Review article
Social and Critical Constructivism: Education for Democratic Society
Jovana Milutinović
; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad
Abstract
In the last few decades, educational theory and practice are directly confronted with the challenges set by the democratic transformation of a society, as well as with the continued maintenance and improvement of democracy. From the aspect of education, the efficient democracy and insurance of its future require informed, responsible, engaged and critical citizens. Hence the main task of the school activities is to empower youth to participate as informed and efficient members of a democratic social order. The aim is to prepare the effective citizens for the implementation of social changes and democratic development of the community. Taking into account educational (emancipatory) potentials of the social constructivist perspective, as well as the fact that recently the pedagogical discourse increasingly emphasizes a need to study the relation between the power and knowledge, their implementation in the school curriculum, and their influence on the social processes, the aim of this paper applies to the investigation of the critical constructivism possibilities as a reference point to the idea on education for a democratic society. It is concluded that the critical constructivism with a strong emphasis on reflection, social awareness, and democratic citizenship, refers to the improvement of both understanding and knowledge which promote democratic forms of life. Critical constructivist environment of learning with the characteristics of open and critical discourse can be used to launch democratic and emancipatory processes, and therefore it is essentially apposite to the educational objectives for a democratic society.
Keywords
constructivism in education; critical constructivism; school curriculum; open discourse; critical awareness
Hrčak ID:
83462
URI
Publication date:
2.5.2012.
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