Methodological Questions of Pedagogical Science in Czechoslovakia

The authors are trying to trace the main trends in the further development of pedagogical science in Czechoslovakia. They analyse the present state of pedagogical science and specify the stage it finds itself in. On the basis of a methodological analysis of a number of pedagogical papers they single out some typical features characterising the present state of pedagogy in Czechoslovakia. They are: an endeavour to squeeze living educational problems into the traditional and rigorously fixed pattern of categories and concepts; unilaterally descriptive interpretation of pedagogical phenomena; problems are tackled as a whole without being divided up into partial problems. These features account for the fact that pedagogy has not made a thorough inquiry into its own educational process with all its peculiarities. One of the basic causes of the criticised shortcomings of pedagogical science is the low methodological standard of pedagogical papers, which is shown on the one hand by one-sided deductivism, on the other hand by empiricism. Personality cult (as well as dogmatism, which is closely related to it) has also played its role in bringing about the unsatisfactory level of pedagogical thinking. The basic necessary condition for a successful development of pedagogical science in future is, in the authors’ opinion, raising, above all, the general standard of methodology in tackling pedagogical problems. The authors further analyse in greater detail a number of methodological questions such as the necessity of drawing conclusions from the contemporary social movement of socialism for the theoretical elaboration of questions of communist education; profound and creative mastery of Marxist philosophy; orientation to a thorough scientific analysis of educational phenomena; elaboration of a well-thought-out system of methods in pedagogy, especially the application of the experimental method; the application of methods of some other sciences (Marxist psychology, sociology), as well as the principles and methods of modern sciences, especially cybernetics. In conclusion, the authors stress the necessity of a complex solution of complicated pedagogical phenomena and problems.