Basic theories of education and personality development. Principles of education

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The process of educating a person is a difficult task. Of course, various theories developed both in our time and in ancient times can help in solving it. Not only psychologists of the last century, but also philosophers of antiquity, doctors, teachers and thinkers of the distant past were interested in the education of the personality. For example, Socrates, Aristotle, Democritus, Plato thought about it.

The study of issues related to the education of a person's personality was devoted to the works of Rousseau and Herbart. Of course, most pedagogical theories took shape during the past century. The most significant of them are considered to be the works of such authors as Anton Makarenko, John Dewey, Lawrence Kohlberg. However, teachers and psychologists of the last century based their works on earlier theories, including the works of Rousseau and Herbart, in which completely opposite ideas were expressed.

What is a "personality"? Concept

Absolutelyall existing basic theories of upbringing and personality development proceed from the features of this concept. What is a "personality"? According to a generalized definition, this term refers to the social essence of a person, a combination of certain individual qualities of character and traits that correspond to the norms and traditions of society.

That is, a personality is not the physiological nature of an individual, but something that manifests itself within the framework of social relationships with other people. For example, a reaction to hunger or cold is not a personality trait, but the individual characteristics of a person, such as the manner of speaking, gait, and much more. But his ability to negotiate with others, take into account the specifics of the situation, show heroism or, conversely, cowardice in emergency circumstances - these are personality traits.

Thus, the concept of personality combines a psychological, social and philosophical basis and is the subject of study in these disciplines.

How can personality development theories be classified?

There are a lot of different theories about how exactly a person should be raised, and not just raised and educated a child. But among this abundance, historically, three basic theories of upbringing and personality development stand out. Briefly, their essence can be expressed as follows:

• humanism;
• authoritarianism;
• freedom to become.

These theses are not the names of any specific pedagogical or psychological methods. Rather, these are notationsdirections in which the existing basic theories of education and personality development have developed.

What characterizes the main types of theories?

The main characterizing points are clear from the direction to which this or that theory of education belongs. In other words, a brief description of the basic theories of upbringing and personality development lies in their names.

For example, methods based on the principles of humanism are characterized by the fact that the priority is the development of such properties:

• harmony;
• empathy;
• protection by society of the interests and needs of each of its members;
• kindness and stuff.

The ideas of humanism also imply the state's special concern for upbringing and educational structures. In general, the principles of humanism in their pure form are not applied in practical pedagogy due to their isolation from reality and some kind of utopianism.

Authoritarianism is a theory of the development of socialization and education of a person who is able to adequately perceive life circumstances and be able to take into account the interests, cultural characteristics and needs of others. Many experts attribute the theory of pragmatism in education to this direction. Makarenko's methods also belong to this direction.

Freedom of becoming is a concept about theories of upbringing and personality development without the use of special pedagogical techniques. That is, they are talking about the so-called natural upbringing and education of the child. To a large extent, these theoriesare related to the principles of humanism, therefore, as a rule, they are considered in conjunction. Leo Tolstoy and many other prominent thinkers of the past advocated natural education.

Principles of parenting

Education of personal qualities begins from early childhood. All existing pedagogical and psychological theories agree on this. Each of them puts forward its own fundamental ideas regarding the upbringing of a person. But if we consider the existing methods not separately, but as a whole, then we can single out the main principles inherent in each of the theories to one degree or another.

The following theses can be considered the fundamental principles of the educational process:

• a clear understanding of what needs to be “invested” in the child’s head, that is, the goals of the process;
• correctly determine acceptable and effective ways of conveying information and methods of influence;
• conform to what is being promoted, to be an authority in children's eyes;
• understand the consequences of your actions;
• avoid physical punishment and familiarity;
• respect and love the personality of the child, guide it, not suppress it.

Absolutely everything should be understood as a consequence of one's actions. For example, if a person explains to a child the need to show respect for the elderly, but at the same time does not consider it necessary to listen to grandparents with attention, although he does not forget to give way to pensioners in transport, then the child will become aware of the relativity of dogmas. The kid will learn that in certainsituations, moral standards can be completely neglected.

Another example of the consequences would be interrupting your child's activities to answer the phone. The child will learn that communication through the gadget is more important than direct contact. This type of behavior can be seen almost everywhere these days.

When educating a child's personality and its development, it is not so important which of the basic theories a teacher or a parent will adhere to. It is much more important not to forget about following the main pedagogical principles of the educational process. If they are not taken into account, then no educational method or theory will bring the desired result, whatever they may be.

For example, wanting to raise a child in accordance with the ideas of free becoming, which were first formulated by Rousseau, we must not forget that he himself will have to comply with them. You can not tell children one thing, and do something else every day. This will lead to the development of duplicity, hypocrisy. For example, developing a child's personality in accordance with the theory of free education, one should not force the child to learn the alphabet at three years old or go to ballet school at five years old, unless the child himself wants to.

Who was Rousseau?

Jean Jacques Rousseau - an outstanding thinker, philosopher, writer, who lived during the Enlightenment. He is considered a French figure, although this man was born in Geneva. He was born in 1712. Rousseau died near Paris, in one of the metropolitan suburbs in 1778.

Besides philosophy, pedagogy and social issues, he was interested in musicology and botany. Contemporaries considered Rousseau a good composer, although the thinker treated his own musical experiments with a bit of irony.

Among his heritage for pedagogy, the following works are of the greatest value:

• "Eloise".
• "Emil or about education".
• "Confession".

Rousseau's ideas about the free education of the individual found a response in many prominent minds, for example, Leo Tolstoy considered himself a follower of the French thinker.

