(CZ) K teorii obsahu vzdělání
(EN) On the theory of the content of education

The article deals with two spheres: 1) the basic conception of the „content of education“ category, 2) methodological implications of this conception for concrete research. The first part is devoted to explaining the actual forms in which the content of education exists: a) the static forms, i. e. content education (curriculum) laid down in didactic projects (syllabi, textbooks and the like), b) the realization form, i. e. on the one hand, the presentation form (the content of education communicated to pupils through various channels), on the other hand, the transformational form (the content of education being acquired by pupils), c) the resultant form, i. e. content of education functioning in the thinking and the activities of persons who are being educated. Attention is drawn especially to the fact that the investigation of the resultant form has been insufficient: the effects (consequences) of the content of education which cause changes in various spheres of an individual’s and society’s life, have not been exactly ascertained and described.
The second part deals with two lines research: one concerns the relationship between human activities determined by the content of education and social requirements determining the selection of the content of education (curriculum): the other concentrates on a personality’s psychic qualities arising under the influence of certain curricula. As to the first line of research, the author formulates two working hypotheses, which can be com bined in the following formulation of methodological approach designed for concrete research: The effectiveness of the content of education must be investigated as a functional possibility of utilizing this content in people’s actual activities, and must be measured according to the degree of harmony of this content with people’s actual needs.