John Amos Comenius - Father of Modern Education

John Amos ComeniusJan Amos Komenský

Father of Modern Education

• Philosopher's Background• Education and Schooling• Principles of Teaching and

Learning• Influences on Educational

practices today

TOPICS:

Candice May B. Gamayon

Marybeth P. Cultura

Reporters:

John Amos Comenius

BIOGRAPHY• (Czech) Jan Ámos Komenský • Born March 28, 1592

Nivnice, Moravia, Habsburg domain [now in Czech Republic]

• Died Nov. 15, 1670, Amsterdam, Netherlands• His ancestors came from Hungary and his

original family name was Szeges.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Amos-Comenius

BIOGRAPHY

• Czech philosopher, scientist, pedagogue and theologian from Margraviate of Moravia.

• served as the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Amos-Comenius

BIOGRAPHY• religious refugee – lived and worked in other regions of the

Holy Roman Empire, and other countries: Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, England, the Netherlands and Hungary.

• one of the earliest champions of Universal Education

• wrote Orbis Pictus (1658) and Didactica Magna

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Amos-Comenius

Father of Modern Education1. an innovator who first introduced pictorial

textbooks2. written in native language instead of Latin3. applied effective teaching based on the

natural gradual growth from simple to more comprehensive concepts

4. supported lifelong learning and development of logical thinking by moving from dull memorization

Father of Modern Education

5. presented and supported the idea of equal opportunity for impoverished children6. opened doors to education for women7. made instruction universal and practical

Philosopher and REALIST

Education, Schooling and travels

• He attended the Latin school in Přerov and continued his studies in Herborn (Hesse) and Heidelberg.

• Comenius became a pastor at age 24 and left the Brethren into exile.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Comenius

Education, Schooling and travels• greatly influenced by the Irish Jesuit William

Bathe, who wrote Janua Linguaram (The Messe of Tongues)

• 1614, returned to Moravia, first to teach, and then to run a parish.

• compiled the very first Czech encyclopedia, called The Theater of All Things.

• 1628, Comenius left Czech lands for Lešno (Poland), where he wrote his educational works (Velká Didaktika).

• 1641-42, he lived in England, where he had been invited by English revolution parliament.

• 1644-1645, he took part in peace talks. (There was still 30-years war.)

• He left to Amsterdam where he lived for the next 14 years and where he published Opera didactica omnia.

• He was trying to prepare for the great task of rebuilding the land and the society of Czech lands, which were devastated by war, and he knew that education would play a vital part in it.

His life and works

Reform Of The Educational System: 1. revolution in methods of teaching– Teachers ought to “follow in the footsteps of

nature” – Comenius made this the theme of The Great

Didactic and also of The School of Infancy—a book for mothers on the early years of childhood

Reform Of The Educational System: 2. make European culture accessible to all children– advocated “nature’s way,”– wrote Janua Linguarum Reserata (pupils could

compare the two languages and identify words with things)

Principles of Teaching and Learning

• He was interested in “pansofia“, which is scence about all phenomena in the world.His ideas were very close to the teachings the English philosopher, Francis Bacon.

What does “pansophism” actually refer to?

• Comenius believed there was only one truth. • The light of reason must submit in obedience

to the will of God. (This is Comenius’s fundamental pedagogical and pansophic principle.)

• "the unification of all scientific, philosophical, political, and religious knowledge into one all-embracing, harmonious world view."

His philosophy

• "pansophism," emphasized political unity, spiritual redemption, and religious reconciliation, and cooperation in education.

• This philosophy of pansophism related education to everyday life and called for systematic harmonizing principles to be developed for all knowledge.

Education

• the goal of education as the development of universal knowledge among all people, including women and children, and all nations.

• educated people are those who sought knowledge from all sources in order to become more like the God in whose image they were made—omniscient and universally compassionate.

Education

• education was not for the rich or other elite, but for everyone.

• He advocated universal education, teaching children both in their native language as well as Latin, the universal language in Europe at the time.

• his educational system retained the uniqueness of individual culture while at the same time promoting the unity of humankind.

Influences in Educational Practices Today

• Comenius used pictures, maps, charts, and other visual aids.

• He even brought drama into the classroom. • first to recognize that the play of childhood

was learning.

Influences in Educational Practices Today• In his system, there were four grades,

equivalent to pre-school, grade school, high school, and college.

• He was also an advocate of continuing education, believing that learning should be a lifelong process.

As the whole world is a school for the human race… so every

individual's lifetime is a school from the cradle to the grave.

(Comenius 1633)