Aristotle –
somewhere in 350 BC, and there are 2500 years since the pedagogy and the
pedagogue appeared. But the pedagogy as a science appeared later.
? When did pedagogy appear as a science? In the first half of the XVIIth
century, beginning with the appearance of J.A. Comenius’s work. Since the
XVIIth century till now, pedagogy registered extraordinary evolutions, which
we will present in sequences in order to build a global image on the evolution
of pedagogy.
The education and the educational phenomenon represent the study and
research object of a science – the pedagogy. Thus, we can define pedagogy as
the science which studies the educational phenomenon in all of its aspects, its
fulfilments and the implications of education on the cognitive, emotional and
psycho-physical development of the human being. The pedagogy studies the
educational phenomenon is all its complexity, in order to reach the following
major finalities:
- the optimisation of the educational theory and practice
- the optimisation of the educational influences on the educated
personality formation.
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FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY. THEMATIC HIGHLIGHTS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
? The general pedagogy developed very fast, so that in the XVIII century
appeared independent preoccupations for education and didactic. Why?
Because in a general sense, the education requires also the formation of
qualities, personality features and the instruction, respectively the learning
process; so, the general pedagogy includes and articulates the educational
theories and the applied didactics. In the XVIII century the general pedagogy
split into two main bodies – the educational theories and the applied didactics.
Afterwards the educational theories developed continuously and, as we have
seen in the previous courses, a lot of theories considered “old educations”
appeared: the intellectual education, the moral education, the esthetical
education, the religious education, the physical education and the professional
education. We also notice that the theory of instruction includes a general
didactics, which we call the theory and methodology of instruction (or the
general didactic), which we study in the second year and some other applied
didactics – see figure no. 2, which you will study in the third year.
GENERAL PEDAGOGY
Figure no. 2: The pedagogy’s domains. From the general pedagogy to the
educational theories and the applied didactics
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
PRESCHOOL PEDAGOGY
SCHOOL PEDAGOGY
COLLEGE PEDAGOGY
ADULT PEDAGOGY
? The question arises: What types of pedagogy have developed under this
criteria?
a) The pedagogy of children with mental deficiency. Not very long ago,
until the 90’s, a French term was used for the pedagogy of children
with mental deficiency: Oligofrenologia (from the French
oligofrenie – pathological state characterized by slow development
of psychic capabilities, combined sometimes with physical
development disturbances and lesions of the central nervous system,
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We can observe that special pedagogy terms of French, German and Russian
origins is massively replaced nowadays with English origin terminology.
These four branches of defectology, of special pedagogy, namely:
oligofrenologia (the pedagogy of mental deficiencies), tiflologia (the pedagogy of
sight deficiencies), logopedia (the pedagogy of speech impairments) and
surdologia (the pedagogy of hearing impairments), have been and still are well
represented in pedagogical studies from our university in Cluj.
For example, we had the most important school for defectology in this part
of the world, a school that was competing with more famous schools in Austria,
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Please write within a half of a page what does it mean to have a trans-
disciplinary approach and trans-disciplinary education.
As it is presented in the figure no. 5, there are developments, branches
that are in the near proximity of pedagogy: Educational Psychology, Educational
Philosophy, Educational Sociology and Educational Economy.
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLOGY
EDUCATIONAL ECONOMY
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
Some chronological marks will be presented; marks that will help us create
a dynamic image of the evolution of pedagogy in time and about the
beginning of integration fields in the sciences of education.
? One can ask him/ herself: Why is the Educational management the first
pillar?
Educational management is a fairly recent research topic for
educational sciences, more precisely since the 20th century. For the first time
when it was decided that the Educational Management will be included in the
mandatory curricula for educational sciences, in 1964, when a summit of
education ministries in Europe took place in Caserta, Italy.
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Bibliography
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FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY. THEMATIC HIGHLIGHTS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
THEME 2
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT FACTORS
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
argument for the preservation of the segregated societies, keeping the structures
and social classes within a society.
Another aspect that should be remembered is the fact that the right to
education was regarded as a genetic problem. An example for this situation can
be cropped from the reality of the sixteenth century, time during which the
European societies were deeply divided. In the books written in and about that
time, we read, for example, about the social stratification in the Netherlands,
which was divided into two large categories: the citizens, populus, the superiors
and multitudos, meaning the many, the plebs. Multitudos had no right to
education; this right was possessed only by the citizens, populus. Only towards
the end of the seventeenth century, freedoms and access to education are given to
those who were till then considered multitudos, but not because they were equal.
They had these rights only because they could be used better in social-economic
activities that gradually became more and more complex.
We present in the summary the main aspects of the hereditary approach:
- the first aspect relates to its ideological load, until late, the middle of
the twentieth century;
- the second aspect relates to the consequences of the heredity in the
organization, the segregation of the societies and to antihuman
practices;
- the third aspect captures the modern forms of heredity concepts that
we can also meet in the contemporary psychology and pedagogy,
forms that are drained from an ideological point of view.
It is obvious that in today pedagogy these heredity conceptions are no
longer associated with discriminatory and segregationist ideologies and practices.
These have been removed. The possibility that these still exist in isolated contexts
should not be neglected, but such theories and practices can not be found as
propagated, disseminated science; we belive that the humanistic approach in the
contemporary science will last and will further develop.
There are contemporary, modern, heredity conceptions, like the one of
Noam Chomsky, being opposed to the constructivist vision of Jean Piaget. Noam
Chomsky - psycholinguist and researcher in the language psychology, developed
in the late twentieth century a fantastic theory, sustaining that the language has a
genetic origin. In the late '70s and early '80s, before the death of Jean Piaget, the
two met in a public event and have confronted their conceptions. Jean Piaget
supported the constructivist conception, regarding the external influences on the
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personality, and Noam Chomsky defended the conception regarding the genetic
origin of language, arguing that we genetically inherit some entities, which he
called generative grammar.
1.
1. Classical, traditional genetic research;
2. Research of modern, molecular genetics;
3. Research of Genetic Psychology and twin studies.
We will briefly present the methodological aspects and specific examples
for the first two research directions, and in the end of this chapter we will return
with results and debates in the field of classical genetics and genetic psychology
research.
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During the 1950s the world was in a veritable scientific revolution, with
spectacular results, when famous scientists, James D. Watson and Francis Crick
have decoded the double helical structure of the DNA (1953). This discovery has
also brought them the Nobel Prize, but unfortunately Francis Crick was not alive
at the award ceremony.
Read the passages from specialized literature dedicated to the presentation
of the double helical structure of the DNA. Observe the photos depicting these
miraculous discoveries. Search and remember the data regarding the challenges
of contemporary genetics, such as genetic vulnerability in childhood, biological
and psychological resilience or robustness of the child, but also regarding all the
global and comprehensive issues related to the child development and education.
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conditions, so that, organs were in a genetic way created, starting from specific
compounds of microscopic nature.
