Lew Tołstoj – prekursor pedagogiki Nowego Wychowania w Rosji

Abstract

Interest in New Education Pedagogy is currently is experiencing its renaissance. The solutions suggested by alternative education, which emphasise the development of students’ individual skills and also addressing their needs and interests seem to be better suited to present times. The pedagogy of New Education, which places children in the centre of the educational and formation process, undoubtedly has much to offer. When reflecting on contemporary methods of making use of the achievements of New Education, it is worth going back to its origins, even to those little known or even forgotten and almost absent in current academic discourse as exemplified by the pedagogical reflection of the outstanding Russian intellectual and novelist, Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). This article is dedicated to recalling the basic educational and formational intuitions of this exceptional figure. This seems to be intentional for at lease three reasons. First, as Sergiusz Hessen stated, it was Tolstoy who laid the groundwork for the New Educational pedagogy in Russia, which was referred to there as Free Education. Secondly, Leo Tolstoy’s pedagogical views and initiatives in the spirit of New Education, if establishing a school in Yasnaya Polyana can be acknowledged as such, appeared almost half a century earlier than John Dewey’s My Pedagogic Creed Ellen Key’s The Century of the Child. Finally, and equallyas important, the 190’s anniversary of Leo Tolstoy’s birth will be celebrated next year.