1.11. CONTENTS OF EDUCATION AS A MEANS OF DEVELOPMENT OF A PERSONALITY AND FORMATION OF ITS BASIC CULTURE

The content of education is one of the main means of personal development and the formation of its basic culture. Depending on the existing approaches to education, the concept of “educational content” acquires different meanings. In the traditional (knowledge-oriented) approach, the content of education is considered as “a set of systematized knowledge, skills and abilities, attitudes and beliefs, as well as a certain level of development of cognitive forces and practical training achieved as a result of educational work” [Pedagogical Dictionary, 1960] .

In this approach, knowledge becomes an absolute value, the main purpose of education. At the same time, the interests of the person himself, his needs are not taken into account, the phenomenon of “alienation” of knowledge from the individual, the school from life arises.

In the light of a new, student-centered approach to education, its content is understood as a pedagogically adapted system of knowledge, skills and abilities, experience of creative activity and experience of an emotional-volitional attitude, the assimilation of which is intended to ensure the formation of a fully developed personality prepared for reproduction material and spiritual culture of society [I. J. Lerner, M. N. Skatkin]. In this case, the content of education is aimed at the development of an integral personality: its natural characteristics (health, abilities), its social qualities (citizen, activist) and properties of the subject of culture (freedom, humanity, spirituality, creativity).

In the selection of the content of education can distinguish two main theories that have emerged in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries.

Supporters of the theory of material education (or encyclopedism) believe that the main purpose of education is to transfer students as much knowledge from different sciences as possible. At the same time, they adhere to the point of view of Ya. A. Komensky that a graduate should be encyclopedic educated.

The main task of formal education (or didactic formalism) is the development of mental abilities and cognitive interests of students. Moreover, the main means of this development was the study of mathematics and foreign languages ​​(J. Locke, A. Disterweg, IG Pestalozzi).

Criticism of the approaches discussed above was given in the XIX century. K. D. Ushinsky. In Russian pedagogy, he approved the idea of ​​ensuring the unity of the formal and material approaches to the selection of educational content.

In modern pedagogy, this idea is reflected in the principles of formation of the content of education, developed by V. V. Kraevsky.

These are principles:

· Compliance of the content of education with the requirements of the development of society, science, culture and personality;

· Unity of content and organization of education;

· Humanization of the content of education (focus on the creation of conditions for personal development, priority of humanitarian disciplines

cycle, etc.);

· Fundamentalization of education (focus on learning how to acquire knowledge, studying laws, mastering methodological approaches).

These approaches define the modern requirements for the content of education. In Art. 14 of the Law "On Education" emphasizes that it should be focused on:

• ensuring self-determination of the individual, creating conditions for self-realization;

• development of society;

• strengthening and improving the rule of law.