Thus, in the 60s and from the 60s later on, genetic engineering becomes a
current practice, of course, with a lot of debates regarding the moral and the ethics
that remain valid even today. The spectacular of these practices gets even to that
point, where teams of researchers from famous genetic laboratories in Scotland,
near Edinburgh, the United States etc. begin from the 90s to transmit through
media channels information about the mammals cloning. We reproduce below
such an information regarding the prominent event in the science of cloning,
transmitted to us also by media channels in the late 90s and in the 2000s.
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have biological surprises, unexpected events occur. What would happen in case
of a human cloning? How much and what would remain under scientific control
from the personality traits of the reproduced creatures? It is known that currently
the psychological and pedagogical mechanisms are not sufficiently decoded in
human individuals naturally reproduced; the problem would involve more serious
risks in the case of cloned individuals.
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parents, if the parents were large; to be larger than the parents, if the parents
were very small.” (p. 246).
Further in his study, Fr. Galton showed that the branch regression
towards mediocrity registers in certain approximate values of range, being
proportional to the standard deviation of the dimensions obtained at the new
seeds. But there is not an exact rate of the regression, due to multifactorial
influences in characters transmission from parents to offspring.
It is appropriate to conclude that after Fr. Galton processed and
interpreted the experimental data, the characteristics/ traits transmission from
parents to offspring takes place according to the Law of ancestral heredity, but
this historical, phylogenetic accumulation of traits is ruled by the Law of the
branch regression towards mediocrity.
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Let’s take for analysis an example, to show how the branch regression
towards mediocrity takes place, regarding the characters of the offspring
compared to the characters of the parents. The example is based on the actual
situation of characters that will be possessed by the descendants of a couple
(parents) with a maximum physical height (MH) and of a couple (parents) with a
minimal physical height (mh). In fact, all human traits can be placed in this
bipolar dimension: The maximum weight, minimum weight, Maximum
Intelligence, Minimum Intelligence etc.
? How will the descendants of the parents of minimum size be (mh)? Will they
be smaller than their parents, will they have the same height or will they be taller?
? How will the descendants of the parents of maximum size (MH)? Will they be
smaller than their parents, will they have the same height or will they be taller etc.?
Galton's response is shown in a masterly complicated graphic difficult to
comprehend without a statistical culture (figure IX in the cited article).
In figure no. 1, it is observed that parents with height under the average
of the population have taller children, with dimensions close to the average value.
Parents with the value over the average of the population have children with
reduced height, with dimensions close to the average value.
Trained as mathematician, Galton speaks about the branch regression
law in statistical terms, being today recognized as the founder of modern
statistical regression analysis. In our presentation, in figure no. 1, the regression
line is just the axis linking the bipolar values (mh) and (MH). As it can be seen,
on this regression line, the reproduction and the character/ traits transmission
from parents to offspring take place.
The conclusions drawn here are direct and accessible:
Very tall parents will not produce taller children. It is obvious that
the height is not a growing trait, undefined at birth.
Very short parents will not produce shorter children. It is obvious
that the height is not a decreasing trait, undefined at birth.
Characters, traits are transmitted from parents to offspring between
value limits and statistically regularized frequencies.
On the basis of anthropometric data collected by Galton, the scientist has
a famous exclamation: God loves normal curve! An intuitive image of the branch
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Identical
twins
Bivitelini
twins
Siblings
Cousins
Persons
without
kin
For example, if we think about two persons, two children, they can be
genetic similar, almost equal, but they can also be totally different. So, the
equality, the similarity or the difference between persons regarding their genetic
features represent the genetic variability and similarity.
The persons, the two children, for example, can live during their life in
the same environment, a common, identical living environment. Thus we define
the environmental similarity. Or, the children can live in totally different
environments. Thus we define the environmental variability. Of course, the
problem regarding the similarity or variability of the psychological profile arises.
This concept is a generalization of some results/ scores obtained, through the
application of psychological tests to the investigated children, in various
conditions of genetic and environmental determination (similarity versus
variability).
? Under which circumstances can we talk about genetic equivalence? (In the
case of identical twins, a response formulated by the student).
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very strong. If not, then the environment is stronger. The question is relevant,
isn’t it? What do you think? What were the results?
Homework: For next week, you have homework about the twin studies
results. Please search the results of the twin studies, select one-two conclusions
and comment them on a half a page, answering the questions: Does the
psychological profile, traits similarity exist at the twins that live in separate
environments? What about the twins living together? What happens in the case of
strangers, who live together? Is the similarity higher at strangers, who live
together than at twins, who live separately?
Formulate conclusions and arguments on the basis of conducted research.
Consult literature from specialized libraries and online books or articles.
For example, there is an outstanding synthesis in this field, entitled Not all Twins
Are Alike. Psychological Profiles of Twinship, (Barbara Schave Klein , 2003).
This book can be found online, at this address:
http://www.amazon.com/Not-All-Twins-Alike-
Psychological/dp/0275975843#reader_0275975843
It is an obvious fact that the studies in the field of genetic psychology and
pedagogy had a great impact regarding the conception and the theory of the
personality development factors. The data obtained from this research is very
important, because on this basis the permanent transition from the exclusive
hereditarianism and from the exclusive environmental theories to a new theory
regarding the personality development factors was possible – the double
determination theory.
Let us further analyze the way the double determination theory is expressed,
its significance regarding the personality development factors. For this, we will
analyze the graphical descriptive model of the theory that overlaps hereditary and
environmental factors (figure no. 4).
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It is also known that, if the language is not mastered until 7-9 years,
some major difficulties will appear subsequently.
Some capabilities have a longer latency, waiting period. For example,
in the field of sciences, people have also remarked themselves after 60 years.
This is the heredity offer in the personality development, native
predisposition, potential, development premises, and not ready made qualities.
In the figure no. 4, we illustrated the heredity offer using the sign „+”.
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Bibliography
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THEME 3
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION
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? Which are the criteria, the requirements according to which the sciences are
validated as sciences? What are the requirements that must be accomplished by a
science?
to have a domain, an object of study, of research and some
purposefulness;
to possess its own methodology, its own research methods,
appropriate to the object of research;
to formulate regularities, laws in the strict sense of the term (ie,
regularities of nature, universal regularities, universally valid,
strong laws, like the ones in physics, the law of gravity, for
example and so on);
to have field of theoretical and/ or practical application,
applicability.
? Are there laws formulated in pedagogy? What type of laws, what attributes do
these have?
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? What are the specific and the role of fundamental principles of education?
Based on scientific research and on direct educational experience, on
educational practice, in pedagogy there are developed some generalizations that
capture the regularity of manifestation of some educational components. So
generalizations do not capture phenomena placed in total relativity, but rather a
certain order, a certain structure of their conduct, which provides, through
knowledge, their exploitation for practice optimizations. Therefore,
generalizations in science get the attribute/ name of principles, namely the
fundamental principles of education; not only that we don’t ignore them, but, on
the contrary, we respect them, these becoming milestones in our educational
activities.
