Pedagogy of Bosnia and Herzegovina between past and future

Dr. Snježana Šušnjara

Summary:  Higher education pedagogy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) started its development only after the Second World War, on the basis of the first university in BiH, in 1949. In the beginning, only a chair existed as a part of the department of philosophy at the newly established faculty of philosophy in Sarajevo. After that, a chair was transformed into the department of pedagogy and psychology, but just before the recent war in BiH, in 1988, it became independent as the department of pedagogy. Because the chair of pedagogy was officially formed in 1963 in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, one could not but ask oneself the following question: ‘Who were the first members and the participants of the Department? What ideas did they follow?’ The founding and actions of the chair of pedagogy at the University of Sarajevo were of great importance to the development of pedagogical science in BiH. During the 1960s, the following professors directly participated in the preparation, establishment and activities of the chair, its subsequent transformation into the department of pedagogy-psychology and its transformation into an independent department: Nikola Filipović, Branko Rakić, Petar Mandić and Aleksandar Bojkovski. In 1963, the chair of pedagogy accepted the first generation of students and had the important responsibility of developing pedagogical science in addition to other educational functions, as the pedagogical works of its members affected the direction of the scientific changes in BiH and abroad. The sudden development of educational institutions in BiH was conditioned by the modern treatment of the development of pedagogical theory and practice. The growing needs required that experts in pedagogy work in schools and organisations associated with labour and social services. Almost all future professors at the newly opened division in Sarajevo studied and finished their PhDs in Belgrade. Among BiH students who studied in Belgrade, a majority had completed their education at the teacher training school and had worked 2-3 years as teachers, and some of them had even completed training at the higher pedagogical school. The abovementioned professors achieved new breakthroughs; in a way, they studied not only developmental-applicative issues but also the fundamental-theoretical issues of pedagogy, promoted scientific-methodological–based research, published monographic works, created and gathered new scientific generations, founded editing-pedagogical activities and organised scientific gatherings. (Ilić 2005, p. 51)