Jan Komensky is a famous Czech teacher and writer. As bishop of the Czech Brethren Church, he gained great fame for his innovative classroom teaching methods.

At this time, John Comenius wrote many articles aimed at returning his people to their rightful territories and faith. Soon he began to be persecuted, as did his brothers in faith.

As a result, the reformer ended up in Leszno, Poland, where he was in relative safety.

The first wife of Jan Komensky was Magdalena Vizovskaya, with whom he lived for 4 years. In 1622, she and their two children died of the plague.

2 years later, Comenius remarried, marrying the bishop's daughter Maria Dorothea.

Despite continuous wars and religious persecution, Comenius continued to engage in writing. One of his most famous works is the Great Didactics, in which he collected most of his works.

Comenius paid serious attention to the reform of knowledge. He constantly strived to improve.

Recognition in society

In the early 1630s, the popularity of John Comenius began to gain momentum. It was translated into different languages ​​and aroused great interest in society.

For example, the textbook “The Open Door to Languages” (1631) made it possible to learn Latin faster and easier.

In this book, unlike its analogues, instead of traditional declensions, conjugations and rules, a description of reality was given.

Soon Jan Komensky wrote another book, “Christian Omniscience.” It was translated into and published under the title "School Reform".

His vision of raising and educating children was completely new, as a result of which it was actively discussed in society.

Jan began to be invited to and, where he had many supporters. Cardinal Richelieu even invited him to continue working in, promising to create all the necessary conditions for him. But Comenius refused.

Soon, he managed to meet with, whose name was known throughout Europe.

Pansophia of Jan Komensky

Having settled in, Jan Komensky again encountered difficulties. Oxenstierna's management insisted that the teacher write to teach schoolchildren.

However, at that point in time, Kamensky was working on pansophia (teaching everyone everything). Moreover, this idea was gaining popularity among European scientists.

As a result, in 1651 he managed to finish writing an essay called “The Pansophical School.” It outlined the structure of the pansophical school, the principles of its work, the curriculum and the general daily routine.

In essence, this work was a model for the general acquisition of universal knowledge.

Failure in Sárospatak

In 1650, Prince Sigismund Rakoczi from Transylvania invited John Comenius to discuss school reforms that were planned to be carried out in the near future.

In addition, Sigismund wanted to consider Comenius' pansophia in more detail. The teacher agreed to help the prince, and soon got to work.

In one of the schools he carried out many changes, but after several years no serious results followed.

Despite the lack of noticeable success, Comenius was able at this time to write the work “The Sensual World in Pictures,” which became a real breakthrough in pedagogy.

An image of Comenius on a bas-relief decorating a school building in Dolany (Czech Republic)

In it, Jan Komensky began to use pictures to study languages, which no one had done before. He will soon say that “words must be accompanied by things, and cannot be studied apart from them.”

An interesting fact is that modern ones also include color illustrations. In addition, pictures or images are used in most mnemonic techniques.

last years of life

After Jan Komensky returned from Transylvania to Leszno, war broke out between Sweden and Poland.

As a result, all of Comenius’ manuscripts were lost, and he himself had to move to another country again.

Comenius' next and last place of residence was Amsterdam. While living in this city, he completed a voluminous work, “The General Council for the Correction of Human Affairs,” consisting of 7 parts.

Jan wrote it over 20 years, and thus was able to summarize all his activities. And although fragments of the work were published at the end of the 17th century, it was considered lost.

In the 30s of the 20th century, the remaining 5 parts of the book were found. This work was published in full in Latin only in 1966.

John Amos Comenius died in November 1670 at the age of 78. He was buried in Naarden, near Amsterdam.

Ideas and didactics of Jan Komensky

After reading the short biography of Comenius, we invite you to familiarize yourself with the main ideas of the great teacher.

Path of light

The Path of Light is a program developed by Comenius aimed at human enlightenment. Its main themes were piety, knowledge and virtue.

Comenius paid great attention to God. He believed that a person must open himself to 3 revelations:

• visible creation, in which the power of the Creator is visible;
• a person created in the likeness of God;
• word, with its promise of good will towards man.

All knowledge and ignorance must be taken from 3 books: nature, reason (human spirit) and Holy Scripture.

In order to achieve such wisdom, an individual must use feelings, reason and faith.

Due to the fact that man and nature were created by God, they must have a similar order of things, thanks to which harmony can be achieved in everything.

Know yourself and nature

This doctrine of macrocosm-microcosm makes it possible to verify that a person can comprehend hitherto unrealized wisdom.

As a result of this, each individual becomes a pansophist - a little god. The pagans are unable to comprehend such wisdom due to the lack of the revealed Word, which, according to Christianity, is Jesus Christ.

According to John Comenius, a person needs to turn only to divine works and learn something through direct encounters with things.

He argued that all learning and knowledge begins with feelings. The life and world of any person is a school.

Nature teaches, the teacher is nature's servant, and naturalists are priests in the temple of nature. Based on all that has been said, every person should strive to know himself and nature.

Encyclopedia of Omniscience

This concept refers to the method by which a person is able to see the order of things, realizing their causes.

Thanks to this, each individual will be able to fully comprehend various knowledge. Moreover, man will be able to achieve the state in which he was before the fall of Adam and Eve.

Innovation in education

According to Jan Komensky, a child should be raised in such a way that he can compare things and words. When teaching him his native language, parents need to avoid empty words and complex concepts.

Books in educational institutions should be distributed into groups. That is, a child should be taught only what he is able to comprehend at a given time.

Life is like a school

Jan Komensky believed that all life is a school for a person and preparation for eternal life. Girls and boys should study together.

Teachers should not exert emotional pressure on students, much less subject them to physical punishment.

The learning process should take place in a playful manner. If a child cannot master one or another, this is in no way his fault.

In his writings, Jan Comenius argued that pansophia should be at the heart of the transformation of humanity, while theology would be the guiding motive.

In his own works, the teacher used many quotations from the Holy Scriptures.

Among the biblical books, he was most interested in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation of John the Theologian.

He believed that by reading these books a person could gain the essential knowledge necessary for the biblical millennium.

A man of his time

It is worth noting that Jan Komensky had little interest in the development of science. Instead, he emphasized theology.

He borrowed all his ideas from the theology of the Bohemian Brethren. Moreover, he actively studied the works of such famous figures as Nicholas of Cusa, Bacon, Jacob Boehme, Juan Luis Vives, Campanella and other thinkers.

As a result, Comenius managed to collect a large amount of knowledge, which helped him formulate his own views regarding the problems of education, theology and scientific pedagogy.

Well, we hope that now you know everything you need about the life and works of Jan Komensky. If you liked this article, share it on social networks.

If you like it at all, subscribe to the site IinterestingFakty.org in any convenient way. It's always interesting with us!

Did you like the post? Press any button.

The great Czech humanist teacher and philosopher Jan Amos Comenius was born on March 28, 1592 in the town of Nivnica. His father, Martin, was from Komna, where a wealthy family moved from Slovakia. The name Komensky came from the name of the village. My father was a member of the Czech (Bohemian) Brothers community. The “Czech Brothers” denied class and property inequality, preached renunciation of armed struggle, supported the Reformation, and defended the right to national independence.

In 1604, a great misfortune befell Comenius: an epidemic claimed his entire family. The orphaned Jan Amos was taken in by relatives who lived in the town of Straznice. The school of the Czech Brothers community in Stražnice, where he became a student, enjoyed an excellent reputation. This school, like others, was imbued with the same scholastic-dogmatic spirit, but the fraternal schools were distinguished by the fact that they provided the knowledge necessary for practical activity and labor training.

At the age of 16, Comenius entered a Latin school in the city of Přerov, which he successfully graduated from. Here he discovered extensive talents and exceptional performance. Thanks to his brilliant abilities, the young man was sent at the expense of the community to the University of Herborn, which was dominated by representatives of the Protestant movement. Many Czechs studied here, having gone through fraternal schools and imbued with the spirit of Protestantism. After finishing his studies at the Herborn Faculty of Theology, Comenius traveled to Holland.

He completed his education at the University of Heidelberg. Before leaving for his homeland, he bought the manuscript of Nicolaus Copernicus “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” with his last money and was forced to walk a thousand kilometers home. After returning to his homeland, Comenius took over the leadership of the school in Přerov; later he was appointed by the community as a Protestant preacher in the city of Fulnek, where he also led the fraternal school.