The essence of Rousseau's theory of free education

Without a doubt, Rousseau's work leads all the basic theories of education and personality development. His ideas in subsequent generations were both supported by educators, thinkers and psychologists and rejected, but they invariably became a kind of foundation, a cornerstone for the development of other theories and methods.

The essence of Rousseau's theory is that you need to follow the natural nature of things in the education of the individual. This is often disparagingly called "naturalism" in psychology. The French thinker said: "Nature wants people to be children before they become adults." In other words, Rousseau opposed the artificial purposeful development of children, he believed that the process of becoming a person and acquiring any qualities should proceed naturally.

Of course, this does not mean that children should not be taught or engaged in anything. However, these lessons shouldfully meet the desires of children, their inner needs and, of course, age. That is, if we adapt the main idea of Rousseau's theory to the modern world, then it will sound like this: he opposed early development and the compilation of various universal or thematic pedagogical programs and methods.

According to Rousseau's theory, a person is brought up by three sources:

• nature;
• society;
• objects and things.

That is, the formation of personality is influenced by environmental conditions, relationships with people and the use of manufactured items, tools, furniture, toys and other things. In the presence of these three components, education becomes a natural process that does not require any artificial fortification.

Who is Herbart?

Johann Friedrich Herbart is the founder of pedagogy as a scientific discipline. Herbart was born in 1776, on the territory of German Oldenburg. The scientist died in 1841 in Göttingen.

He was engaged not only in pedagogy. Herbart devoted most of his life to psychology. He is considered one of the founders of the empirical direction in this science. The scientist himself considered himself a supporter of the ideas of associative psychology and did a lot to develop this direction.

For pedagogy, the theory of authoritarian education matters. I. F. Herbart outlined in it the ideas of the need for a conscious moral upbringing of the individual, preventing this process from being left to chance. These ideas, at first glance, contradict the theory of Rousseau, but, on the other hand,they can be seen as complementary to it.

From the heritage of the scientist, the following works are of the greatest value:

• "General Pedagogy Derived from the Purposes of Education"
• “Letters on the Application of Psychology to Pedagogy.”
• "Outline of lectures on pedagogy".

The essence of Herbart's theory

The vast majority of modern basic theories of education and personality development are based on the ideas of a German teacher and psychologist.

The theory of the German scientist is a pedagogical system of moral education of the individual. His psychological and pedagogical theory of education is built on five main ideological theses:

• inner freedom necessary for the integrity of the individual;
• the idea of perfection, allowing you to achieve a sense of harmony;
• goodwill, expressed in the coordination of one's desires, needs and actions with the needs and will of other people;
• legal conflict resolution;
• understanding the principle of justice.

Adapting the ideas of a German teacher to modern realities, it can be argued that the essence of his theory of education is that a person develops under the influence of society and directly within its framework. The traditions, needs and moral norms of society determine how exactly a person will be brought up and trained.

Dewey: who was he?

John Dewey is one of the most famous American philosophers and educators. He was born in the middle of the 19th century, in 1859. Died inmiddle of the last century, in 1952. Dewey was educated at the University of Vermont.

He was mainly engaged in philosophy, but he approached this discipline not so much as a theorist, but as a practitioner. The scientist paid special attention to social issues and problems of personality development, education.

The main merit of this American scientist is that he developed a methodology for applying pragmatic principles in the fields of logic and cognition. The pragmatic theory of education is also his brainchild. Dewey is one of the greatest philosophers and sociologists of the past century, not only for the United States, but for the rest of the world.

The essence of his theory

Probably, Dewey's ideas are by far the most in demand in practical pedagogical activity. The American philosopher saw the features of the development of the personality and its upbringing in the need to cultivate the skills of adapting to life situations and circumstances.

According to the ideas of an American scientist, the goal of any pedagogical process is to educate a person who is able to adapt to all life circumstances, adapt to them and not break down psychologically, to be able to find his own niche.

Within this theory, Dewey formulated the theses of the so-called instrumental pedagogy. The main principle is that the formation of a personality depends not so much on education, but on the accumulation of one's own life experience. In other words, the teacher can endlessly explain to the child that deception- this is bad, but if the kid has done this at least once and has only benefited from this action for himself, he will still continue to cheat.

According to the theory of pragmatism, education should take into account the direct life experience of the individual. In psychology, this is often called the transformation of minuses into pluses. That is, if a child is prone to deceit, there is no need to try to eradicate this quality, you should find a niche in which it will turn into a virtue and will be necessary.

What are the current views of educators and psychologists?

Modern theories of education and personality development differ from the teachings of the past by the flexibility of theses and concepts. That is, modern educators and psychologists today are trying to take the best from the works of their predecessors, synthesize, combine them, and not follow only one teaching.

This trend emerged in the late 80s of the last century. At that time, the theory of personality education in a team, which arose on the basis of works, was especially popular:

• A. S. Makarenko.
• S. T. Shatsky.
• B. M. Korotova.
• I. P. Ivanova.

This theory continues to develop today. The influence of society, the impact of the team on the upbringing and development of the individual - this is the basis of this pedagogical direction. But along with the role of society, modern specialists pay attention to the disclosure of individual talents, qualities inherent in every person from birth.

The educational process, according to the views of modern experts,It consists of the acquisition by the child of skills, experience and knowledge both in the family and in educational institutions. That is, the collective and individual influence on the development of a person's personality is mutually complementary.

Thus, at present, in practice, educators and teachers combine two approaches - collective and individual. Their combination makes it possible to achieve the fullest possible disclosure of the qualities of a person's personality and form a focus on the interests of the entire society as a whole. That is, to summarize: such an approach to education allows a person's personality to develop comprehensively, being in complete harmony with oneself, the world around, and society. And this, in turn, is a guarantee that a person can always find his own niche in society and an occupation that benefits people and allows him to fulfill himself.