Fundamental principles of education ensure theoretical and praxeological
foundation in education. So, their role is to orient, to guide, and to adjust the
design and actual implementation of education, of educational activities at macro
and micro pedagogical level.
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We will take into attention two examples, two major pedagogical theories,
which generate fundamental principles in education, stating, however, that not all
principles are generated by the two pedagogies (for example, alternative
pedagogies also have an important contribution to the formulation and refinement
of principles):
Research of Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
P.I. Galperin's theory (1902-1988)
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Identify in this book an aspect that captures your attention and produce a
description/ explanation/ comment on it.
The book is very generous from a psychological and pedagogical point
of view. The stages of the moral development of the child are presented. A central
concept is the concept of "justice", also analyzed from an evolutive point of view,
under the influence of requirements but also of the constraints exerted by the
social environment on the child through his parents.
In Piaget's conception, the moral conduct of the child is heteronomous at
the beginning, meaning that is being taken over "nonselective" from the family
environment, in the presence of parents and it concerns only the act, and not the
motivation of it. Piaget talks about the moral heteronomy stage, where the moral
behaviours are determined by the presence and authority of the adult.
? If we ask the little child: What is good? What it means to do good?, the
answer will be: To do what mother and father say! This answer shows clearly that,
in a certain period of age, the child's behaviour is dependent on the physical
presence of the adult; the child does what the adult says, but only when the adult
is present. Once the parent has disappeared from the child’s view, the moral rule
is also „quenched”, the parent requirement was”quenched”. This is the moral
heteronomy phase, the stage of the moral dependence on the adults’ presence.
The stage of the moral conscience, of moral autonomy is a later
acquisition, now the child applies the rule, whether the moral instance is present
or not. The rule can be applied and it is applied because its internalization took
place, the rule is not external to the child, it is not what the parent says. The
transition from heteronomy to moral autonomy is possible and takes place by
systematic exercise of applying moral rules. Therefore, in the preschool and
primary education, it is recommended that rules are clearly established together
with children, are repeated as often as necessary and are exposed/ displayed in the
class. It is necessary to build a set of rules that are accepted, known by children,
systematically repeated and applied, as the exercise of application and repetition
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of rules assures the transition from the dependent morality phase to the
autonomous morality, determined by knowledge of rules, by perception of the
rules use, by the opinion that these are useful.
The concepts that we will further develop are related to another book of Jean
Piaget – „The birth of intelligence at the child” (1973).
According to Jean Piaget, the intellectual development of the child, as
well as the moral one, take place during more stages, phases, steps or stages of
intellectual development, represented by us in the figure nr. 1.
I II III IV
0 2/3 6/7 11/12 14/15
As it can be observed in the figure no. 1, from 0 to 2-3 years, the child
passes through the first stage/ step of intellectual development, from 2-3 to 6-7
years there is another stage, and from 6-7 to 11-12 another one. Around the age of
14-15 years, from an intellectual point of view, the child is trained as intelligence
structure, except the cases where, because of a mental deficiency, of some mental
disability, it doesn’t develop mentally over the landmark of 11-12 years old.
Jean Piaget has defined each stage of intellectual development, through
concepts that faithfully reflect the typical intellectual behaviours of children in
that segment/ age range.
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For example, the child moves his hand in his field of sight, in his vision
space, and, in the same time, he has the visual perception of the movement. A
accidentally, the child touches his mouth and lips with his fingers, moment that
triggers another instinctual act – the sucking reflex. In this way, the child is
gratified, his motion and his sight are gratified by the sucking reflex. From this
moment on, the child will repeat more and more often this chain of acts, so that at
some point, the child will intentionally take his finger to his mouth, in order to
unleash the sucking reflex. This is when two previously separated phenomena,
movement and sight, are integrated into a new structure, the seonsorimotor
structure.
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The second stage, that coincides with the kindergarten time, is called
preoperational stage (intuitive stage of the intelligence development). At this
stage we can also talk about rich and complex manifestations that are typical for
the early period of the child's life, for the preschool period.
Let’s identify together certain typical manifestations of the small child,
which define its behaviour in the preoperational phase.
Students’ responses:
- imitation;
- search, epistemic, overflowing curiosity, which leads to a faster current
evolution of the children, compared to the children of yesteryear;
- self-control mechanisms that appear gradually.
? How does a child respond to the question: Who is more beautiful? Who is
stronger?
A student answer: The child responds: I am!
This is the modal response of the small child, when asked to compare
himself with others. It's typical behaviour, at this age, in the early childhood,
determined by a feature called egocentrism.
Please study in depth the new terms you are facing, using dictionaries, to
decrypt their meaning.
Egocentrism means, literally, centred on the ego, on the self, meaning an
emphasis of the self, a self-locating in the centre of the universe. Why is the child
self, the ego emphasized? Because the ego is revealed in the absence of another;
the toddler discovers the self before discovering another, the other. Self-
centeredness can be manifested and developed beyond its natural phase in youth
and adulthood, if it is reinforced, rewarded in childhood. Self-centeredness is an
obstacle in the socialization of children in kindergarten, but the interactive
methods for developing communication and cooperation skills gradually lead to
socio-emotional maturation of the child.
For example, the early preschool child goes to kindergarten and wants to
capture all the toys and if someone else takes his toy, he becomes rebellious, he is
crying, according to the experiences he lived in the family and the manifestations
that his parents have allowed him. Such egocentric behaviours of children put the
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kindergarten teacher in very difficult situations, to which this must cope with a lot
of pedagogical tact.
? How is this narrative creativity, this rich fantasy of the infant called?
Record and study the term fabulation. It refers to the typical fantasy of the
early childhood period, to the fantastic, unreal presentation of reality, so it is,
apparently, the fantasy is a lie. The fabulation is not a lie, because a lie is a false
presentation of things, is the de-realization of reality, altering the reality made
with a clear intent to gain advantage or to defraud another. Lying is a fabulation
with purpose, while the fabulation does not have an assumed particular purpose, it
is simply fantasy, imagination. It should be noted that from the fabulation to lie
just the assumed purpose is missing.
? A legitimate question arises here: The fabulation of the child should be praised
and stimulated or inhibited?
Sometimes, children, through their natural manifestations, in exercising
imagination and creativity, are taught to persevere, because their parents reinforce
this behaviour by feedback, verbal praise and material rewards.
It is important that gradually, along with the child’s transition towards
primary school, the children learn and understand that there is a difference
between the fantastic world and the real world.
? We put before the child a lot of concrete objects, for example bees, cats and we
ask: How many ... are here? What does the child answer, is he saying 3, 5, 7...?
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Many classifications can be realized with children, for example, from the
set of figures, children have to choose all the red figures (circle, square, triangle,
and rectangle) or to choose all thin figures or all big circles etc. This is a
profitable classification exercise and research has confirmed that the operation of
classification of figures, practiced with the kit, is being transferred to other types
of classification, performed in other contexts and circumstances.
