Different paths, one goal: American pedagogy as a scientific discipline in the first decades of its development

• Authors: Justyna Wojniak

Abstracts

EN

Aim: to present the American concept of the development of pedagogy as a scientific discipline, with particular emphasis on the postulates and arguments of those whose operation and activities shaped the direction of the discussed processes. Methods: a content analysis presenting the visions and directions of the development of pedagogy as an academic discipline proposed by the creators of the scientific foundations of pedagogy. Results: the reconstruction of the perception of pedagogy as a field of scientific research and the postulated priorities, with particular emphasis on the cultural and social context for the undertaken research, which not only became its background, but largely determined its direction and course. Conclusions: In the United States, pedagogy as a field of scientific research was perceived mainly as a basis for searching for specific solutions aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of the American education system, hence the need for education reforms in line with the trends typical of that period was prioritized. In this spirit, the quantitative research ordered and commissioned by the local and federal educational administration was conducted on the basis of questionnaires and tests with the aim to collect as much information and data as possible. The perspective of supporters of an interdisciplinary approach to pedagogical research, such as John Dewey, focused not so much on the measurable improvement of the quality of education, but above all on what the improvement of the education system is to serve in the individual and social perspective: on developing individuals and building a harmoniously functioning society. Among the researchers representing the faculties of education at American universities, quantitative research was becoming increasingly more popular and gained more supporters, which in turn, led to their gradual isolation, not only in the community of scientists representing social sciences, but also in relations with those who were to apply their scientific achievements in their daily work, i.e. teachers and education administration.

Keywords

EN

teacher education; pedagogy; pedagogical research

• Publisher: Związek Nauczycielstwa Polskiego
• Journal: Przegląd Historyczno-Oświatowy
• Year: 2022
• Volume: LXV
• Issue: 1-2
• Pages: 47-64

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Justyna Wojniak

• The Pedagogical University of Krakow

References

• Beecher C.E. (1845), The Duty of American Women to Their Country, New York: Harper&Brothers.
• Dewey J. (1897), My Pedagogic Creed, New-York, Chicago: E.L. Kellogg&Co.
• Dewey J. (1900), The School and Society, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
• Dewey J. (1929), The Sources of the Science of Education, New York: Horace Liveright.
• Dewey J. (1972), Pedagogy as a University Discipline [in:] Dewey J., The Early Works 1882–1898, Carbondale–Edwardsville–London–Amsterdam: Southern Illinois University Press.
• Flagg Young E. (1901), Isolation in the School, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
• Goodspeed T.W. (1926), Albion Woodbury Small, “American Journal of Sociology” Vol. 32, No. 1.
• Hall G.S. (1893), The Contents of Children’s Minds on Entering School, New York–Chicago: E.L. Kellogg&Co.
• Hall G.S. (1894), Editorial, “The Pedagogical Seminary” Vo. III, No. 1.
• Hall G.S. (1911), Educational Problems, New York–London: D. Appleton and Company.
• James W. (1904), The Chicago School, “Psychological Bulletin” 1(1).
• Mann H. (1855), Lectures on Education, Boston: Ide & Dutton.
• Royce J. (1885), The Religious Aspects of Philosophy. A Critique of the Bases of Conduct and of Faith, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Royce J. (1891), Is There a Science of Education?, “Educational Review” Vol. 1.
• Small A.W. (1897), Some Demands of Sociology Upon Pedagogy, “American Journal of Sociology” Vol. 2, No. 6.
• Small A.W., Vincent G.E. (1894), An Introduction to the Study of Society, New York–Cincinnati–Chicago: American Book Company.
• U.S. Congress (1867), Chap. CLVIII – An Act to Establish a Department of Education, https://federaleducationpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/1867-act-toestablisha-federal-department-of-education/ (access: 8.06.2022).
• Dewey J.M. (1939), Biography of John Dewey [in:] Schillp P.A. (ed.), A Philosophy of John Dewey, New York: Tudor Pub. Co.
• Dykhuizen G. (1961), John Dewey at Johns Hopkins (1882–1884), “Journal of the History of Ideas” Vol. 22, No. 1.
• Flanagan M.A. (2007), America Reformed: Progressives and Progressivisms, 1890s–1920s, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Horne H.H. (2000), Royce’s Idealism as a Philosophy of Education [in:] Auxier R.E. (ed.), Papers in Honor of Josiah Royce on his Sixtieth Birthday (1916). Vol. 3 of Critical Responses to Josiah Royce, 1885–1916, Bristol: Thoemmes Press.
• Hulse S.H., Green Jr. B.F. (1986), One Hundred Years of Psychological Research in America, Baltimore–London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Judd C.H. (1938), Contribution of School Surveys [in:] Whipple G.M. (red.), 37th NSSE Yearbook: The Scientific Movement in Education, part II, Bloomington: Public School Publishing Co.
• Knox H. (1971), A History of Educational Research in the United States, National Institute of Education.
• Lagemann E.C. (1989), The Plural Worlds of Educational Research, “History of Education Quarterly” Vol. 29, No. 2.
• Lagemann E.C. (1996), Experimenting with Education: John Dewey and Ella Flagg Young at the University of Chicago, “American Journal of Education” Vol. 104, No. 3.
• Lagemann E.C. (1997), Contested Terrain: A History of Education Research in the United States, 1890–1990, “Educational Researcher” Vol. 26, No. 9.
• Lagemann E.C. (2000), An Elusive Science: The Troubling History of Education Research, Chicago–London: University of Chicago Press.
• McCluskey G. (1958), Public Schools and Moral Education, New York: Columbia University Press.
• Privitello L.A. (2011), Josiah Royce and the Problems of Philosophical Pedagogy, Part Two, “Transactions” Vo. 46, No. 2.
• Reese W.J. (1999), What History Teaches about the Impact of Educational Research on Practice, “Review of Research in Education” Vol. 24.
• Robinson D.S. (1968), The Self and the World in the Philosophy of Josiah Royce, Boston: Christopher Publishing House.
• Savage W.H. (1950), The Evolution of John Dewey’s Philosophy of Experimentalism as Developed at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
• Sears J.B., Henderson A.D. (1957), Cubberley of Stanford and His Contribution to American Education, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Tomlison S. (1997), Edward Lee Thorndike and John Dewey on the Science of Education, “Oxford Review of Education” Vol. 23, No. 3.
• Wojniak J. (2021), „Szkoła filarem Republiki”. Proces profesjonalizacji zawodu nauczycielskiego w Stanach Zjednoczonych w XIX i XX wieku, „Przegląd Historyczno-Oświatowy” No. 3–4.
• Young J.L. (2016), G. Stanley Hall, Child Study, and the American Public, “The Journal of Genetic Psychology” Vol. 177, No. 6.

Identifiers

DOI

10.17460/PHO_2022.1_2.03

Biblioteka Nauki

2078077