From this time on, a new stage began in Comenius’ life. He works at school with great enthusiasm and studies pedagogical works. Comenius becomes the bishop's assistant, marries, and has two children.

But from 1618, a period of wanderings, losses and suffering began for Comenius. At the Battle of White Mountain (1620), Czech Protestants were defeated by the troops of the Catholic League and the German Emperor. Comenius' life was in danger. During the hostilities in the Czech Republic, Comenius' house burned down, his wife and children died during the plague epidemic. Comenius himself had to hide in the mountains and forests for several years. During these years, he does a lot to strengthen the Bohemian Brothers community.

In 1627, it was announced that Catholicism would become the only officially recognized religion in the Czech Republic. All Protestants were ordered to leave the country. The “Czech brothers” became refugees. More than a hundred communities ended up in Poland, Prussia, and Hungary.

From 1628 to 1656 Comenius and his community were in the city of Leszno (Poland). During these years, Komensky became one of the leaders of the community; he was also elected rector of the gymnasium. His responsibilities now include managing the school in Leszno and caring for the students.

Here he wrote in 1628 in Czech the famous book “Mother’s School” (published for the first time in 1657), which gained great popularity in the 19th century. Soon Comenius created the famous textbook “The Open Door to Languages” (1631). This is a kind of children's encyclopedia that made a real revolution in the teaching of languages: instead of dry and incomprehensible rules, it presented 100 short stories from various fields of knowledge in the native and Latin languages. The response to this book was very lively; it immediately began to be translated into other languages. Numerous congratulations came from everywhere. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the book served as a textbook for the Latin language in almost all European countries.

Comenius lives in exile and great need. The family he created in Leszno is in poverty. But he hopes that the time will come when he will return to the Czech Republic.

Even in his homeland, Comenius began to develop “Didactics”, intended for the Czech people. He lived in hope of its completion even in a foreign land, taking up work again, to which he initially intended to give the name “Czech Paradise.”

In 1632, in Leszno, Comenius completed his main pedagogical work, which he called “The Great Didactics,” which contained the universal theory of teaching everyone everything, originally written in Czech.

“The Great Didactics” by Comenius is a remarkable work of pedagogical thought both in its content and in the construction and relationship of its various parts.

The presentation of didactics itself is preceded by the headings of individual chapters. Both in content and in relationship, these headings resemble brief theses of a treatise.

In Chapter I it is proven that man is the most amazing, most excellent and most perfect creation;

in II – that the goal of man is beyond the boundaries of earthly life;

in III – that earthly life is only a calling to eternal life;

IV – that this preparation has three stages: 1) scientific education, 2) virtue and 3) religiosity, or piety;

in V– it is revealed that a person by nature has the makings of all three of the above steps;

VI – that, despite the presence of positive qualities that a person possesses by nature, in order to become fully human, he must receive a decent upbringing;

in VII – that education best occurs in adolescence;

VIII – that youth is best educated together, which is why schools should be established;

in IX – that all youth of both sexes should be entrusted to schools;

in X – that when educating youth it is necessary to study everything that has to do with man, and to provide youth with wisdom, various arts, virtue and piety;

in XI – that there are still no schools that fully correspond to these goals;

in XII – that schools should and can be organized and transformed in the right direction;

in XIII – that the transformation of schools consists in establishing proper order in them;

in XIV – that the form and model of the school order must be borrowed from nature;

in XV – instructions are given on how to act so that, given the brevity of our lives, there is enough time for all educational activities in schools;

XVI– sets out the rules by which teaching and upbringing can occur with complete success;

XVII – how to organize things so that learning occurs easily, that is, without fatigue and boredom;

XVIII – sets out the rules, following which you can achieve thoroughness in training;

in the XIX – rules on how to arrange things so that one teacher is able to teach several students at once and with the least difficulty;

in XX– a special method of teaching science is revealed;

in XXI – a special method of teaching the arts;

in XXII – a special method of teaching languages;

in XXIII – a special method of teaching morality;

in XXIV - a special method of instilling piety;

in XXV– Comenius’s attitude to pagan books is outlined;

in XXVI – we are talking about how school discipline should be administered;

in XXVII – it is proposed to divide schools into four levels, according to the age of students;

in XXVIII – an outline of the “mother’s school” is given;

in XXIX – an essay on the school of the native language;

in XXX – an essay on the Latin school;

in XXXI – about the academy and travel;

in XXXII – about the universal perfect organization of the school;

XXXIII deals with the conditions necessary for the practical implementation of this universal method.

A consistent analysis of pedagogical problems in the “Great Didactics” is preceded by three introductory independent small sections: 1) an appeal to “all those at the head of human institutions, rulers of states, pastors of churches, rectors of schools, parents and guardians of children”; 2) “Hello readers”; 3) “The benefits of didactics.” All these three introductory articles constitute, as it were, an introduction to the “Great Didactics.”

In the first part, Comenius concludes: if it is necessary to use remedies against the depravity of the human race, then this should be done mainly through the careful and thorough education of youth. However, children cannot achieve the necessary degree of development and perfection on their own; they need teaching and guidance. According to Comenius, to correct the human race, a widely developed system of education and upbringing is needed, covering the entire people, and not just the children of privileged strata of society.

The second section of the introductory part of “The Great Didactics” is called “Greetings to the Readers.” “Greetings to the readers” is, in essence, nothing more than the methodological basis of the “Great Didactics”, and in general it characterizes Comenius’s very clearly strict scientific approach to the system of pedagogy he expounds.

In the first paragraphs of this section, Comenius characterizes the state of didactics of his time as a theory of learning and begins to analyze the main issues that contemporary scientists who dealt with problems of pedagogy tried to resolve. If other authors were then dealing with individual issues of didactics, Comenius decided to “promise the “Great Didactics,” that is, the universal art of teaching everyone everything.”

Thus, from the point of view of our contemporaries, didactics under the pen of Comenius turns into general pedagogy, and Comenius was busy searching for a strictly scientific justification for pedagogy.

Unlike other authors who built their didactic conclusions from “external observations” (“apostori”), Komensky sets himself the task of clarifying all questions of pedagogy “a priori, that is, the very real, unchangeable nature of things” and, combining all the conclusions, builds “some the universal art of creating universal schools.”

The last section of the introductory part is entitled “The benefits of didactics.” Here Comenius reveals the benefits of didactics: 1) “for parents”; 2) “for teachers”; 3) “for students”; 4) “for schools”; 5) “for states”; 6) “for the church”; 7) “for heaven.” In the last two cases, Comenius talks about training “learned shepherds for the church” and transforming schools “for a genuine and universal culture of the spirit.”

“The Great Didactics” by Ya. A. Komensky is his most monumental and comprehensive pedagogical work. It was called “Great” by Comenius not so much because of its volume as because of the breadth of its coverage of pedagogical problems. In our time, when didactics is only one of the sections of pedagogy, it would be more appropriate to call this work “Pedagogy”. The already expanded title “Great Didactics” indicates that in the concept of “didactics” Comenius included all issues of training and education of the younger generations.

The characteristic features of Comenius' pedagogical worldview, very progressive for that time, become especially noticeable when reading the second part of the Great Didactics. In this part, Comenius reveals the methodological positions of his pedagogical thinking. Comenius laid the foundations of criticism in the field of pedagogy. Comenius's criticism decisively distinguishes his pedagogy from the stage of dogmatic thinking that preceded him, which dominated in medieval pedagogy and partly even in the pedagogy of the Renaissance.

The fact that Comenius puts his pedagogy at the service of social goals is also completely new and original.

Throughout his didactics, Comenius repeatedly criticizes bookish, purely verbal, verbal knowledge. Comenius considers the main vice of the old school to be superficiality in education, that is, the acquisition of knowledge of words, not things. He considers this kind of knowledge not only extremely shallow, but also useless and even harmful. Comenius defends his method of thorough education and strongly condemns the old schools, the education in which did not bring any benefit to the youth. These schools “strive...to teach to see through someone else’s eyes, to think with someone else’s mind.” Comenius insists that everything that is taught should be so substantiated by arguments that there is no room left for doubt or oblivion. With this understanding of the thoroughness of teaching and the reasonable method of its implementation, Comenius laid a solid foundation for the pedagogy of modern times.

