Values of Petar Mandić’s Pedagogical and Didactic Ideas for Improving Educational Work

Abstract

Petar Mandić is one of the most outstanding educators of the 20th century, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also further. In the focus of Mandić's pedagogical work were many questions and answers related to improving school work and teaching. The theoretical study aimed to analyze and present the value of Petar Mandić's pedagogical and didactic ideas for improving educational work in school and the teaching process. Petar Mandić's scientific research covered various fields of pedagogy, psychology, and other related sciences. Mandić's pedagogical ideas shed light on family pedagogy, the history of pedagogy, methods of educational work, preschool pedagogy, home pedagogy, comparative pedagogy, pedagogical psychology, andragogy, teaching methods, pedagogical methodology, and other scientific disciplines. Contemporary didacticians find Petar Mandić's ideas theoretically and methodologically grounded, thematically and structurally articulate, and characterize them as a courageous scientific endeavor accompanied by a critical and creative attitude towards theoretical sources and technical and technological novelties in teaching. The value of Petar Mandić's didactic ideas refers to the orientation towards new, modern and productive solutions (team teaching, dual progress plan, school without classes, flexible class schedule, micro-teaching, individually planned instruction), instructions on the application of innovations (use of computers and educational television in teaching process) and knowledge about the electronic classroom and individualized instruction.