Začeci pedagoškog pluralizma u Hrvatskoj: časopis Preporod i Hrvatsko društvo za unapređenje uzgoja
Authors:   , Brčić Filip 
Published: September 2024

This paper is a representation of a research which analyzed the conditions, circumstances and practical implementation of reform pedagogy, with an emphasis on the artistic education. The focus was on the period of the first two decades of the 20th century, which is conjugated with the publication of the Preporod magazine and the Croatian Society for the Advancement of Upbringing. Accordingly, the time frame was appropriately extended. This expansion was mostly a reflection of the complexity of the topic; namely, during the 19th century a number of social and cultural changes occured which had reflected on pedagogy. The industrial revolution, which enabled significant process in scientific matters, is emphasized. Consequently, this changed the everyday life and redefined the needs of an individual. This also resulted with a resistance towards the Herbartis pedagogic system, which was assested by some pedagogues as a an inadequate and unsuitable pedagogical approach. Their intention was to reform the school system so it could be able to efficiently respond to the newly emerging social and practical needs. Participants of that movement soon acquired the name new school (new pedagogy). A feature of this approach was the focus on the child's activity, i.e. independent learning with the teacher's guidance, whose duty was also to identify and encourage (creative) student's abilities. Although there were several methods (directions and concepts) within the reform pedagogy, main characteristics were the individual approach to the child and a resistance towards Herbartism. At the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries, a reform movement appeared in Croatia as well, stimulated by the development of numerous new pedagogical movements in Western Europe (mostly Germany). As an alternative to the existing practice, the promotion of different pedagogical concepts began. Some Croatian pedagogues, among which Vjekoslav Koščević stands out, recognized the new school as a solution in the conflict against the then dominant Herbartism. Reform pedagogy initiated a system in which the child's creative potentials and the development of their own competences came to the fore, with aesthetic education as the base for that approach. Along with his associates, with Ivan Tomašić leading among them, Vjekoslav Koščević joined the movement for the artistic education, which emphasized the need to strenghten the child's abilities, primarily using the method of free drawing. Koščević presented the theoretical framework of artistic education as a pedagogical author and the editor of Preporod magazine (1905.-1914.), while practical activities were carried out through the Croatian Society for the Advancement of Upbringing (1904.-1920.), of which he was the secretary. A magazine is a relevant source, both from a historical and pedagogical aspect, because it presents contemporary ideas and activities. Preporod's significance is reflected in the fact that it is the first pedagogical magazine in Croatia that has unequivocally advocated implementation of one of the concepts of reform pedagogy (artistic education). At the beginning of the 20th century, this placed it in opposition to the dominant pedagogical system based on Herbart's theory of teaching, which was supported by the Croatian Pedagogical and Literary Association, as well as the editorship and the associates of Napredak magazine. Preporod was aimed at teachers and pedagogues, but using a light discourse it managed to maintain a link with a wider audience so that the new methods of teaching could reach as wide a circle of readers as possible. By promoting art education on a theoretical and practical level – which was reflected in a form of teacher's reports and the activities of the Croatian Pedagogical and Literary Association, as well as publishing the experiences of Croatian teachers – the magazine was one of the initiators of the new pedagogy in the Croatian area, thus following the modern pedagogical tendencies in Europe and the USA. Although one cannot speak of a wider reception of the ideas of the reform pedagogy – let alone those of the movement for the artistic education – within the first two decades of the 20th century, the period is nevertheless an important one because it sensitized the professional community to a new pedagogical paradigm. Simultaneously, the foundations for pedagogical pluralism were laid. Reform pedagogy in Croatia received significantly better support in the period between the two world wars, when the approach on both theoretical and practical level was of a higher quality.