The thoroughness of teaching strengthened the principle of self-activity and independence of students in the learning process. Pedagogically, this teaching opened up space for that respect for students, to which all progressive pedagogical trends were imbued with their activity. At the same time, the idea of ​​thoroughness of teaching opens up vast horizons for the fruitful methodological ingenuity of practicing teachers and for improving their art of teaching and educating younger generations.

At the same time, Comenius’s teaching on the thoroughness of education leads to a statement about the greatest practical usefulness of education and upbringing. Accustomed from early childhood to independently explore everything, to deduce everything from the unshakable principles of things, without relying only on authorities, the younger generations are also accustomed to mastering the knowledge of things and natural phenomena, to find ways and means to conquer nature and subordinate it to the interests of man.

Throughout the Great Didactics, Comenius repeatedly insists on the practical benefits of education received in schools. Comenius puts forward a revolutionary idea for his time - to teach everyone. To teach the rich and the poor, the noble and the ignorant, the gifted and the retarded, boys and girls. For this purpose, he proposes to create schools in all communities, cities and villages of each state, in which all youth of both sexes would study, without any exception.

A coherent system of universal education underlies all Comenius’ pedagogical and didactic ideas. Chapters XXVII-XXXII of the “Great Didactics” are devoted to the development of such a system.

Comenius envisions the planned system of schools in the form of sequential four stages, covering all youth up to 24 years of age, regardless of origin, property and social status, and even regardless of talent - children of rich and poor, noble and ignorant parents, highly gifted and those with weak mental abilities, or even just retarded.

From the moment of birth to 6 years of age, everyone should receive upbringing and education in every family - in a maternal care school, or maternal school.

From 6 to 12-13 years old - in an elementary school, called the Comenius school of the native language, which should be in every community, in every village or town.

From 12 to 18 years old - a Latin school or gymnasium, which should be in every city.

From 18 to 24 years of age, young people must receive education at an academy or university, and the course of study ends with travel. (According to Comenius’s plan, an academy or university should exist in every state or even in every significant province).

Some restrictions on this ladder of universal education are introduced by Comenius in the last two steps, but these restrictions do not arise from reasons of social order, but are dictated by the natural forces and talent of young people. Thus, if all children of both sexes receive education in the mother’s school and in the school of their native language, then in the Latin school or in the gymnasium “primarily those young men whose aspirations are higher than to be artisans” receive education. And to receive an education at an academy or university, from whose walls “scientists and future leaders of others will emerge,” Comenius recommends making a special selection in order to send there “only selected minds, the flower of humanity.” Komensky’s strict selection of students at an academy or university and his demanding attitude towards them is completely legitimate because those who graduate from the academy, as a rule, perform very important social functions.

It should be noted that in these four stages of Comenius’ education one must see not only the stages, but also the education system. All four stages are organically connected with each other both by the material and the methods of studying it, in accordance with the consistent development of students and their strengthening strengths and abilities, developing in connection with the material being studied and deepening teaching methods. So, Comenius proposed the study in all schools of the same material, initially delivered by the external senses, but with each level differently covered and developed, up to the expedient application and fulfillment of human needs, both individual and social.

If the last two stages in Comenius’ education system – the “Latin school” and the university – were already known before Comenius in the practice of public education and training, then the first two stages “mother school” and “native language school” were developed for the first time with full validity Komensky.

It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that, outlining the content of teaching in the native language school, Comenius lays the foundation for the study of new living foreign languages ​​of neighboring peoples.

Comenius is one of the first thinkers who paid serious attention to the issues of organizing the pedagogical process. Before Comenius, the organization of the pedagogical process, if it took place, was more likely as a result of practical experience, without theoretical justification. From Comenius's point of view, the creation and organization of schools is the primary subject of didactics. Therefore, in Comenius’ didactic theory, a significant place is occupied by the rationale for dividing schools into four levels, and subsequently the rationale for the entire organization of the school.

Having divided the unified school into four levels, he looks for grounds for such a division not so much in the material of study, but in the age periodization of children and youth: 1) up to 6 years; 2) from 6 to 12 years; 3) from 12 to 18 years old; 4) from 18 to 24 years old.

The main features of the organization of training according to Comenius.

If in the school of previous years the teacher taught each student individually, the students came to study at different times of the year and stayed at school as long as they wanted, then Komensky found a different form of organizing education. This is a class-lesson system that assumes: 1) a constant composition of students of the same age; 2) conducting classes at a precisely defined time according to the schedule; 3) simultaneous work of the teacher with the entire class in one subject. The school year is divided into academic quarters; The main form of classes is a lesson. Classes must be carried out daily for 4-6 hours, after each hour there is a break. You need to start learning in childhood. Komensky recommends studying only at school.

The Great Didactic defines four basic requirements for learning.

Successful learning is achieved if you teach things before words; start teaching from the simplest beginnings; teach from books intended for a given age.

Ease of learning is achieved if learning begins at an early age; the teacher in teaching follows from easier to more difficult, from more general to more specific; students are not overloaded with knowledge, moving forward slowly; what is studied in school is linked to life.

The thoroughness of teaching requires that students become involved in truly useful things; the subsequent will be based on the previous; all study materials must be interconnected, and everything learned will be consolidated through gradual exercises.

Speed ​​of learning is possible when everything is taught thoroughly, briefly and clearly; everything happens in an inextricable sequence, when today reinforces yesterday, and classes in the class are taught by one teacher.

One of the most important links in Comenius’ didactics are didactic principles, that is, those general provisions on which teaching and learning are based and which dictate the use of specific methods and techniques in teaching. These are the following principles: 1) visibility; 2) consistency; 3) strength of assimilation of educational material; 4) independence and activity of students.

Jan Amos Comenius put forward the “principle of conformity to nature” in teaching. According to this principle, education must be carried out in accordance with the outside world and the nature of the child. Observing this principle, the teacher must proceed from the unity of the world and take into account the age characteristics of students. Komensky viewed education not as passive memorization, but as the purposeful development of children's inclinations.

When characterizing the content and methods of teaching in all four levels of school, Comenius pays special attention to the issue of eliminating from the path of education everything that, at least to a small extent, interferes with the normal course of the process of education and upbringing of the younger generations. He took into account the influence of the social environment on students. Jan Amos Komensky is one of the first teachers to draw attention to the fact that the pedagogical process is significantly influenced by factors such as the physical or external environment.

Komensky also paid serious attention to the issue of the time of classes during the school year, week, working day, vacation time in summer and winter.. Classes in the proper sense of the word Komensky proposes to organize in the form of a class-lesson system in such a way that in order to During the lessons themselves, under the guidance of a teacher, students would generally have already mastered new material and would have learned to present their acquired knowledge orally.

Goals and objectives of education: knowledge of oneself and the world around us (mental education), self-control (moral education), striving for God (religious education).

Thus, it can be argued that in Comenius’ “Great Didactics” we have a serious, deeply substantiated teaching about the organization of the pedagogical process as a whole. Here we find an extensive school system that provides a comprehensive education for all youth at various age levels. Comenius laid the foundation for a carefully developed system of preschool education entrusted to parents. The “Great Didactics” contains the first clear justification and disclosure of the independent purpose and role of education in primary school in the native language.

In his pedagogical views, Comenius emphasized the practical goals of education. “To know, to speak and to act is the essence of wisdom,” he wrote. Having proposed a new system of training and education, Comenius defends the idea of ​​real education, without excluding educational subjects of a humanitarian nature.

Jan Amos Komensky was a supporter of the humanization of internal school discipline, opposed the use of corporal punishment, but at the same time emphasized that without discipline there can be no learning.

During these same years, Comenius became known as a philosopher.

Comenius' worldview is contradictory. In religious views, Comenius is a Protestant, approaching pantheism. In matters of the theory of knowledge, in his major work “The Great Didactics” and in other works there are materialist tendencies.

Comenius is a sensualist; he believes the world is knowable. He believes that one should cognize and explore the things themselves, and not just other people's observations and testimonies about things.

Comenius began to think about a new idea - the creation of “Pansophia” (“Universal Wisdom”). The work plan was published, and responses immediately poured in, and a discussion of Comenius' ideas began among the most prominent thinkers in Europe.

