TLÜ ÕIS

Foundations of Educational Sciences

Course code

KAI6007.HR

old course code

Course title in Estonian

Kasvatusteaduste alused

Course title in English

Foundations of Educational Sciences

ECTS credits

6.0

Assessment form

Examination

lecturer of 2026/2027 Autumn semester

Veronika Varik (language of instruction:Estonian)

lecturer of 2026/2027 Spring semester

Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.

Course aims

Helps the student understand the interconnections between the individual, upbringing, education, school, childhood, and learning, as well as the theories and values that shape them. Guides the student to analyze various conceptions of the human being, issues related to education and upbringing, and their historical, cultural, and societal contexts. The course supports the student’s self-reflection, critical thinking, and application of skills, as well as the use of an educational-scientific perspective when examining and analyzing practical issues.

Brief description of the course

The field of general pedagogy. Definitions of upbringing and main terminology related to upbringing. Pedagogical system and paradigmatic directions. Different pedagogical concepts and directions. Periodic and societal relations in upbringing; upbringing in post-modernism. Values in pedagogy and pedagogical values. Opportunities of value education. Childhood as a cultural-sociological term. A child and their growing environment in a technological civilisation. Education as a phenomenon in a Western cultural context. Education as a person's self-determination, self-creation and a challenge to personal limits. Education systems and education institutions and their influence on identity. The meaning of studying in the development history of identity. From student to learner.
The field of pedagogical philosophy. A general overview of different treatments of humans in philosophy and pedagogical philosophy from antiquity to today. Individuality and a person's individualisation as a central problem in pedagogical philosophical thought. Pedagogical philosophical treatments of upbringing and learning and the learning person.
The field of the history of upbringing. Estonian peasant culture and home education. The Lutheran world view and the influence of the reformation on the content of studies, the school network and literacy in Estonia. The development of the University of Tartu over time. The school and nationalistic movement of the national awakening and its main figures. The opinions of 20th-century pedagogical scholars (Põld, Käis, Elango and Liimets) on the ethical aspects of upbringing and teaching. The most important classics in pedagogy in European cultural space and their views.

Learning outcomes in the course

Upon completing the course the student:
- is familiar with pedagogical terminology, knows the pedagogical system and main pedagogical schools of thought;
- understands and is able to analyse problems related to upbringing and education occurring in reality, can see the conditions and connections that triggered them, and their possible solutions;
- ianalyses and interprets different treatments of humans and a person's individualisation process as a phenomenon in pedagogical reality;
- reflects on their own angle of approach in pedagogical problems, describe their treatment of humans and the possible factors in its development;
- knows the main standpoints of pedagogical classics in European cultural space;
- knows the main facts of Estonian school history and their connections to cultural history and politics, knows the views of the most important Estonian pedagogical scholars and relates the activities of teachers to the cultural and political context of their time;
- defines their own role in the future pedagogical reality as its creator and participant;
- is familiar with specialist literature and uses it consciously to understand pedagogical reality.

Teacher

Veronika Varik

Study programmes containing that course