Adultized child of early and preschool age in the modern concept of upbringing and education

The paper deals with an image of a modern child of early and preschool age in the context of current pedagogical paradigm. Modern society, interested in improving its economic system through knowledge, has a specific interest in the upbringing and education of individuals. The modern pedagogical concept of knowledge society is based on the theory of learning – constructivism. Accordingly, a child is predominantly understood as the one who learns while establishing partnerships with adults. A child is given a specific responsibility for his own developmental well-being, he is adultized. The modern approach to the child, which is based on the sociological concept of his rights, neglects the views of psychological discourse which considers his developmental needs, which consequently reflects on the character of the modern educational relationship and leads to a crisis of upbringing. This paper discusses the specific impact of modern pedagogical starting points, such as the one on equal partnership between child and educator, child as an autonomous subject or space as the third educator, on certain aspects of development of adultized early and preschool children. The paper points out the importance of conceptual redefining, instead of rejecting, the concept of upbringing as a central subject of pedagogical science.