The main idea of ​​“pansophia” is the education of a new, highly moral person, a person of knowledge and work. Comenius’ “Pansophy” meant the requirement of comprehensiveness and systematicity of education and knowledge. His idea of ​​“teaching everything to everyone” stemmed from the argument that all people are capable of knowledge and education; the common people should have access to knowledge. Comenius considered cognition to be an active process closely related to rational learning.

Comenius was invited to different countries; his pansophic ideas and desire to unite all currents of Christianity attracted the attention of many European scientists to him. He accepted one of the invitations and, with the consent of the community, went to England, but in 1640 a revolution began there, and he did not dare to stay in the British Isles for long. Those close to Cardinal Richelieu asked Comenius to continue working on Pansophia in France, but he decided to go to Sweden, since the Swedes provided material support to the Czech Brothers.

In 1642, Comenius settled in Sweden, where he was offered to deal with the issues of teaching the Latin language and create a teaching methodology. He took on this work reluctantly, considering it to be of minor importance. The main thing for him was Pansophia, which, in his opinion, could help establish peace between nations. A wealthy Dutch businessman provided financial support to Comenius and his friends.

Comenius and his family settled in Elbing (on the Baltic Sea coast). During the period from 1642 to 1648, he prepared a number of works intended for practical use in schools, including “The Newest Method of Learning Languages.” In this work, instead of the memorization of ready-made conclusions and rules that prevailed in schools, a new method of teaching is outlined. It consists of the following: 1) first - an example, and then - a rule; 2) an object and, in parallel with it, words; 3) free and meaningful development. Not only was it new at the time, but it was largely unexplored and new years later.

In 1648, the chief bishop of the Czech Brothers died, and Comenius was proposed for this position. In the same year, Comenius, elected bishop of the community, returned to Leszno.

Soon he was invited to Hungary, where the brotherhood was given patronage. Comenius accepted this invitation. He went with his family to Hungary, where he was tasked with reorganizing the school business in Sáros Patak in accordance with his ideas. Here he wanted to create a “pansophical school.” And although he was not able to fully implement his ideas, he still changed a lot at school. Education there was conducted according to his textbooks and in accordance with his didactic concept. During the reorganization of school education, along with other works, the “Pansophical School” and “The World of Sensual Things in Pictures” were written. In 1658, The World in Pictures was printed and quickly spread to many European countries. This was the first textbook in which the principle of clarity was implemented; teaching with words is connected with objects, with a visual image. Since it was translated into many languages, it began to be used in different European countries not only as a textbook of the Latin language, but also as a tool for studying their native language.

During the years of Comenius' stay in Hungary, he created about 10 more original works, both methodological and general pedagogical.

Meanwhile, the situation of the community in Leszno deteriorated significantly. To prevent the collapse of the community, Comenius was summoned from Hungary. But in 1656, during the Polish-Swedish war, Leszno was captured by the Swedes, and Comenius, like other members of the disintegrated community, had to flee. His house burned down, and along with it most of his books and manuscripts perished. Comenius found refuge in Amsterdam with the son of his former wealthy patron.

Comenius Jan Amos (Komensky, Comenius).

Czech humanist thinker, teacher, public figure. Born into the family of a member of the Protestant community of the Czech Brothers. He received his initial education at a fraternal school, and in 1608-10 he studied in lat. school, then at the Herborn Academy and Heidelberg University (1611-14), where he was sent by the community to prepare for preaching work. In 1614-20 he taught and was a preacher in Přerov, then in Fulnek (Moravia).

You can't learn anything without example.

Comenius Jan Amos

Comenius' activities were devoted to the problems of education and upbringing, correction of society for the purpose of mutual understanding and cooperation between peoples to "achieve a better life throughout the world."

Comenius' philosophical views were formed under the influence of the ideas of Aristotle, Plato, F. Bacon, and Vives. The philosophy of Comenius (pansophia - teaching everyone everything), his program of universal education, belief in the continuity of the process of improving everyone and everything through creative work, the desire to create a comprehensive method for the formation of personality and society seemed utopian at that time and received a deserved assessment only in the 20th century.

In Comenius's work, the previous tradition of Czech reformation and humanism, associated with the Hussite movement, and then with the community of the Czech Brothers, is developed.

Even during his studies, Komensky collected a huge amount of linguistic material for the book. “The Treasure of the Czech Language” (the manuscript burned in 1656), tried to create a kind of universal encyclopedia “The Theater of All Possibles” (“Theatrum universitatis rerum”), tried his hand at spiritual poetry, and studied the theory of Czech versification.

Comenius is a leading representative of the Czech Reformed Church; during the 30-year war he was forced to hide in the Czech Republic and Moravia. During this period, Comenius wrote a number of historical works and a literary and philosophical treatise “The Labyrinth of Light and the Paradise of the Heart” (“Labirint sveta a raj srdce”, 1623), which reflected his socially critical position. The acute social satire in “Labyrinth...” is complemented by an optimistic picture of a harmonious society (“Paradise of the Heart”). Under the influence of Neoplatonism, Comenius came to the conviction that the shortcomings of society can only be eliminated based on the general problems of the world order. He saw one of the ways to correct the world in improving the system of upbringing and education of people. He outlined the theory of universal universal education in “Didactics” in Czech (1628-30, published in 1849), in which he considered specific issues of education in connection with general problems of education and set the goals and methods of education depending on the position of a person in society, his purpose . Education, in his opinion, should help a person correctly navigate the world in search of the meaning of life. A broad interpretation of the problem and the demand for education for all children and youth led to a negative attitude towards “Didactics”.

In 1631-32, Comenius reworked the “Didactics”, calling it “The Paradise of the Church or the Czech Paradise”, and made it an integral part of the first project for the reform of education and upbringing in the Czech Republic. He also intended to create textbooks and methodological literature in addition to Didactics. Comenius only graduated from the "Informatory of the Mother's School", which became the first theory of preschool education for children under 6 years of age. The essay revealed the specifics of upbringing at each stage of a child’s life, the relationship between physical and moral education, the relationship between the active activities of children and moral and religious education, mental development and the formation of the child’s speech. Noting the diverse significance of children's games, Komensky emphasized the need for a systematic, non-violent familiarization of children with the simplest knowledge about the world, commensurate with the age of the child.

Let it be an eternal law: to teach and learn everything through examples, instructions and application in practice.

Comenius Jan Amos

In the city of Leszno (Poland), engaged only in pedagogical activities, Comenius in 1633-38 revised, expanded and translated into Latin. language "Didactics". This is how the “Great Didactics” (“Didactica magna”) arose, which became the main theoretical basis of the secondary (lat.) stage of education. The scientist created a unified education system and outlined its structure - from preschool education to higher education. From birth to 6 years of age, children are raised in a family (maternal school), from 6 to 12 years of age they study in an elementary school (native language, arithmetic, elements of geometry, geography, natural history, scripture). Comenius believed that in a “native language school” it was necessary to introduce children to crafts. At the next stage of education - in lat. school or gymnasium (from 12 to 18 years old), Comenius introduces, along with the traditional seven liberal arts, natural science, history, and geography. Higher education (from 18 to 24 years old) is carried out at the academy. Comenius developed the concepts of goals, content and methods of education. At first, he gave preference to the subject principle and was the author of a number of subject textbooks on physics, geometry, geodesy, geography, astronomy, and history. Then he came to the conviction that a person should receive a system of knowledge about the world. An example of such a collection of the most important knowledge about the world, nature, man, social order and the spiritual field is the textbook “The Open Door of Languages” (“Janua linguarum reserata”, 1631). The textbook was a new type of manual; it rejected the traditional dogmatic way of studying grammar and syntax, and proposed a method of mastering language based on knowledge of elements of the real world. Contained 8 thousand lats. words from which relatively simple sentences were composed, grouped into small, gradually becoming more complex stories-articles about the most important phenomena of the surrounding reality. In the 1640s. Comenius, at the suggestion of the Swedish government, began preparing school reforms for Sweden in Elbląg and developing methods for teaching Latin. language. After the Peace of Westphalia (1648), he returned to Leszno, where, by order of Sweden, he prepared textbooks: “The Threshold of the Latin Language” (“Vestibulum latinae linguae”), “The Hall of Latinism” (“Atrium linguae latinae”, 1643-49, published 1649 ), as well as “The Newest Method of Languages” (“Linguarum methodus novissima”, 1649).

