Traditional paradigm and progressivism of contemporary paradigm in early and preschool education

Abstract

Historical changes in pedagogical ideas and orientations that underpin them show that pedagogy orientates towards the general course of social development. Each historical period creates an interpretative framework for children upbringing. Interpretations of educational concepts depend on the political-economic context of community life, general philosophy advocated by society, and the characteristics of development of various scientific disciplines. Taking into account the social context, pedagogical paradigm is conceptualized by creating authentic scientific knowledge and accepting the knowledge of complementary sciences. This paper discusses similarities and differences between traditional and contemporary pedagogical paradigms in relation to the context of early and preschool education. It also highlights scientific assumptions, starting points and studies of the disciplines with which the contemporary educational paradigm shares the same subject of interest, and through which it conceives and underpins its educational approach. It also problematizes introduction of contemporary educational concepts into practice of early and preschool education. The aforementioned allows focusing on the way in which contemporary pedagogical concept represents its authentic approach, how its principles depart, and in what way they continue on pre-established pedagogical practices.