Perspectives in Primary Education

255 Pages·1974·7.317 MB·English

by  Lamberto Borghi (auth.)

PERSPECTIVES IN PRIMARY EDUCATION
PLAN EUROPE 2000
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE
EUROPEAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION
PROJECT I
EDUCATING MAN FOR THE
21ST CENTURY
Volume 7
PERSPECTIVES IN PRIMARY EDUCATION
Scientific Committee of Project 1
Chairman: Henri Janne (Brussels).
Members: J. L. Aranguren (Madrid), Raymond Aron (Paris),
Friedrich Edding (Berlin), Alexander King (Paris),
Max Kohnstamm (Brussels), M. J. Langeveld (Utrecht),
J. A. Lauwerys (Halifax), J. Stuart Maclure (London),
Raymond Poignant (Paris), W. Schultze (Frankfurt),
T. Segerstedt (Uppsala), Aldo Visalberghi (Rome).
Director: Ladislav Cerych (Paris).
PERSPECTIVES IN PRIMARY
EDUCATION
by
LAMBER TO BORGHI
WITH THE COOPERATION OF
ORNELLA ANDREANI DENTICI
FRANCESCO DE BARTOLOMEIS
ANTONIO SANTONI RUGIU
GASTONE TASSINARI
LYDIA TORNATORE
I I
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.! 1974
This study has been realised owing to the support of the Shell Group of Companies and
the European Cultural Foundation.
© 1972 European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands
© 1974 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Martinus Nijhoff, The Netherlands in 1974
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1974
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form.
ISBN 978-94-017-4611-3 ISBN 978-94-017-4829-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-4829-2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD VII
STRUCTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL
1. Aims of Education I by Lamberto Borghi 3
Why we define educational aims. The current debate on educational aims. The
theory of "the cultivation of the intellect" and its social motivation. Definition
of the aims of the progressive education movement. The relation between think
ing and doing. Educational aims in recent theories of cognitive learning. The
study of prejudice in its relation to education. The contribution of psycho
therapy. Intergroup education. International education. Education for peace.
Education and mass culture. Education for leisure. Education through art.
Work in education. Language education. Conclusion.
2. Innovations in the Structures of Primary Education
by Lamberto Borghi 43
Changes in organisation. The impact of educational democratisation on chang
ing school structures. Compensatory education. The debate on compensatory
education. The trend towards integration. Continuity between primary and
secondary education. The Scuola-Quartiere (School and Neighbourhood) move
ment. A fresh approach to the educational needs of children from minority
groups. Curriculum changes in the light of structural changes in the schoo!.
The education of teachers.
3. Progress in Educational Psychology
by Francesco De Bartolomeis 87
Introduction. Educational psychology and the future of education. Flexibility
and planning. Interpersonal relationship and social position. Educational
psychology at a turning point. Learning and creativity. Educational psychology
and clinical psychology. Laboratory structures. Technology and the future of
education. Differential classes and differential treatment. Work as an introduc
tion to technology and the management of social services. Conclusion.
VI Table of contents
4. Personality, Family and Social Factors of Achievement /
by Ornella Andreani Dentici 123
Part one - Small sample: Findings
A. Intellectual operations
B. Linguistic mediations
C. The interactions between children, family and school
Part two - Large sample: Findings
A. Intelligence and achievement tests
B. Personality and socialisation
Drawings of the family and interviews with children and parents. Conclusion.
II
THE CURRICULUM IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL
5. Mathematics / by Lydia Tornatore 145
Introduction. The role of mathematics. Research and planning. The develop
ment of new mathematics curricula. Mathematics and creativity. Value of
play. Discovery method. Open-ended problems and situations. Mathematics
in the curriculum. The teacher's role. New directions in mathematics education.
6. Social Studies / by Gastone Tassinari 177
The educational implications of the term "social studies". Current problems
and prospects for social studies. Broadening the field of social studies. Subject
approach versus coordinated approach. Criticism of the "expanding environ
ment approach". The cognitive aspect of social studies. Social studies and social
education.
7. Artistic and Creative Activity / by Antonio Santoni Rugiu 213
Aesthetic activity as play. Creativity, a social necessity of tomorrow? The
marginal role of art education. Loss of creativity in the ten to twelve age
group. The precarious nature of primary education. Art and art education:
influences and autonomy. The interaction between art and school. The ten
dancy to syn-aesthetic forms. Art education as a multilateral process. Creative
technology. Artistic and scientific creativity. The role of emotivity. The forma
tion of aesthetic taste. Contemplation and its relationship to reality. Artistic
creativity and the teacher.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 246
INDEX 249
FOREWORD
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Primary education in Europe, as in the United States and other conti
nents, is passing through a period of profound change, affecting some
of the fundamental educational aims at primary school level and
teaching structure, content and methods.
The purpose of this study is to sketch a broad picture of the Euro
pean educational scene which may be brought about by the impact of
innovation in industrialised countries.
We are only too aware of the difficulties inherent in our task. Even
when projections and forecasts are firmly rooted in an analysis of
existing data, they are liable to be contradicted by the facts. We shall
attempt to allow for those alternative situations which may provide
the context for the organisation and functioning of primary education.
We make no claim to portray the European primary school at the end
of the twentieth or at the beginning of the twenty-first century. We
shall do no more than analyse existing achievements and experiments
based on research in the associated fields of education, psychology and
sociology and from this analysis extrapolate a series of forecasts based
on objective factors of a social and intellectual nature, offering realistic
hypotheses for the future. Our aim is to provide sound guidelines for
those who are to build a better future for our children.
The language of our report will be not merely informative, in that it
will describe the situation in a few of the countries that we have studied
- England, France, Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union and Sweden,
with the United States in the background - but also performative.
This implies that we are involved in and committed towards the
achievement of educational conditions that will reflect the ideals of a
better social order. One of our primary aims has been to narrow the
VIII Foreword
gap between these two kinds of language, the former describing what
is actually happening and the latter formulating plans of action. The
success of our endeavour will be measured by our ability to bring the
two languages closer.
We will not give a detailed description of the conditions prevailing
in the industrialised countries of Europe in the field of primary educa
tion, for this would be beyond the scope of our study, although a
thorough and up-to-date knowledge of the situation in these countries
is implicit in our work.
In our comparative analysis we have provided no more than a gen
eral picture of the various contexts in so far as they reflect a common
pattern in specific cultural backgrounds. In so doing, we outline cer
tain policy options for the future of primary education in the more
advanced European countries which may influence all the developing
countries over the next three decades.
Our main effort, however, has been directed towards an investiga
tion of the conceptual frameworks within which we believe the process
of change should be interpreted and directed. Our study is essentially
an attempt to clarify ideas and to shed light on controversial educa
tional, sociological and psychological issues having a bearing upon
primary education.
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STRUCTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL