On the Question of Evaluating the Conception of Education

The aim of this article is to point out some criteria for evaluating the conception of education. The author makes a distinction between evaluating the conception of education and evaluating the state of contemporary educational practice. He outlines two possible ways of modernising the content of education: 1) supplementing the existing content with new achievements of sciences and 2) a radical reassessment of the existing system and content of education in the light of the needs of society as well as the changing level of the child’s psychic development. Up to the present only the first method has been used in this country. The conception of the educational process at the Basic Nine-Year School of 1960 demonstrates the disproportion between educational contents as regards arts, social sciences and natural sciences. As a result, not only are there no special subjects in the school curriculum dealing with social sciences, but they are even left out of the syllabi of complex subjects. The author recognizes the justification of the call for school modernization, but demands a precise definition of its meaning. He points out that the causes of the school lagging behind are in the economy and educational policy on the one hand, but also in the weakness of the pedagogical science. Removing the present-day shortcomings of the school by modernization does not mean just introducing technology into the school, but it means, above all, a change in the content and methods of education. It is pointed out that in connection with modernization it is necessary to solve a great number of problems. Among other subjects the conception of technical and labour education in particular remains uncertain. A general improvement in the level of education at our schools can only result from a new, boldly innovating overall conception of education, and not from merely improving old forms and contents.