A concrete operation and also mental (mental action), with developments
in classifications proximity, is represented by the series of the elements of a set. In
a natural way, it seems, children have a propensity in doing series. If we give
children objects, they put them in a row, they make the „train”.
series. For example, the child says, here is the locomotive, then a wagon, another
wagon ... In an object-specific way, in making the series, the child makes, even if
he doesn’t say, equivalence, unity classes: one/another and so on, the child is
having access to the concrete-objectual reality that he organizes in a personal way.
The question is: are there more faces than stars/ ... are less ... than ..., or
there are as many? The exercise can be done with various objects, for example,
pencils and erasers etc.
It is noted that in the set placement, in term by term correspondence, in
this example, we have a double equivalence:
the equivalence of sets elements, 5 faces, 5 stars;
the equivalence of space, the extent of the first set is equal with the
extent of the second one.
The second sequence: In front of the child there are put the elements of
the same set, ranged and in term by term correspondence, but without spatial
equivalence, the extent, the occupied space by the two sets is not equivalent.
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Now, in this example, the quantitative equivalence of the sets was kept, 5
faces, 5 stars, but the spatial equivalence is altered, the extent of the elements of
the two sets. The star set obviously occupies a larger space than the set of faces.
And the question arises again: are there more faces than stars/ ... are
there less ... than ..., or there are as many?
The structure of the preoperational intelligence, specific for the preschool
time, is anchored in undefined quantitative concepts: more, less, equally. The
child of 3/4 - 6/7 years does not measure the quantities arithmetic, he does it
intuitive. Regarding the above mentioned task, the child gives several answers:
there are more stars than faces. Now the sets are not measured by quantitative
content, by their element number. The concepts like more, less or as many as are
a global, syncretic result, given by the space on which the elements of the set are
extended.
Only in the concrete operational stage (approximately after 6-7 years
old), the child will declare the set equivalence based only on the quantitative
content, regardless of the length of the string or the size of the area in which the
elements are placed. In this moment, it can be said that the child is in the concrete
operational stage that he has reached the stage of quantity conservation. This
psychogenic landmark is an important argument of programming learning tasks
in a sequential way, during the schooling cycles at the early age (kindergarten,
primary school).
Summarizing the above presented information, the first stage of intellectual
development is characterized by sensory-motor behaviors, in the second one
preoperational capacities are put into action, in the third one the child expresses
himself concrete-operational, and the propositional intelligence stage/ the formal
intelligence stage ends, in Jean Piaget's view, this process of intellectual
development in the childhood.
In the figure no. 1 it is noted that each stage of development, in
chronological determined landmarks, includes children that have common
manifestations. Children have psychical age traits, as: sensorimotor skills,
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FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY. THEMATIC HIGHLIGHTS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
? If we will ask the child: What does the expression The water flows, the stones
remain mean? What would a child in the concrete-operational intelligence stage
say? He will say, simply, that the water flows and the stones remain, they do not
flow, respectively he will emphasize the concrete part of the expression. Only in
the stage of formal, propositional intelligence, the child will say that the sentence
reflects the stability, the depth, seriousness, what is valuable and is not transitory,
is durable, strong.
Another important remark is the following: knowing and valuing mental
age traits gives the possibility of organizing educational group activities, with
identical or similar tasks regarding the difficulty/ complexity degree.
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Individual activities involve the design of individual work tasks and their
capitalization, especially in the following situations:
- to gifted children, who need additional stimulation, in order to
exploit their superior potential compared to the average level specific
to a particular age;
- to children with learning difficulties, in order to support them
to overcome these difficulties.
The theoretical foundations of the constructivist pedagogy emphasize the
Principle of respecting the individual and age features in education.
Education is effective, if it is sized optimally to the individual, personal
particularities of the pupils. Developing and implementing an adapted curriculum
is a common practice in the contemporary education.
Unfortunately, the mainstream education in our country continues to be
dominated by the collective teaching project, through common activities for all
the children in the class. Only in the special education, the design and the
implementation of the teaching activities become more flexible, more adjusted to
the individual and personal needs.
Effective education, modern education abandoned the scenario of the
mainly common activities, with all the students of a class. New concepts and
practices are valued in the contemporary pedagogy: Individual Educational Plan.
Such approaches are consonant with the Principle of respecting individual
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psychological traits and physical age traits, principle that comes from the
constructivist pedagogy of Jean Piaget.
We bring into attention, in the contemporary context, the phenomenon of
accelerated development of the child. So, the chronological landmarks mentioned
by Jean Piaget should not be considered in a rigid, absolute way. Moreover,
immediately after the release of Piaget's stage theory of development comments
about chronological landmarks that the author has set have emerged.
Currently, children of 7 years, capable of propositional, formal
intelligence can be seen. It is observed that today the children register a faster
rhythm regarding the intellectual, social and emotional development, compared to
the previous generations.
With the help of the figure no. 1 we showed that development occurs
sequentially, step by step, so that we can talk about a continuum in the
development, explained in the constructivist pedagogy. For example, the
concrete-operational intelligence stage is not a complete new stage, isolated from
the continuum; it is placed just in this continuum.
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Figure no. 3: The graphical model for the illustration of the principle of
internalizing concepts and mental operations (after P.I. Galperin)
For example, child is given a set of objects and he orders its elements,
makes the series or "train"/ the column. A toy is given to the child and he is
dismantles it, decomposes it into component elements. The child does not only
contemplate the reality, he is not satisfied only to look to the objects that are close
to him. He engages spontaneously in actions of active exploration of the objects:
puts the hand, tests the material he is coming into contact with, composes and
decomposes objects from his surrounding reality, breaks and fixes them. This is
the debut phase of learning, which involves receiving learning material and
making changes to the external reality, a very important step in the development
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of action skills in children. This is because the concrete actions of the child – the
handling of objects, cutting, arranging, making series, setting terms in
correspondence, develop many components of his intelligence, required in the
intellectual acts.
For example, the child action for identification of objects and their
properties are made easier and more deeply by exploring and transforming them.
How else could the child notice that an object is rectangular, the other has a
square, that one is thinner, thicker than the other and so on, than acting with them,
working effectively?
So, the action helps to identify objects and their features, to group objects
into categories/ types, to identify and reproduce some relationships between the
components of the object. In his actions, the child will not put the tractor wheels
on the hood, as the relationship between the components of the object is a
predetermined one, and the child learns it like this, through construction and
deconstruction, through assemblage and disassemblage.
The child forms spatial representations, that are very important in
finalizing and refining of the body scheme, in the acquisition of notions: left-right,
up-down, front-back. The child gets to build classes/ categories of objects,
discovers new things, and develops his vocabulary.
According to Galperin, all the ideas and knowledge of the child,
everything that the child will have in mind at a certain time, goes through the
effective external action, through the concrete-objectual operation. Research data
confirms this, showing that children who explore and experiment actively, deeper,
more thoroughly and more frequently the external concrete reality, are more
intelligent than the passive and withdrawn ones; the more energetic children, the
ones with more initiative, more curious, more experiential form and develop
better the abilities than the ones who experience with apprehension, hesitation and
shyness.