MGUim. M.V. Lomonosova

Faculty of Philosophy

Pedagogical ideas

John Amos Comenius

3rd year students

Moscow2004

Introduction. Brief biography of John Amos Comenius……………… 2

The principle of conformity with nature……………………………………….. 4

Humanism in the works of Jan Comenius…………………………………… 7

Didactic principles of Jan Comenius…………………………… 11

Family education in the pedagogy of Jan Komensky…………………. 19

Used literature……………………………………………………………… 22

Introduction. Brief biography of John Amos Comenius.

Jan Amos Comenius (1592 - 1670) was born in South Moravia (Czechoslovakia) into the family of a member of the Czech Brothers community. He studied at the Universities of Hernborn and Heidelberg in Germany. After Comenius was a preacher, and then the head of his religious community, he was engaged in teaching activities in various European countries - in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and wrote textbooks for Sweden. Thanks to his textbooks, Comenius became famous during his lifetime; they were used to study in many countries around the world.

Comenius was the founder of modern pedagogy. His theoretical works on the issues of teaching and raising children examined all the most important pedagogical problems.

A distinctive feature of Comenius' pedagogical views was that he considered education as one of the most important prerequisites for establishing fair and friendly relations between people and nations. Also throughout Comenius’s teachings one can trace his humanistic approach to man and to education. His religious education and way of life influenced the entire educational system created by this outstanding teacher.

The main provisions of his teaching, such as the principle of conformity with nature, didactic principles, family pedagogy, are discussed in this work.

The principle of conformity with nature

One of the most important provisions of Comenius, on which many of the statements of his pedagogy stand, is the principle of conformity with nature.

This is a general scientific principle of rational knowledge, which took shape in the scientific consciousness during the study of the natural world. In Comenius’s interpretation, the principle of nature-conforming education is multi-valued, because it requires taking into account the universal laws of nature, the laws of human nature, and the laws of nature of education itself.

An extensive semantic field arises on the basis of knowledge from many sciences (in the “Great Didactics” - philosophical, psychological, pedagogical knowledge), integrated by the idea of ​​​​rational and scientific justification of the pedagogical process. The theorist approached understanding the nature of this process from the scientific concepts of his time. The general property of nature is expediency, the spontaneous movement of each “thing” towards its purpose, the potential opportunity to become what it should be.

In the art of education, this means developing what a person has “embedded in the embryo,” developing from within, waiting for the “ripening of forces,” not pushing nature where it does not want to go, following the general rule: “Let everything flow freely, away from violence.” affairs.” Based on the thesis that the seeds of intelligence, morality and piety and their desire for the development of nature are inherent in all people, Comenius defined the role of education “as the easiest motivation and some reasonable guidance” as a natural process of self-development of the pupil.

At the same time, what was meant was not the mere immanence of this process, but conscious self-development: the pedagogical process is addressed to the student’s personality and the establishment in him of a sense of self-dignity, self-respect, a serious attitude towards one’s responsibilities, and academic work. And at the same time, nature-conforming education, as already noted, is a “non-violent” pedagogy of the natural and free development of natural strengths and abilities.

Based on the principle of conformity with nature, Jan Komensky creates a grandiose and, by modern scale, project for the education of a person from birth to twenty-four years of age. Comenius explained its universality (scientific validity) by ensuring that the pedagogical process corresponded to human nature and the “earthly purpose” of man. The project was focused on the idea of ​​“teaching everything to everyone” - on the rational organization of a “mass school”.

Based on the principle of conformity with nature, Komensky presented the time of human maturation as four stages of six years each and defined tasks for each stage.

Based on human nature, he identifies the following stages:

childhood - from birth to 6 years inclusive adolescence - from 6 to 12 years youth - from 12 to 18 years adulthood - from 18 to 24 years

He bases this division on age-related characteristics: childhood is characterized by increased physical growth and development of the senses; adolescence - the development of memory and imagination with their executive organs - the tongue and hand; youth, in addition to the indicated qualities, is characterized by a higher level of development of thinking; maturity - the development of will and the ability to maintain harmony.

For each of these age periods, following the characteristic age characteristics (of the child’s nature), Comenius outlines a special stage of education.

For children up to 6 years old it offers mother's school by which he means pre-school education under the guidance of the mother. A six-year school is intended for adolescence native language in every community, village, town. For boys it should be in every city Latin school, or gymnasium. For mature young people in every state or large area - academy.

Of course, says Comenius, not everyone is inclined and able to overcome the entire path to pansophia, especially since the academy presupposes specialization in the type of occupation for which “nature intended.” However, the first two steps are the minimum that anyone needs so that in childhood the foundations for a reasonable, moral and pious life are laid.

Justifying the idea of ​​a native language school, Komensky constantly bears in mind the natural conformity of the child’s development. The natural aspirations and living conditions of a person are used by Komensky to argue for the need for a native language school for the principles of homeland studies and civics.

Equally natural and necessary, Comenius believes, in the Latin school is the presence of a “class of ethics,” which considers “man himself with the actions of his free will as the ruler of things,” as well as the study of “the core subject of history,” the knowledge of which “kind of illuminates the whole life.” ", history of natural science, history of inventions, history of morality, history of religious rites among different nations, general history (but still mainly the history of one’s fatherland).

“The Seven Liberal Arts”, these traditional educational subjects of the medieval school, Comenius complements the foundations of the sciences of modern times. All contents of general education address a person – his holistic worldview, the harmony of his aspirations and abilities to “know, be able to, act, speak.”

The procedural side of learning with Komensky is expressed in the search for a “natural (nature-conforming) method”, which is focused on the student’s holistic personality, on the motivational sphere, on the versatile work of the intellect, on “living knowledge”, and not on traditional “book learning”, which the student took with memory and willpower. .

Humanism and moral education in the works of Jan Komensky

The spiritual world of Comenius, an encyclopedically educated man, is a complex original “alloy” of the views of antiquity and the Renaissance, Catholic theology and Protestantism, contemporary humanitarian and natural science knowledge.

The task of every Christian state, Comenius asserted, should be “universal education of youth.” The main thing for him is to avoid the “temptation” of the historical conditions of that time: the reduction of a person to his class appearance, to an instrument of national-state and religious interests and goals, and his education to the preparation of a person to fulfill his class roles and social functions.

Comenius substantiated the democratic and humanistic idea of ​​universal, universal education, which for many centuries has been and remains a “guide” in upholding universal education as an inalienable right of every person.

In Comenius’ concept, man is placed in a “microworld”, endowed with power over things and responsibility for his activities in the “microworld”. The practical labor activity of a person in one or another sphere of social life is “art”, and the path to art is “scientific education”, which provides knowledge about the surrounding world of nature, society, the affairs and works of human society.

Man himself is a complex world, a “microcosm”. His inner life is a struggle between good and evil principles, good morals and vices, in which desires and passions that control the will manifest themselves. To direct the natural gift - free will - to the truly human: reason, morality, virtues - the goals and objectives of moral education.

A person’s spiritual support lies in his internal self-construction and in his activities in the world - in the desire to “live accurately in the eyes of God,” “walk before God,” “fulfill one’s destiny in earthly life and prepare for eternal life.”

The Christian anthropological concept of man, as the basic one in Comenius’ pedagogical system, determined the humanistic character of the entire system. The purpose of education is determined on the basis of recognition of human self-worth, anthropo-oriented; the tasks of education are dominated by the spiritual and moral orientation of personality development.

Comenius’ pedagogical system is a “strict” pedagogy, it presupposes an attitude towards the pupil as a conscious, active being, responsible in his thoughts and actions, it affirms the idea of ​​pedagogical activity as the most complex of all the arts of human development in a person. Komensky’s pedagogical system is optimistic, imbued with the light of faith in human capabilities and the possibilities of education, in the prospects for a reasonable “human community,” the unification of “exalted, courageous, generous people.”

In the hierarchy of educational tasks, Komensky associated the highest levels with direct appeal to the inner world of a person and the cultivation of his spirituality. The entire educational process is permeated with a value-based attitude to knowledge.

At each age level, ethical and theological ideas and rules, norms of behavior are introduced, the purpose of which is to spiritualize the inner life of the student with a value-based attitude towards people and towards himself. In the system of values ​​necessary for a humane personality, Comenius specially identified the “cardinal virtues”, developed in the Christian ethics of the Middle Ages, with their origins in the philosophy of Plato: wisdom, moderation, courage, justice.

