Educacion

Зборник Института за педагошка истраживања УДК 37.017.37 Прегледни чланак Година 39 • Број 1 • Јун 2007 • 7-19 ISSN 0579-6431 DOI:10.2298/ZIPI0701007P

AIMS AND METHODS OF EDUCATION: A RECAPITULATION Nataša Pantić *
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Socrates: He [Aristides] too gave his son Lysimachus the best education in Athens, in all subjects where a teacher could help, but did he makehim a better man than his neighbor? You know him, I think, and can say what he is like. Or again there is Pericles, that great and wise man. He brought up two sons, Paralus and Xanthippus, and had them taught riding, music, athletics, and all the other skilled pursuits till they were as good as any in Athens. Did he then not want to make them good men? Yes, he wanted that, no doubt, but I amafraid it is something that cannot be done by teaching. Plato, 'Meno'

Abstract. This paper gives an overview of principal distinction between the aims of the socalled ''traditional'' and ''progressive'' education and respective pedagogies associated with each. The term ''traditional'' education is used to denote the kind of education that prepares people for their role in society as it is, whilethe term ''progressive'' is used for education that aspires to equip mankind with capacity to shape the change of society. The paper raises some critical questions about the role of pedagogy in achieving the aims of the progressive model, argueing that the employment of ''progressive'' methods does not necessarily guarantee the achievement of the commonly professed purposes of progressive education.This is illustrated in the paper by the results of a study in English schools showing how despite the claim of progressive methods, teachers tend to retain traditional attitudes and on the other hand, how even traditional teaching methods can serve the progressive purpose. This is not to advocate for the traditional pedagogy, but to suggest that it might be something other than pedagogy thatmakes a critical difference in educating liberal-minded citizens of the future. In this sense the paper explores the role of other factors that make a difference towards progressive education, such as democratisation of human relations in school ethos and respect for children's freedom. Key words: traditional and progressive education, educational aims, pedagogy, democtatisation of schools, schoolethos.

* E-mail: natasa.pantic@gmail.com

Nataša Pantić

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Introduction: scope of the paper
The debate about the aims of education and the methods most appropriate to achieve those aims is perhaps as old as educational activity itself. At least since the ancient Greek philosophers, mankind has been aware of the central importance of educating its youth and has given much thought toimprovements in education. Ever since education and its values were literally a matter of life and death for Socrates, education has remained a controversial political activity inevitably tied to a vision of a desirable social order, whether it is Plato’s Utopian Republic or a modern liberal democracy with its own conflicting views of educational role and method. Essentially, the tension seems to havealways revolved between two principal aims. Education as a means to maintain the existing social order and equip human beings with the practical knowledge and skills that will help them earn their livelihood in the world as it is, has been constantly opposed by the higher ideal to enable children and students to develop into independent and creative individuals who may live a fulfilled existenceand shape the world to their own human need and vision. Western civilisations understanding of what ''education'' means, what the aims of education are, and what status it has in society, has inevitably changed over time. In a short personal manifesto the English novelist and writer John Fowles argues the classical aims of education in ancient Rome or Greece or in the Renaissance were far superior...