Pedology: history and contemporaneity

Abstract

This article is a study devoted to the scientific direction that existed in the 30-40-s in the system of general pedagogy - pedology. The article examines the origins of interest in the scientific and comprehensive study of childhood, the history of the emergence and development of pedology abroad and in Russia. In this study, the emergence of pedology in Russia is interpreted by the authors as a response to the growing interest of social and humanitarian knowledge in the personality of the child and the spread of the ideas of humanism that came to Russia from the West. However, due to the prevailing social, political conditions, as well as objective reasons that are analyzed in the work, pedology was abolished and the interdisciplinary study of childhood was suspended for a long time. The presented material also provides an analytical overview of the main directions of the formation of pedology as an academic subject for pedagogical educational institutions in the period of the 30-s – 40-s. The sources used were educational programs and textbooks on pedology, works of pedologists of the 30-s – 40-s, articles from the journal “Pedology”, documents of the People's Commissariat of Education and archival materials. In addition, the article attempts to highlight the range of pedological problems relevant to the modern educational system.