In the art of developing and elevating a person’s spirituality, Comenius sought to form morality and piety - the continuous spiritual life and practical activity of a person: “Virtues are learned by constantly practicing honesty.”

In this vein - a person himself builds his inner world - “sixteen rules of the art of developing morality” are presented. The teacher is focused on stimulating the self-discipline of a growing person (restraining drives, curbing impatience, anger, etc.), moral aspirations (fairness in relation to other people, readiness to give in, to serve, to benefit as many people as possible with his services, etc.). His tools are instruction, “examples of a decent life,” and exercises, and most importantly, the organization of orderly, varied, morally oriented activities, activities long enough to establish habits to work, useful activities that would oppose laziness, idleness and idleness.

The treasures of moral wisdom and piety for the teacher and for the pupil are the Holy Scriptures and the reflections of great people. “Why and how to avoid envy? What weapon can you use to protect your heart from sorrows and all kinds of human misfortunes? How to moderate joy? How to restrain anger and moderate criminal love? - Having given this list of questions, Komensky orients the teacher to stimulate the intense, morally oriented conscious inner life of pupils, in which he tries to overcome weaknesses and vices, resist the destructive power of negative feelings and drives, and maintain mental balance.

At the same time, the requirements for man as a spiritual and moral being are definitely and clearly defined and “presented.” For the humanist Comenius, this is by no means a manifestation of authoritarianism, violence by the transpersonal. In his anthropological and pedagogical concept, a person “in the image of God” always retains the right to freely choose between good and evil. At the same time, education is intended to help as much as possible to determine a moral position, “to protect young people from all reasons for moral depravity,” to teach them to “overcome themselves.”

In this regard, and in the teaching about school discipline, “the art of showing rigor,” the dominant attitude is self-discipline, such rigor that would enjoy affection and turn into love, and most importantly, to create in the school an atmosphere of “sincere and open disposition”, “the dominance of cheerfulness and attention as both among teachers and among students,” “love and joyful cheerfulness,” when there would be no need to do something against one’s will, under duress, but everything would be given independently and voluntarily, when students would love and respect their teachers, “willingly allow themselves to be led there , where it should be... and they themselves strived for the same.”

In general, Comenius’ pedagogical system can be represented as a humanistic model of the pedagogical process, the purpose of which is the value-oriented and holistic development of the natural forces and abilities of a growing person.

The goal is realized in organizing the life activities of pupils in a morally healthy, spiritually rich environment that stimulates diversified development: in a system of various types of activities corresponding to the nature-appropriate development of strengths and abilities, the human element in a person, in a system of humane relations between pupils, relations between the teacher and students as subjects of the pedagogical process, in the growing subjectivity of pupils, which translates the goal and objectives of the pedagogical process into their own goals and objectives, and education “grows” into self-education.

The result of the pedagogical process is the level of personal individual development achieved by the pupil, including self-awareness, self-determination, needs and abilities for further self-development, self-education, self-education. The freedom of development of the student’s personality is ensured by equal opportunities for self-development for everyone, and “non-violent” pedagogical influence. This model is clearly revealed in the exemplary, highly effective educational systems of the past, and organically fits into the modern search for the humanization of the school, which indicates the universality of Comenius’ pedagogical discoveries.

Didactic principles of Jan Komensky

In pedagogical literature, a distinction is made between didactic (general) principles of teaching and methodological (specific) principles of teaching. In the didactic teachings of Comenius, the most important place is occupied by the question of the general principles of teaching, or didactic principles.

Comenius, for the first time in the history of didactics, not only pointed out the need to be guided by principles in teaching, but revealed the essence of these principles:

1) the principle of consciousness and activity;

2) the principle of clarity;

3) the principle of gradualism and systematic knowledge;

4) the principle of exercise and solid mastery of knowledge and skills.

1) The principle of consciousness and activity

This principle presupposes the nature of learning when students do not passively, through cramming and mechanical exercises, but consciously, deeply and thoroughly assimilate knowledge and skills. Where there is no consciousness, teaching is conducted dogmatically and formalism dominates knowledge.

Comenius exposed the dogmatism that had prevailed for many centuries and showed how the scholastic school killed all creative ability in young people and blocked their path to progress.

Komensky considers the main condition for successful learning to be the comprehension of the essence of objects and phenomena, their understanding by students: “Teaching youth correctly does not mean hammering into their heads a mixture of words, phrases, sayings, opinions collected from the authors, but this means revealing the ability to understand things, so that from this ability Streams (of knowledge) flowed as if from a living source.”

Comenius also considers the main property of conscious knowledge to be not only understanding, but also the use of knowledge in practice: “You will make it easier for the student to learn if, in everything you teach him, you show him how it will bring everyday benefit in the community.”

Comenius gives a whole series of instructions on how to carry out conscious learning. The most important of them is the requirement: “When educating youth, everything must be done as clearly as possible, so that not only the teacher, but also the student understands without any difficulty where he is and what he is doing.”

Consciousness in learning is inextricably linked with the activity of the student, with his creativity. Comenius writes: “No midwife can bring a fetus into the world if there is no living and strong movement and tension of the fetus itself.” Based on this, Comenius considered inactivity and laziness of the student to be one of the most important enemies of learning. In his work “On the expulsion of inertia from schools,” Comenius reveals the causes of laziness and gives a number of instructions on how to root it out.

Comenius believes that “inertia is an aversion to work combined with laziness.”

The laziness of students, according to Comenius, is expressed in the fact that they “do not think about how to acquire for themselves the light of true and complete enlightenment, and even less take upon themselves the labor required to achieve such enlightenment.” According to Komensky, laziness must be driven out by work.

Comenius considers nurturing activity and independence in learning to be the most important task: “It is necessary that everything be done through theory, practice and application, and, moreover, in such a way that each student learns for himself, with his own feelings, tries to say and do everything and begins to apply everything. In my students I always develop independence in observation, in speech, in practice and in application, as the only basis for achieving lasting knowledge, virtue, and, finally, bliss.”

2) The principle of visibility

The principle of visualization of learning presupposes, first of all, that students acquire knowledge through direct observations of objects and phenomena, through their sensory perception. Comenius considers visibility to be the golden rule of learning.

The use of visual aids in the learning process was addressed even when writing and the school itself did not exist. It was quite widespread in the schools of ancient countries. In the Middle Ages, during the era of the dominance of scholasticism and dogmatism, the idea of ​​visibility was consigned to oblivion, and it was no longer used in pedagogical practice. Comenius was the first to introduce the use of visibility as a general pedagogical principle.

At the heart of Comenius’s teaching on visibility is the basic position: “Nothing can be in consciousness that was not previously given in sensation.”

Komensky defined visibility and its meaning as follows:

1) “If we wish to instill in students a true and lasting knowledge of things in general, we must teach everything through personal observation and sensory proof.”

2) “Therefore, schools should leave everything to the students’ own senses so that they themselves see, hear, touch, smell, taste everything that they can and should see, hear, etc., they will thus save human nature from endless ambiguities hallucinations..."

3) What needs to be known about things must be “taught through the things themselves, i.e. should, as far as possible, be exposed to contemplation, touch, hearing, smell, etc. the things themselves, or images replacing them.”

4) “Whoever himself has once carefully observed the anatomy of the human body will understand and remember more accurately than if he reads the most extensive explanations without seeing it all with human eyes.”

That is, Comenius considered visibility not only a teaching principle, but also one that facilitates learning. To achieve clarity, Komensky considered it necessary to use:

1) real objects and direct observation of them;

2) when this is not possible, a model and a copy of the item;

3) pictures as an image of an object or phenomenon.

The educational effect of any observation depends on how much the teacher was able to instill in the student what and why he should observe, and how much he was able to attract and maintain his attention throughout the entire learning process.

3) The principle of gradual and systematic knowledge

Comenius considers the consistent study of the fundamentals of science and systematic knowledge to be an obligatory principle of education. This principle requires students to master systematized knowledge in a certain logical and methodological sequence.

Consistency and systematicity primarily concern the following issues: how to distribute the material so as not to violate the logic of science; where to start training and in what sequence to build it; how to establish a connection between new and already studied material; what connections and transitions should be established between individual stages of training, etc.

So, what content does Comenius introduce into his position - “Training should be carried out consistently”?

Comenius' first requirement is that a precise order of learning be established over time, since "order is the soul of everything."