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children the experience door open, support them to follow the actional experience
way, in order to influence their personality in a positive way.
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The last level of internalizing is what Galperin called the mental action.
The mental action is the external action totally transferred to the level of concepts
and mental operations. It is about a transfer from the concrete plan to the abstract
one, context in which, the action is transferred in inner language, hence the name
of the principle – the principle of internalizing, because the transfer is done in the
inner, internalized language.
The notions and the mental operations represent the internalization of
concrete, external actions. Some examples of external actions are: placing objects
in pairs, achievement of the letters of the alphabet (for example, the games with
plastic or paperboard letters, that children put into a row and with which they
learn the letters of the alphabet). So, Galperin believes that the concepts that we
have in mind are the result of such concrete external actions. For them to come to
mind and thinking, a transfer phase needs to be browsed, transfer that is made at
the talked aloud level of language.
So, concrete actions turn into verbal statements, so that children acquire the
ability to verbalize their actions. To say, for example: we made the row of dots,
we took the yellow dot, then the pink one, then the purple one and at the end the
green one. Or, we made the train.
This phase of enunciation, the verbalization, is very important and values
the strong relationship between thinking and language; it is natural not to be able
to transfer in mental plan a notion or an operation/ mental action, without passing
it through the language filter.
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Let us look at a very simple example from mathematics: When the child
says 2+3=5, as mental action, he sais it because he internalized the concrete
external action, in which he gathered two dots and three dots, put them together
and observed that there are five in total.
The theory of mental actions developed by Galperin transmits a clear
methodological message: in school, mental notions and operations can not be
developed, without doing concrete, external actions. This conclusion represents,
in fact, a fundamental principle in the activity with children in the kindergarten
and in the primary school. In order to support them in their intellectual
development, it is necessary for them to operate with objects, to collect them, to
separate them, because arithmetic operations can not be learned from arithmetic
operations nor the concepts from the definition of the concepts.
? What is the student doing on this route? He actually works, being permanently
active. From here derives the principle of active and aware learning of the
student in the educational process, since the acquisitions that the student obtains
do not come just from the educator, these are being achieved with own effort, as
learning is an individual process. The knowledge of the teacher will not "be
poured" directly in the minds of the students, they will have to read, to take
notes, to reflect, to figure out significances, to recode, to analyze critically, to
interpret, to capture the essence, extract the main ideas, to deduce, discover,
anticipate etc. Currently teaching and learning processes should not be
perceived in a traditional way, respectively teaching does not consist in the
transmission of knowledge and learning in the passive reception and
repetition/ mechanical reproduction of knowledge. On the contrary, teaching
is a complex activity of designing learning situations and of generating
learning experiences, and learning implies personal active involvement,
personal reflection, practice of logical, critical, exploratory, divergent and
creative thinking, search, investigation, discovery, questioning and so on.
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much. The teacher dictated, the students were writing and then repeated in chorus
several times, maybe few dozen times, until they knew. Learning was mechanical;
it was not a conscious learning, based on the employment of thinking.
This explains the fact that the principle of intuition, which was a
fundamental principle in old pedagogy, is being reconsidered and it develops
another principle, the principle of active and conscious participation of the
student in the educational process. And, much more, in the last period, in the
contemporary pedagogy, the principle of active participation is being revised and
reformulated in a modern principle – the principle of interactive participation.
Why? Because it is in consonance with the generous, optimal educational context
of today, which is an interactive environment, based on interactive curricular
conditions. These involve a double hypostasis of the student involvement in the
educational process:
a) on the one hand, he engages in educational sequences through
individual engagement, through his own effective activity;
b) on the other hand, he is engaging not in a solitary manner, no by
himself, not isolated, but in interaction with other colleagues,
establishing social, intellectual and affective interactions with them.
The developments registered in the educational sciences lead to the fact
that in contemporary pedagogy, the problem of the principles represents an area
approached through a large diversity of concepts, agreements and theoretical
configurations. So, the traditional defining of principles, with their foundation in
the empiric psychology, is being replaced by innovative approaches, offered by
psychogenetic constructivist of Piaget, by the theory of phased development of
notions and mental operations etc. More recently, a new presentation of the
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process focuses the attention on the diversity of the components that are to be
combined: teaching – learning – assessment. If only from this angle, teaching
practice can aspire to success when the educational system is redesigned
according to the needs and possibilities for development of its beneficiaries.
Pedagogues and practitioners can provide to the decision factors the useful
information for the redesigning of the educational system and of the Romanian
school. A new and provocative vision of the design and functioning of the school
is not only desirable but also possible.
We present further the principles of modern didactics, designed to
facilitate effective learning guiding in different concrete educational situations.
These principles are subordinated to the most important factors of school success,
as settled in the contemporary research:
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Components of metacognition
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Bibliography
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THEME 4
THE FINALITIES OF EDUCATION
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level. So, even if this ideal belongs to the Romanian school, it not reachable by
the Romanian society.
The student’s answer represents a critical-constructive analysis regarding
the role of the educational ideal. Here we find a relevant question: we have an
educational ideal, but what about the children with special educational
requirements? In this context, we talk about the necessity of integration, about the
necessity of the inclusive school, which should be followed both in theory and in
practice, for the purpose of achieving an optimum ratio between ideal and
possible, between wish and reality.
? Thus, we come across another question: What do we prepare the children for?
The educational ideal describes the ideal portrait of personality (which is
why we use the term “ideal”) necessary within the society at a certain moment in
time.
? But: Is this portrait, described by the ideal, a reliable scale for the design and
for the practical process of education? Are we indeed free, integral and
harmonious personalities? No matter of the society he lives in, we consider that
no individual can fully experience freedom, thoroughness or harmony, because
freedom is an assumed responsibility. Therefore, as active members of the society,
we assume various constraints, since certain aspects of life sometimes comprise
more constraint than freedom.
Thus, it becomes obvious that the educational ideal mentioned by the National
Education Law has only a theoretical relevance. It does not hold a concrete,
instrumental, functional value and cannot be found in any of the working
documents used by the preschool, primary or other teachers.
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definitions must be functional, underlining the use of things and objects. Thus,
the child is capable to:
- name the object and perform classifications – for instance, he can
name a fruit, without precisely naming an apple, a pear etc.;
- realise comparisons – for instance, the child names the green colour
of an object, in comparison to other white objects;
- go beyond particular and expand his thinking from particular to
general;
- know his body;
- understand the special and temporal coordinates of his actions and
even modify them, by answering questions like: Where? When?
The knowledge is the information producing and setting in the
thinking process, and not the information producing and setting in the memory.
The learning based on memory is a mechanical type of learning, whereas the
learning based on thinking is an interiorized type of learning.
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might be: What examples can be found for…?, How would you organise the
examples….?, What would you propose for…? etc.
4. The analysis requires setting the main ideas in a text, discovering the
causes of a phenomenon and the premises staying at the basis of a philosophical
essay, identifying the errors within an argumentation etc.
