A REVIEW OF SOME ASPECTS OF THE CORRELATION BETWEEN PEDAGOGY AND POLITICS

Abstract

Education and upbringing, as a subject of the pedagogy in the wider meaning of
the term, have always been of special social and state interest. The state, with its instruments
of government, has strived to carry out its politics in the field of education
and upbringing. The word politics is associated with the terms state, state affairs, affairs
of a state’s interest. This interest is very explicitly expressed in the function and
the structure of the school and the school system, especially for satisfying the fundamental
needs of every state.
In this paper some interpretations of the terms politics of education and education
policy are given, pointing out the differences in their treatment and meaning. It
has been stressed that pedagogy has an autonomous position regarding the state’s educational-
upbringing policy and the political factors, exponents of this policy. It has
critical attitude towards the politics and the political conception of the goals, and is also
autonomous from the educational-upbringing practice, having a critical attitude towards
it too, since any educational-upbringing practice cannot be a source of pedagogical
cognition and raise to the level of theory which, from that position, is going to advance
the pedagogical practice. In this respect the issue of the correlation between politics
and pedagogy is reviewed by their structure: policy (educational-upbringing policy),
pedagogy (science, theory), educational-upbringing practice (pedagogical practice).
In these processes and correlations there must be a permanent questioning and
valorisation of the educational-upbringing policy, especially of its goals and educational
strategy and practice, as well as of the postulates, models and instruments the
pedagogy as a science offers. The realization of the goals in the development of educational-
upbringing systems must be compatible with the directions of the development of
education at global level, but nevertheless, the success depends on the social, cultural,
economic and educational context of the particular state.