The second requirement concerns that the instruction be appropriate to the level of knowledge of the students and that “the entire body of instruction must be carefully divided into grades.”

The third requirement is that “everything be studied sequentially from beginning to end.”

The fourth requirement is “to reinforce all the foundations of reason - this means teaching everything, pointing to the reasons, i.e. not only to show how something happens, but also to show why it cannot be otherwise. After all, to know something means to name a thing in a causal relationship.”

Komensky formulates a number of specific instructions and didactic rules for the implementation of these requirements.

1. Classes should be distributed in such a way that for each year, each month, day and hour, certain educational tasks are set, which must be thought out in advance by the teacher and understood by the students.

2. These tasks must be solved taking into account age characteristics, or more precisely, in accordance with the tasks of individual classes.

3. One subject should be taught until it is mastered by the students from beginning to end.

4. “All classes should be distributed in such a way that new material is always based on the previous one and strengthened by the subsequent one.”

5. Learning “should go from the more general to the more specific,” “from the easier to the more difficult,” “from the known to the unknown,” “from the closer to the more distant,” etc.

“This sequence,” says Comenius, “must be observed everywhere; Everywhere the mind must move from historical knowledge of things to rational understanding, then to the use of each thing. By these paths, the enlightenment of the mind leads to its goals like machines with their own movement.”

4) The principle of exercise and solid mastery of knowledge and skills

An indicator of the usefulness of knowledge and skills is systematically conducted exercises and repetitions.

In Comenius's time, formalism and rote learning dominated schools. Komensky introduced new content into the concepts of exercise and repetition; he set a new task - the deep assimilation of knowledge based on the consciousness and activity of students. In his opinion, the exercise should not serve the mechanical memorization of words, but the understanding of objects and phenomena, their conscious assimilation and use in practical activities.

Comenius connects exercises with memory and writes: “Memory exercises should be practiced continuously.” But at the same time, Comenius opposes mechanical memorization in favor of logical memorization and points out: “Only that which is well understood and carefully fixed in memory is thoroughly introduced into the mind.”

Komensky also demands that great attention be paid to the physical education of students.

Attaching great importance to exercises and repetitions, Comenius puts forward a number of guidelines and rules for the implementation of this principle in training:

“Training cannot be brought to thoroughness without the most frequent and especially skillfully performed repetitions and exercises.”

In the same school there should be "the same order and method in all exercises."

“Nothing should be forced to be learned except what is well understood.”

At each lesson, after explaining the material, the teacher should invite one of the students to stand up, who should repeat everything said by the teacher in the same order, as if he himself had already been a teacher of others, explain the rules with the same examples. If he is wrong about something, he needs to be corrected. Then you need to invite someone else to stand up and do the same...”

According to Comenius, such an exercise will be especially beneficial because:

"I. The teacher will always attract attention from the students."

"II. The teacher will be more certain that everyone has understood everything he has stated correctly. If not enough has been learned, he will have the opportunity to immediately correct mistakes.”

"III. When the same thing is repeated so many times, even those who lag behind will understand what is presented enough to keep up with the rest.”

"IV. Thanks to this repetition carried out so many times, all students will learn this lesson better than by studying it for a long time at home.”

"V. When in this way the student is constantly allowed, so to speak, to perform teaching duties, then some cheerfulness and passion for this teaching will be instilled in the minds and the courage will be developed to speak with animation about any high subject in front of a gathering of people, and this will be especially useful in life.”

Comenius developed the following requirements for the principle of learning and repetition:

1. “Rules should support and reinforce practice”

2. “Students should do not what they like, but what the laws and teachers prescribe to them.”

3. “Mental exercises will take place in special lessons conducted according to our method.”

4. “Each problem is first illustrated and explained, and students are required to show whether they understood it and how they understood it. It’s also good to have repetitions at the end of the week.”

From these provisions it is clear that Comenius completely subordinates exercise and repetition to the task of conscious and lasting assimilation of knowledge by students. From this point of view, many of the proposed rules still retain their theoretical and practical significance.

Family education in Comenius pedagogy

Komensky attaches great importance to family education. “Having shown that the plants of paradise - Christian youth - cannot grow like a forest, but need care, we should consider who this care falls on. It is most natural to recognize that it falls on the parents, so that those to whom the children owe their lives also turn out to be the source for them of a reasonable, moral and holy life.”

“However, given the diversity of people and their activities, it is rare to find parents who could raise their children themselves or who, due to the nature of their activities, would have the leisure time necessary for this. Therefore, a procedure has long been practiced in which the children of many families are entrusted for education to special persons with knowledge and seriousness of character. These youth educators are usually called mentors, teachers...”

Comenius puts teachers in second place after parents. Following Plato and Aristotle, Comenius considered wisdom, moderation, courage and honesty to be the main virtues. And the main means of their upbringing was the example of their parents. The family, according to Comenius, is the main means of moral education.

An important function of family education for Kamensky is to awaken and maintain the desire to learn in children. “The desire to learn is awakened and supported in children by parents, teachers, school, the academic subjects themselves, the teaching method and school authorities. If parents, in the presence of their children, speak with praise about teaching and learned people, or, encouraging their children to be diligent, promise them beautiful books, beautiful clothes or something else pleasant; if they praise the teacher (especially the one to whom they want to entrust children) both in terms of his learning and his humane attitude towards children (after all, love and admiration are the strongest means to induce a desire to imitate); finally, if they sometimes send children to the teacher with an errand or a small gift, etc., then it is easy to achieve that the children will sincerely love both science and the teacher himself. ”

Emphasizing the importance and necessity of family education, Comenius in “The Great Didactics” creates the image of the mother’s school as the first stage of education.

The stages of education have already been discussed in the first chapter of this work, but now we will consider in more detail the essence of the mother’s school.

Komensky saw the goal of the school as the development and exercise of primarily external senses, so that children would learn to handle the objects around them correctly and recognize them.

Comenius describes the main characteristic features of this school as follows:

“In the very first years, the tree immediately releases from its trunk all the main branches that it will have and which subsequently only have to grow. Therefore, in the same way, whatever we would like to teach for his benefit throughout his life, all this should be taught to him in this first school.” Next, Komensky gives a list of subjects (their rudiments) that, in his opinion, need to be studied in maternal school.

“Metaphysics in general terms is initially learned here, since children perceive everything in general and unclear outlines, noticing that everything they see, hear, taste, touch, it all exists, but without distinguishing what it is in particular, and only then gradually in this figuring it out. Consequently, they are already beginning to understand general terms: something, nothing, is, no, so, not so, where, when, it seems, unlike, etc., which in general is the basis of metaphysics.

IN natural science During this first six years, you can bring your child to the point where he knows what water, earth, air, fire, rain, snow, stone, iron, wood, grass, bird, fish, etc. are.

Beginnings optics the child receives due to the fact that he begins to distinguish and name light and darkness, shadow and the differences in primary colors: white, black, red, etc.

Beginnings stories consist in the fact that the child can remember and tell what happened recently, how this or that acted in this or that matter - nothing if it is even just childish.

Roots arithmetic are laid down due to the fact that the child understands when little is said; knows how to count, at least to ten, and make the observation that three is more than two, and that one added to three gives four, etc.

And also the beginnings of geometry, statics, grammar, dialectical art, music. Introduction to poetry and politics. The doctrine of morality, etc.

So, the family has enormous responsibility for the development of the child. Comenius says: “Everything is most easily formed at a tender age.” In accordance with the principles of natural conformity and age periodization, Komensky believes that family education (maternal school) is the first and one of the most important stages of children's upbringing and education.

References

1. Komensky Ya. A. Great didactics. - Fav. ped. op. M.: Uchpedgiz, 1955.

2. Komensky Ya. A. Selected pedagogical works. T.2. -M.: Pedagogy, 1982.

3. Konstantinov N. A., Medynsky E. N., Shabaeva M. F. History of pedagogy. - M.: Education, 1982.

4. Lordkipanidze D.O. Jan Amos Komensky. - 2nd ed., M.: Pedagogy, 1970

5. Nipkov K.E. Jan Komensky today. - St. Petersburg: Glagol, 1995

6. Piskunov A.I. Reader on the history of foreign pedagogy. - M.: Education, 1981.

IDEAS OF JAN AMOS COMENUS

WORKS OF JAN AMOS COMENUS

LITERATURE

THE LIFE OF JAN AMOS COMENUS

Jan was born on March 28, 1592 in the town of Nivnica. Later, his family from Nivnica (Slovakia) moved to Komna. The name Comenius came from the name of the village.