In this taxonomic level, the relevant key-words in formulating the tasks
are: Analyse…, Differentiate…, Distinguish…, Discriminate…, Compare…,
Select…, and some typical examples of questions might be: What common and
differentiating elements are there between…?, What can we differentiate …
from ….?, Which are the main aspects of the comparative analysis of … from
the perspective…? etc.
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manual operations, of the physical abilities and to the gradual development of the
physical abilities – see table no. 2:
The classes of
objectives according to “Action verbs” examples
Bloom’s taxonomy
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Table no. 4: “Action verbs” examples for the classes of objectives according to
Bloom’s taxonomy
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objective?
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Advantages Limitations
- the objectives provide the - not all objectives can be
necessary rigour to the formulated in concrete, specific
educational action; terms (for examples those
- the objectives have an aiming the formation of the
orientation role for the teachers character features, the attitudes,
and a motivational role for the the feelings);
pupils; - not all behaviours can be
- the objectives represent guides anticipated rigorously, especially
for the designing, realization and when targeting the development
evaluation of the learning of the children’s creativity, the
results. problem solving by heuristic
methods.
Each time, the announced triumph of the new pedagogies was not
fully validated. Although they continuously marked the development of the
domain, the new pedagogies entered, each one at its turn, in the shadow, the
debating and applications space being caught by new horizons, ever larger.
Of course, the technology and the pedagogy are in a causal and
circular relation. They develop by reciprocity and complementarity, even if
there are gaps between the generalized implementation of the new
technologies in schools. The learning creates new technologies, and the
technological creation becomes a driver of learning, developing new
educational environments and forcing the revision and the restructuring of the
learning strategies.
Why did most of the pedagogical reforms fail, so far? The
explanations touch, obviously, various causes, but one of them holds a major
weight. Comenius’ pedagogy and the education on classes and lessons
dominated the European educational systems more than 300 years (since the
second half of the XVII century until the end of the XX century). The
alternative pedagogies were always suspected of adventuring and distancing
themselves from the Comenius’ system, and their majority proved, over time,
to be incompatible to what was consecrated as valuable educational tradition
in the conception of the classes and lessons organisation.
In the present, the education gains a new horizon on the coordinates
of the interactive pedagogy and on the competences pedagogy. The new
pedagogies are not simple theories artificially incorporated into the
Comenius’ pedagogy. They have built more flexible educational systems,
with a higher adjustment capacity, under the pressure of three important
factors in the contemporary pedagogy: the children’s and the adults’ personal
capacities of development; the educational requirements specific to the
diversity of the school population; the community’s priorities.
In consequence, three dimensions were restructured in education, in
order to provide the school with the flexibility and the adjustment to the new
realities. First, we mention the rethinking of the pupil’s role from the
perspective of the interactive pedagogy. The pupil, generally speaking (the
child, the young and the adult), becomes the subject of education, with no
restraint and no discrimination. Then, the gap between the appearance of the
new technologies and their use in the education reduces and even disappears.
For instance, the electronic computer, the internet, the virtual classes (the
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vessels, specific to physics, a big and full recipient – the teacher, fills all the small
and empty recipients – the pupils, transmitting information.
reform: the nature and content of the learning experiences, the teacher - pupil
relationship, the teacher - teacher relationship, the pupil - pupil relationship, but
especially the necessary connections between school, education and the real life
experiences. This three-dimensional integration – the pedagogical action –
interpersonal relationships – the real life – defines the new, interactive pedagogy.
The synthesis of the new pedagogy is one of maximum concentration,
and the disciplinary picture, heterogeneous and disseminated into tens of branches,
is condensed in comprehensive, fundamental domains: the educational
management, the curriculum theory, the theory of instruction and evaluation.
Now, at the beginning of the third millennium, there are well designed
dimensions and tendencies of the education and of learning. The unique school
and the common and obligatory curriculum passed us, with decisive steps in the
history of pedagogy. The new educational models assume dynamism, flexibility
and adjustment to the individual and community needs. Then, school as an entity,
as a solitary actor in a socio-professional environment limited or isolated from the
community, ceases its existence.
The future belongs to the innovative school, to the networks of
educational institutions, connected to common programmes of experimenting
teaching, learning, management and quality promotion. More than ever, the
modern school tries to identify and develop alternative learning structures, with
multiple ways, adaptable and efficient in formal, informal and nonformal contexts,
active during the entire social and professional life. The educational phenomenon
can no longer be reduced to the educational institutions dedicated to the different
levels of study; it integrates and articulates all sources, experiences and
educational influences, combined with the nonformal and informal frameworks,
including the self-education.
A new pedagogy for the school space in its wholeness, including the
university, but also for the continuous education is imperatively necessary. Its
construction will incorporate novelty dimensions and tendencies, continuously
placed in complementarity. Among these tendencies we mention:
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All in all, the participants who have been taught using the ADL system have obtained better results
in comparison with 98% of the participants who have been taught in a traditional manner.
Students 2
ADL
Traditional
teaching
Learning rate
concrete experiences, gains the force to re-project and globally prospect the
educational activity.
The research and the educational practice prove the role as main
pedagogical operator held by the curriculum. Thus, it is clear that the innovation
in education, the reform of an educational system is decided on the curriculum
field (A. Marga, 2003). In the effort to adapt to the market and competition
requirements, the success belonged to those educational systems which adopted
flexible principles of projecting the learning experiences, alongside the creation of
some new alternative structures for formation and perfection, articulating the
theoretical and the practical preparation.
The efficient projection and implementation of the curriculum becomes
an issue of pedagogical instrumentation: both methodological and technological,
but also one of pedagogical creativity, to set the educational system within new,
functional parameters. The didactic activity incorporates a various and flexible
methodological support; the science evolution and the social practice offers the
school new models and suggestions for projecting and conducting the learning
experiences. Placed at the interface between the technology and the methodology,
the teacher, with his personality, competence and creativity, will be motivated to
assume educational projects of effective conception and action.
The educational policies gained their place in the foreword of the global,
regional and local development strategies, due to their conceptual and pragmatic
validation (source: Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for
Tertiary Education, The World Bank, Washington D.C, 2002). Principles widely
mediatized today, such as the knowledge-based economy; the knowledge age; the
global education; the lifelong learning; the inclusive education; equal
opportunities; the partnership in education; the experimental school and
experimental community etc., represent challenges for essential searches
regarding the comprehensive reform of the education. With all these openings, at
the beginning of the third millennium, the mankind is still marked by the horizon
limitation of its prospect over the future in the every-day existence, as well as in
education.
As a consolation, if necessary, studies dedicated to the domain observe
that all changes in the far or close past evolved in a similar manner. For instance,
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2001) failed mostly. The concept of the flexible curriculum and the framework
programmes, optimally structured within the reform in clearly defined areas of
learning, marked numerous dysfunctions in schools. For instance, the curriculum
set at the school’s decision and the optional disciplines were often condensed in
the school’s offer, in extensions of the obligatory curriculum (Vlăsceanu, L.,
coord., 2002). But we must remark, after the experience in this domain that the
reforms produce in sequences and cycles. The solution for the education’s
renewal implies flexible approaches and experiments, involving politicians,
school specialists and citizens.
