School and the understanding of knowledge between pragmatism and constructivism

Tadej Vidmar

Summary:  In the paper we discuss knowledge as a basic constitutive element of systematic work of a school. We analyze some of the numerous cotemporary understandings and definitions of knowledge and particular theoretical considerations of John Dewey, one of the most prominent and influential representatives of the Reform pedagogy, that are connected with the role of knowledge and the school and which are often quoted as references. How knowledge and its formation are understood was always, and is continually more, dependent on the organization of work in the school. We believe that one of the reasons for different understandings and subsequently also different conceptualizations of knowledge, which tends to prevail over the educational field, is the altered paradigm of values that is characteristic for postmodernism.