Martin Komensky, his uncle, belonged to prominent members of the Community of Czech Brothers. Jan's family had clear criteria and values ​​in their thinking and conversations. They saw the world as harmoniously ordered, since the highest Providence created it that way. Thus, little Jan lived in the magical world of childhood, in a world where there is no place for doubts, secrets and fear.

When Jan was ten years old, his father died. A year later, my mother died. At the same time, or almost simultaneously, two sisters died. At this time, people are struck by the plague. After the first fright comes fear, then melancholy, mournful emptiness and loneliness.

Orphaned Jan was taken in by his aunt, his father’s sister, Zuzana Nosalova, who lived with her husband in the town of Straznice on the Moravian-Slovak border. School and teachers The community of Czech brothers in Straznice, of which he became a student, enjoyed an excellent reputation.

Ian was doing well at school and enjoyed learning. He quickly surpassed his fellow students in knowledge, without losing anything in their eyes, on the contrary. He was unusually inquisitive and, of course, superior to the other guys: he knew how not only to look, but also to see, in addition, he knew how to share knowledge so captivatingly that he attracted students to him.

But soon the war began - the struggle of Czech and Moravian Protestants against the oppression of the Catholic nobility. The village was burned and many were taken prisoner. But the Nosalov family with little Ian, fortunately, escaped almost unharmed. There is nothing to think about - we need to go to Nivnitsa.

Returning to his hometown, Ian began to slowly take on one thing, another, a third, but he immediately left everything after torment and hesitation, he came to the conclusion that first of all, he needed to look at all human affairs. But a person alone cannot cope with the knowledge of the world around him and its contradictions, with the revelation of its secrets. It’s not enough to just watch and ask questions, you have to read, learn, and draw from the bottomless sources of wisdom that the best of the best have put into their books. The wise of all generations must come to the aid of those who have entered the path of knowledge. Ian wants to study further; he is sixteen years old.

So in 1608, Jan became a student at the Czech Brothers School in Psherov, the best among fraternal educational institutions. The eldest among the students, he greedily absorbs knowledge from all sources and quickly surpasses his comrades. Here he became acquainted with Latin and Greek.

The Psherov school was headed by Jan Lanetsy, an excellent teacher and educator, who immediately noticed Comenius’ outstanding abilities, his strong will and determination. He recommended sending Ian to the academy to improve his knowledge.

Comenius arrives in Herborn in 1611. Jan Amos (he now adds his middle name) is nineteen years old. In those years, the University of Herborn enjoyed an excellent reputation in the Protestant world: an excellent training program and outstanding professors.

At the academy, Comenius was greatly influenced by the theology professor John Heinrich Alsted, who attracted students with his incredible breadth of knowledge. Thanks to the influence of this teacher, Comenius had the idea of ​​compiling an encyclopedia for his people. He also realized that it was necessary to systematically organize what he had learned and also systematically move forward. Passing it on to others, explaining it, teaching it.

From now on, his task is to embrace all knowledge, bring it into a strict logical sequence and find a system with the help of which to convey what he has learned to others.

He wrote: “Beware of being a scientist only for yourself. To the best of your ability, also lead others. Let at least the example of Seneca motivate you, who says: “I wish to convey to others everything that I know myself.” And also: “I would reject wisdom if it were given under the conditions of keeping it to myself and not spreading it.”

After graduating from the Herborn Academy, Comenius traveled around England and the Netherlands. In 1613 he came to Heidelberg to study at the theological faculty of Heidelberg University.

In 1614 Comenius returned home, he was twenty-six years old. He married Magdalena Vizowska and became the manager of the Council of the Fraternal Community and at the same time a teacher and preacher in Fulnek.

Comenius relives the tragedy of his childhood: the all-European Thirty Years' War begins, which is accompanied by plague epidemics (1621). His wife dies.

In 1624, Jan Amos became engaged to Dorota Kirillova, then he was thirty-two years old.

In 1641, Comenius went on a trip to England, and from 1644 he traveled around Europe. In 1650 he returns home.

In 1652, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the country. Comenius' entire family is sick (he is sixty years old). The second wife dies.

In 1667, Comenius' health deteriorated significantly, but this was only a temporary phenomenon. Although after some time, Jan Amos began to have attacks more and more often, he was seized by a fever and gradually began to paralyze. There was little time left. He had already stopped writing, but his son Daniel wrote for him. All these difficult years, his caring and loving wife, Yana, was next to him.

In 1670, on a cold November morning, Comenius died. Around him are books, plans, notes with ideas. His word is dead and silent. But after many years or centuries, someone will look, read, and the words will come to life. Ian Amos will speak.

Comenius formulated ideas about the educational system, about the division of school into stages, about the content of education and about the range of its “needs,” and most importantly - about the method of adapting education to human nature, to different stages of its development. Trying to put his ideas into practice, he encountered the conservatism of his colleagues. In their eyes, all innovations jeopardized the reputation of the school and undermined its authority among students and city society, because rejected the previous methodological basis of the school system. It provided for unquestioning discipline and submission to the teacher, obedient memorization of everything that was supposed to be “taken on faith.” And Komensky opposed the separation of theory from practice, mechanical rote learning, and self-directed learning not related to education. Wasn’t it revolutionary to decorate the walls of school classrooms with paintings, to take students into the fields and forests, to “play crafts” while learning Latin, to allow students to ask questions and argue...

According to Jan Amos, learning should begin with the first independent steps on earth of a small person, from childhood. “The most advanced post of the human race is at the cradle. Because everything, both good and evil, depends on the beginning: where and how to direct a person, that’s where he will go – the body behind the head. And it’s easiest to start from the very beginning, otherwise things will get difficult.” Already in the preschool period, it is possible to lay the foundations of knowledge, on which school and moral education will later be built. In preschool age, the prerequisites are laid on which the child learns well, diligently uses his mind in understanding the world, creates a sufficient supply of ideas in which words and concepts will always be associated with a specific image of specific objects, so that the child learns to understand the simplest dependencies.

Such upbringing and training is possible only in the family. Only in the family, and especially in the mother, is it possible to introduce the child to the simplest and at the same time the most important thing - an understanding of the world. “Mother's school” - the name of this period of education arises by itself.

EXTRACTS FROM THE WORKS OF YA.A. KOMENSKY

On the development of natural talents

Man is born with four parts, or qualities, or abilities. The first is called the mind - the mirror of all things, with judgment - the living scales and lever of all things, and, finally, with memory - the storehouse for things. In second place is the will - the judge, deciding and commanding everything. The third is the ability of movement, the executor of all decisions. Finally, speech is the interpreter of everything for everyone. For these four figures, our body has the same number of major containers and organs: the brain, heart, hand and tongue. In the brain we carry, as it were, a workshop of the mind; in the heart, like a queen in her palace, the will dwells; the hand, the organ of human activity, is a performer worthy of admiration; language, finally, is a master of speech, a mediator between different minds contained in different bodies separated from each other, connecting many people into one society for consultation and action.

Laws of a Well-Organized School

To teach only the ability to speak and not to teach understanding at the same time (that is, to teach languages ​​without understanding things) does not mean improving human nature, but only giving it an external, superficial decoration. Teaching to understand things, but not teaching at the same time to act, is a form of pharisaism: talking, but not doing. Finally, to understand and do things without, however, being aware of the benefits of knowledge and action is semi-ignorance. To produce men who know things, are skilled in action, and wise in the use of knowledge and action, our workshop of humanity, the school, must lead minds through things in such a way that utility is everywhere observed and abuse is prevented. This will bring significant benefits throughout your life...

Laws for teachers

1. Teachers must be honest, active and hardworking people; not only for appearances, but in reality they should be living examples of the virtues that they should instill in others. (Nothing pretended can last.)

2. In order to be able to cheerfully perform the duties of their profession and protect themselves from boredom and disgust, they must... beware of valuing themselves too low and treating themselves with contempt... But ours believe that they are placed in a place of high honor, that they have been entrusted with an excellent position, higher than which nothing can be under the sun, namely, to bring a small likeness of God to resemble God or, as God says in the prophet, to plant the heavens and found the earth, i.e. lay the foundation of church and state...