The conception according to which what is taught, how it is taught and
how it is learned would be identical in all of the schools does not belong to the
future. The efficiency of the education worldwide was reached where were
promoted multiple, flexible approaches, and the pedagogies diversity continues to
gain more and more ground. The synthesis of the education’s characteristics in
the past and in the future marks tendencies impossible to be ignored by any
reform.
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The monopole of each school in its recruiting space, sufficient for the
planned classes, started to weaken and will cease definitively. New teachers,
highly qualified, motivated in their career and willing to perform are also
increasing. The rural educational system for instance, functions mostly with
substitute teachers and the mobility rate of the teachers is very high, even
during the school year.
The implications of this competition are complicated and the schools
which aren’t systematically preparing to face it will fail, following the destiny
of the unproductive industries.
The function of the school into the future will be conditioned by its
large opening towards the diversity of the educational services.
The successful school is the one providing flexible educational
programmes, adapted to the diversity of demand and of the learning capacities.
The preference for elite pupils, for recruiting and matriculate some groups of
pupils while rejecting others on performance or ethical, social, cultural criteria
etc. will create difficulties in many schools. In this context, we must underline
the tendency of the inclusive school, integrating the children and the young
belonging to underprivileged groups, such as the groups with special
educational needs, such as the disabled children. The inclusion of these
children in the school’s programmes not a disadvantage but on the contrary,
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schools is more sensitive than the state schools towards the children with
learning difficulties or coming from underprivileged groups. This openness
brings them an extra image within the community/ society, but also
pedagogical opportunities and added value in the human and financial
resources.
It is a certainty that into the future the school will focus more on
winning educational contracts; these will no longer simply be offered neither
to the state school nor to the private ones. The teachings councils and the
schools’ management will have to dedicate more time to the contract
negotiation and to the educational alternatives, to assure the quality of the
instructive-educative process, to the educational marketing etc.
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The concept of the classical pedagogy: the The concept of the modern pedagogy
pupils must adapt to the teacher The teachers must adapt to the pupil
- the traditional school, the unique type - the school of change
- the conservative school - the school for all
- the school for the modal pupil - the inclusive school
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Bibliography
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THEME 5
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS AND DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE CONTEMPORARY PEDAGOGY
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primary school. It is to notice here that the special education, offered to the
children with special educational needs, has remained in a total amnesia in the
memory of the hierarchical educational system.
Another aspect that fundamentally imprints the hierarchically
organised educational systems is the one of the common study programmes
and of the compulsory curriculum. This feature determines a paradox that is
rarely encountered in other fields of human activity. What would be another
professional field, industry branch or services industry where the employees
are assigned to professional contributions that are equivalent as required effort
and results? The mandatory character of the curriculum compels the pupils to
pass through identical learning experiences. The school programmes and
plans are not diversified or flexible because at the level of each educational
cycle there is an only type of school and standard requirements. Moreover,
these uniform study programmes are overloaded, a fact that leads to a
significant disparity between the official learning requirements (volume,
complexity, study time) and the actual learning capacities of pupils. Thus, the
pupils who are not able to adapt to the quantity of knowledge, to the
accelerated learning rhythm, are in risk of being left behind, of not being
granted the chance to reach the final standards for gymnasium or high school.
In the same time, it is important to mark the fact that form the
managerial perspective, in the hierarchically organised educational systems,
all the decisional positions and responsibilities are packed in the top of the
hierarchy and are diminished or even absent at the base of the system. In other
words, the planning, organisation, decision and control are highly centralised,
and the classic centralisation in the educational system determines numerous
blockages and dysfunctions.
(horizontally organised)
As stated in figure no. 3, the diversity of entrances and exits of the
system becomes explicit. This is in the sense that the types of schools existing at
the level of an educational cycle are not closed to each other, but, on the contrary,
a whole dynamic of entrances and exits may be noticed. A student that enters the
general technical gymnasium, for example, may transfer to the pre-university
gymnasium in the case he accomplishes the requirements of the supplementary
curriculum proper to this school.
All the same, the educational systems organised in network promote the
curriculum flexibility, a fact that assures a large range of optional activities for the
whole school population of a certain educational cycle; thus, the “compulsory”
curriculum represents only a part of the whole curriculum. Moreover, in the
process of instruction, an important role is played by the “individual curriculum”,
which reflects possible study paths that are the expression of personal training
option.
Consequently to the above presented analyses, we could affirm that the
educational systems organised according to the network model promote the
paradigm of the school that adapts to the requirements and educational
possibilities of the student. From this perspective, the flexible structure of the
educational system organised in a network is continuously enriched, a fact which
determines the permanent innovation and diversification of the learning
experiences. The school is not structured in accordance with the possibilities and
training needs of the “typical student”, but according to the ones of each and
every student that may have individual particularities of diverse natures.
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hand, within an education system that is network-organized there are four types of
secondary schools, for example:
- Secondary education offers an enriched curriculum and is organized in
order to prepare students for direct admission to upper secondary
education. Therefore, following this type of secondary education
students have the opportunity beginning with 17 years old to be
admitted to a university if the scores / grades obtained are above a
certain threshold standard. This secondary education is, up to a certain
extent, similar to the centres of excellence, which were intended to be
developed in our country. Obviously, this case does not concern only
the gifted children, but children who are able to learn very effectively
in a short time.
- General upper secondary education – this type of education is
organized as a secondary level, below the university level.
- Vocational or technical upper secondary level – is designed
to guide learners to take up various professions, providing them with
the possibility to enrol in polytechnic universities and vocational higher
education institutions.
- Inferior upper secondary education, the minimum level,
targets underperforming students.
It is important to note that these types of secondary schools are not
"closed", that is if a student has enrolled in upper secondary education, it does not
mean that he/she cannot switch to another type of secondary school, including
towards an inferior one. It is the family’s decision to enrol a student within a
certain type of secondary education, but this choice is influenced by the results
obtained in the final evaluation test, at the end of primary education. These results
have a diagnostic and prognostic value that is acknowledged by the parents. In
addition, it has to be mentioned the fact that just because a student has been
admitted initially in an inferior secondary school, it does not mean that he/she
cannot have access afterwards to other secondary schools, including upper
secondary level. If the student is aware that he/she has other options and if he/she
proves to be capable, then he/she can switch to another type of secondary school.
This change is allowed on a normal basis, depending on the student's progress, i.e.
his/her academic progress. In other words, within the network-organized
education systems it is offered a variety of flexible educational routes. Therefore
one does not provide a single route, as it is the case of our secondary education,
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The data presented above suggest that the differences between the two types of
structures - hierarchical and network - determine different processes within them,
respectively as regards:
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Thus, within the paradigm that promotes student adjustment to school, the
educational institution operates in accordance with curriculum documents, with
unique and compulsory teaching-learning programs, offering the same education
for all the students. If we would offer a comprised definition this would be a
uniform school. Naturally, it is made reference to the clothing item "uniform" that
students use, but the fact that the school is uniform, i.e. the schools have the same
design construction. The traditional uniform school-type education system that is
hierarchically organized can be characterized as follows:
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psychological experiences within that space are restrictive and have a poor content
in terms of communicative exchanges and educational influences.
