Korniush H. V.

Kharkiv H. S. Skovoroda National Pedagogical University, Ukraine

Requirements for teachers suggested by Nikolai Lange and their relevance for today’s educational process

As teachers constantly long for innovation and improvement of their teaching techniques and practices, it is essential that they adopt new approaches to optimizing teaching and learning process. One of the sources of educational ideas is studying history of education which helps teachers learn more about other people’s views on education with the aim of developing theirs. Studying history can also help to implement the best philosophies of education, widen teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and make them more comfortable in class. Studying enables both practicing teachers and research scientists to analyze and critically assess past and present theories about the function of the teacher in the educative process and makes it possible to use historical data and argument to cast light on contemporary educational issues.

The present abstract deals with the pedagogical legacy of Nikolai Lange (1858-1921) with a special emphasis on his requirements for teachers which can contribute to increasing the effectiveness of today’s teaching and learning process.

First of all, to avoid ambiguity or some misunderstanding, it is highly important to specify that the first name of the educator – whose pedagogical ideas are under investigation in the present scientific paper – sounds different in Russian and Ukrainian. The Russian form of his first name is Nikolai (Николай Ланге) whereas the Ukrainian equivalent is Mykola (Микола Ланґе). Being a Ukrainian scholar and conducting Ph.D. research in Ukrainian (thus using the Ukrainian version throughout the thesis), the author of the present work finds it possible to use the Russian form of the abovementioned educator’s name in the present abstract because Professor Lange was born in Russia and is considered to be a Russian scientist (it is worth noting that worldwide scientific community knows his as Nikolai Lange).

Nikolai Lange was an outstanding figure in the educational space of the Russian Empire of the late XIX – early XX centuries. His progressive views on education and upbringing as well as his interest in modernizing education system at all levels contributed to democratizing secondary and higher school as well as to formulating new approaches to teacher training and are still applicable.

While conducting the research study and trying to find parallels between Nikolai Lange’s pedagogical ideas expressed a century ago and contemporary scientists’, educators’ and students’ views on how an effective teaching and learning process should be organized, it has been proved that most of his ideas are still relevant. It has been revealed that some of his educational principles were based on the creative legacy of world-famous classic educators (for example, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, John Amos Comenius, Friedrich Froebel, etc.), whose educational principles are still considered exemplary and worth following; some of his suggestions regarding the educational process were quite unique and are presently perceived as extremely valuable due to the fact that Nikolai Lange was a prominent psychologist, recognized all over the world. It is known worldwide that he founded one of the first experimental psychology laboratories in the Russian Empire, formulated a law of perception and developed a motor theory of attention.

A concise overview of the list of educational principles compiled by Nikolai Lange and kept his personal archive in Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University (Odesa, Ukraine) has already been presented at a practical-scientific conference and published [6].

It is worth mentioning that Nikolai Lange’s educational principles were completed with a list of special requirements for teachers. He highlighted the most crucial, from his viewpoint, requirements for teachers within the educational process. The aim of the present paper is to draw parallels between the educational principles concerning the teacher’s role in the class suggested by Nikolai Lange in the late XIX – early XX centuries and contemporary approaches to optimizing teaching and learning process which can be extremely useful both for modern sscholars who produce research on history of education and for practicing teachers aspiring to gain some knowledge from the past teaching practices.

Professor Lange emphasized that the teacher had to make the educational process interesting (fascinating and stimulating). The scientist explained that children naturally wanted to know or learn more about something if they were really interested in it [7].

The abovementioned requirement for teachers to make learning engrossing is mirrored in classical educators’ creative works and legacy as well as in modern books, articles on teaching methodology, and even in blog posts.

It is worth paying attention that Paul Ramsden, a policy analyst, consultant in teaching and learning in higher education in Australia and the UK and the author of the book “Learning to teach in higher education” (2003), while singling out fundamental principles for effective teaching in higher education institutions, attached great importance to interest and explanation in the teaching-learning process. In the above-named book he highlighted that the teacher should make the subject matter interesting (or even “irresistible to students”), arouse student curiosity and provide adequate explanations to clarify the reasons why a particular fact or skill is crucial for general understanding [4]. In the book supported by UNESCO it is said that many children who experience learning difficulties become frustrated when they are not effectively supported and eventually drop out. Teachers can help retain children in classrooms by making their teaching more interesting, appealing and motivating. Moreover, it is mentioned that any children find learning irrelevant and boring, and again, teachers are in a key position to include useful skills and knowledge in their teaching that truly reflect children’s realities and engross them in learning [1, p. 7].

