Contribution of Cultural Pedagogy Representatives to Croatian Pedagogical Heritage

Abstract

Cultural pedagogy developed in Germany at the begining of the 20th century within the reform pedagogy, and it was created as a response to the crisis of outdated normative pedagogy of Herbatian origin. It appeared in Croatia between the two worl wars with the work of the most important representatives of cultural pedagogy in Croatia – Stjepan Matičević, Pavao Vuk-Matičević and Stjepan Pataki. At the center of it’s interest is education, culture, cultural values and the relationship between educator and child, that is, the young person. The aim of the pape ris to determine the similarities and differences in attitudes towards education from the perspective of the leading Croatian representatives of cultural pedagogy and to determine the place in the Croatian pedagogical heritage by means of work on documentation. The main contricution of representatives of cultural pedagogy to the Croatian pedagogical heritage is reflected in the separation of pedagogy from philosophy into an independent scientific discipline, the promotion and improvement of training and professional development of educational workers, and then in the modernization of pedagogical thoughts based on the contemporary pedagogical reflections of European pedagogues of the time. Furthermore, in 1928. Matičević founded the firs study of pedagogy at the University of Zagreb, Vuk-Pavlović, with his work Personality and education, written in the spirit of cultural pedagogy, bequeathed a very valuable theory of education to the Croatian pedagogical heritage, and thanks to PAtaki, the Pedagogical Institute of Philosophical Faculty of the University of Zagreb, where he also organized the pedagogical and methodical education of future high school teachers, which also represents a very important contribution to Croatian pedagogy in its entirety.