The importance of this space can be emphasized at all levels of education,
from kindergarten, where one is always in contact with the others and always
remains in contact with the teacher. When students are enrolled in pre-primary
education, they begin to be placed in desks, in rows; this generated discomfort and
malfunction both for themselves and for the teacher. When learners are not placed
in desks, "obedient", the teacher states that “students are not ready for school
instruction.” Based on this, we deduce the importance of two defining
characteristics of the network-organized education systems, namely diversity and
flexibility. They are indispensable attributes to inclusive training and inclusive
education; one cannot talk about inclusion without diversity and without flexibility
and, conversely, one can talk about segregation in the system.
Thanks to diversity, education becomes effective if it provides and operates
more diverse curricular resources that are adapted to the particularities of the school,
requirements and flexible educational programs.
In conclusion, we consider that the following two dimensions of the
educational system can provide the greatest level of flexibility to the educational
programs and thus, can increase the effectiveness of training students:
1. The structure of the educational system: if the structure is hierarchical,
then it is inflexible, so a network structure is needed; this one has to
be flexible and to allow the manifestation of diversity. Thus, to be
flexible means to promote and develop diversity.
2. The educational curriculum should be flexible, should enable and
propose appropriate educational programs that are tailored to the
particular characteristics of each student.
school programs
course books
guidelines
workbooks
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authorities and it concerns particularly the primary and secondary level. Still,
there are universities that decide to provide for their students a list of common
courses in a certain specialization field.
Local or regional curriculum
The local curriculum is composed of learning contents and experiences
that are specific to the community (social and economic environment) where
the school is located. The proposed learning experiences facilitate the
students’ gain of knowledge about the places, values, traditions, practices in
the community. Thus the youths have increased chances of economic and
social integration within the community they belong to.
Individual curriculum
The individual curriculum is a personalized curriculum based on two
specific traits that students have as individuals: their educational needs and their
educational possibilities. As the students advance towards higher levels of
education the importance of the local and individual curriculum can play a
decisive role.
The integration of the three curriculum categories in a comprehensive
project is a complicated operation for at least two reasons:
1. The conceptual map of the curriculum is dense and large. Thus there
intervene inclusive or correlated curricular structures that force the trial
and validation of diverse combinations.
2. Focusing on certain types of curriculum can alter the fundamental
principles of curricular construction. The emphasis is laid on principles
such as equal chances, education for all, inclusive education, education
for the gifted students, prescribed curriculum versus skills-focused
curriculum, curriculum focused on acquired knowledge versus
curriculum focused on competences etc.
We present in figure no. 4 a parallel between the stratification of the
curriculum in Romania in relation to its stratification in the educational systems in
Europe.
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CURRICULUM
LOCAL CURRICULUM DECIDED BY
THE SCHOOL
INDIVIDUAL
CURRICULUM
OPTIONAL
The central role of the curriculum in the educational systems in the world
is to render more flexible the study programs, to allow the transfer in education
from the old paradigm — the student should adapt to school, to the modern
paradigm — the school needs to adapt to the student. Consequently, the
curriculum becomes the main operator in the modernization of the educational
systems since the curriculum proposes various study itineraries, group and
personalized ones, instead of the traditional study programs, common and
compulsory, incorporated in the contents of education.
Situational analyses performed in schools allow the observation that the
curriculum stratification in Romania is mainly a formal activity and the
applications per se frequently remain anchored in the old undertaking of the
common and compulsory programs.
In addition to the concepts defined and analysed above, we present below
a series of concepts that are stated in the Romanian Education Law no.1/ 2011,
and are associated with the curriculum reform:
1. The national curriculum represents the coherent ensemble of the
education frameworks and of the study programs in upper secondary and
compulsory education (Chapter IV, art. 64, paragraph (2)).
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11. Within the National curriculum the optional courses represent 20% of
the frameworks within the compulsory education and 30% within the
high school education (Chapter IV, art. 66, paragraph (4)).
12. Depending on the students’ characteristics and their school strategy, the
teacher decides if the percentage of 25% of the time allotted to the
discipline/domain of study is used for remedial learning, in the case of
children with special needs, in order to consolidate their knowledge or to
stimulate the gifted students according to some individual study plans
elaborated for each student. (Chapter IV, art. 66, paragraph (5)).
13. The national curriculum for early education is focused on the
children’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development,
respectively on the early handling of the possible development
deficiencies (Chapter IV, art. 67, paragraph (1)).
14. The national curriculum for primary and secondary education is oriented
towards eight domains of key-competencies that determine the
student’s development profile (Chapter IV, art. 68, paragraph (1)).
15. The curriculum for pre-primary level aims at student’s physical,
socio-emotional, cognitive, language and communication development as
well as the learning skills and aptitudes, ensuring at the same time the
development of the 8 key-competences (Chapter IV, art. 68, paragraph
(4)).
16. In public or private educational institutions there are used course books
and auxiliary teaching resources that are approved by the Ministry of
Education, Research, Youth and Sports (Chapter IV, art. 69, paragraph
(1)).
17. The Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports regulates the
elaboration of alternative school manuals (Chapter IV, art. 69,
paragraph (2)).
18. The curricular auxiliaries are constituted of methodological guides
that because of their content are in conformity with the legal provisions
in force. The teachers can select and use these in the classroom, in
accordance with their professional initiative, in order to improve the
quality of the educational process (Chapter IV, art. 69, paragraph (5)).
19. The school libraries and documentation and information centres are
organized and function based on regulations elaborated by the Ministry
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FOUNDATIONS OF PEDAGOGY. THEMATIC HIGHLIGHTS FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
of Education, Research, Youth and Sports (Chapter IV, art. 70, paragraph
(1)).
20. There has been established the Virtual School Library and the E-
learning school platform that include school programs, samples of
lessons addressing all topics in the school programs, methodological
guides, evaluation sample tests (Chapter IV, art. 70, paragraph (2)).
21. The gifted children and youth, regardless of their age, benefit from
educational programs that respect their learning abilities and performance.
These programs focus on advanced study and they group students
according to their skills. The program is enriched with new fields such
as tutoring, competence transfer and, the intention of promoting the
individual study pace (Chapter IV, art. 57, paragraph (5)).
22. The school council comprises all the teachers from the school that has a
legal entity. It is chaired by a director and meetings are held monthly or
when the situation requires it, at the director’s request or at the request of
at least one third of the teaching staff (Chapter VII, Article 98, paragraph
(1)). The duties of the school council staff: the board proposes to the
administration council the curriculum decided by the school (Chapter
VII, Article 98, paragraph (2), letter e).
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PROFESSOR PHD VASILE CHIȘ
Bibliography
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