The second essential requirement for teachers that Professor Lange brought into focus was to talk less during classes. The best teacher, from Nikolai Lange’s point of view, is the one who talks little in class, thus enabling students to express their own ideas more. Professor Lange believed that students had clear understanding only of those things that they could easily and correctly explain themselves. Therefore, the scientist accentuated that a good teacher had to create an appropriate atmosphere for students to talk more, when discussing the topic [7].

Professor Lange’s second requirement concerning teacher talking time is a basic principle of modern classroom management.

Educational researcher John Hattie, who wrote “Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning”, singled out several highly effective classroom practices [2], such as teaching clarity (explaining the purpose, setting learning goals, providing assessment criteria when starting a new course or unit), giving individual and whole-class feedback as well as involving students in providing feedback to their teachers, metacognitive strategies (enabling students to work independently, to plan their time, to monitor their own work, etc.) One of the teaching strategies is closely connected with the teacher talking time requirement suggested by Nikolai Lange and deals with classroom discussions. It implies that teachers need to step offstage and facilitate class discussions. Firstly, such form of classroom activities creates an excellent opportunity to learn from each other. Secondly, it is an excellent opportunity for teachers to observe how well students absorb and use new information.

In the blog post “8 Ways teachers can talk less and get kids talking more” (2014) [5] it is said that teachers tend to talk a lot even during student group work and student-directed projects because they try to push children’s thinking, provide feedback, and help kids stay on task. Even when the educative process has been turned over to the students, it’s still tempting to spend too much time giving directions, repeating important information, and evaluating students’ works commenting on every strong and weak point instead of creating conditions for self-assessment (which means the opportunity for students to reflect on their own works) and peer-assessment (which is a good chance for children to learn to critically analyze and compare their works and viewpoints with their classmates).

The question of teacher presence has an absolutely crucial role in methodology of modern foreign languages. It is crucial to remember that one of the most difficult language competences to form is speaking. Developing speaking skills can be best done by means of constant practicing: the more students talk, the better. The role of the teacher should be mainly limited to helping guide the students, managing their activities, and directing their learning [3, p. 2].

Having briefly presented Nikolai Lange’s educational principles (concerning teacher talking time and the role of students’ interest in learning) and having illustrated that they are in the complete accord with modern views on how to increase effectiveness of the educational process, it has been proved that thorough study of history of education can facilitate finding new ways to optimize teaching and learning process which can be absolutely useful in teacher training and teaching practice.

References:

1. Changing teaching practices, using curriculum differentiation to students’ diversity. – Paris, 2004. – 113 p.

2. Hattie, J. Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning / John Hattie. – Oxon : Routledge, 2012 – P. 22-34.

3. Jones, L. The Student-Centered Classroom / Leo Jones. – Cambridge University Press, 2007 – P. 2.

4. Ramsden, P. Learning to teach in higher education / Paul Ramsden. – Routledge Falmer, 2003. – 2^nd edition. – 270 p.

5. Watson A. 8 Ways teachers can talk less and get kids talking more / Angela Watson. – URL: normsteachersblog.com/8-ways-teachers-can-talk-less-and-get-kids-talking-more/

6. Корнюш Г. В. Дидактичні правила М. М. Ланге (1858-1921 рр.) / Г. В. Корнюш // Матеріали наукової конференції викладачів, докторантів і аспірантів кафедри загальної педагогіки та педагогіки вищої школи [«Реалізація компетентнісного підходу в освітньому процесі середньої та вищої школи»], (14 квітня 2015 р.). – Харків : ХНПУ імені Г. С. Сковороди, 2015. – С. 66-67.

7. НБ ОНУ, Відділ рідкісних книг і рукописів, Особистий архів М. М. Ланге, спр. 12., од. зб. 105, 5 арк.