Concept, Characteristics, Objective and Tasks of School Education
The school, as a place where intentional and originally educated activities are performed, belongs to the central place in the education of young people.
School is an important factor in educating the younger generations. It brings together children and young people at the years that are most important for their further development and formation. In school, qualified professionals work with children, possess the means to work and other conditions that are often insufficient for other educational factors. These educational environments can, instead of being a source of happiness and joy, often be a source of suffering and trauma for children which are difficult to get rid of and which leave huge consequences for their upbringing and development. Going to school today means living a creative life worthy of a young man. The school today is a living community of students, teachers and parents. In addition to knowledge, a healthy, humane, educated, critical and creative person is raised through extracurricular and outside school activities. Problems arising from the school environment are very common nowadays and are present at the macro and micro level at all levels of education. Thus, the overload of curricula, the application of outdated and traditional methods of work, difficulties in communication (between teachers and students, students with each other and others), irregularities in the process of evaluating student work, excessive requirements, and other circumstances can often be a reason for running away, absenteeism and even dropping out of school as well as occurrence of various types of behavioral disorders, including delinquent behavior. In today’s school, young people rarely have the opportunity to talk about their personal problems.
Primary school is a compulsory level of education that functions as ensuring the acquisition of a broad general education. Through general education, students acquire the basic knowledge necessary for human life, they are given the opportunity for further education, equality of educational opportunities is achieved, and the obligation to go to primary school prevents their educational discrimination and social marginalization. The school is expected to teach students how to learn. The modern socio-cultural environment presupposes the upbringing and education of a responsible, truthful, tolerant and solidarity-based person, a person of creative spirit, with a deep sense of preserving national and cultural heritage and respecting the values of other cultures and peoples.
Zrilić and Marin (2019) point out that nowadays the flow of information is extremely fast, and it is not enough that the teacher teaches and the students listen, take notes. They say that the teacher must be “the soul of all change and the bearer of innovation we meet in our school system.” (Zrilić & Marin, 2019: 401).
Given the educational goals, educational work in primary school should be focused on the overall development of students, keeping in mind all the changes around us. According to Gluchmanová (2012) education, along with teachers and their students, is not an isolated island, where external events do not penetrate. Just the opposite, they are an almost identical reflection of all strengths and weaknesses time and the society in which they live and work.
For these reasons, behavioral disorders are often detected and manifested in the school environment, which, if not noticed in time, can lead to increasing consequences for the individual and the community as a whole. The pursuit of a quality, humane, free and democratic school has become a reality in many parts of the world, but the fact is that, due to the complexity of certain curricula, excessive demands on students and strict performance evaluation techniques, schools are sometimes still a place of coercion to learn resulting in negative outcomes. Problems accompany both adult and religious education. We are also aware of the fact that the knowledge acquired in schools and faculties is less and less permanent, which makes it impossible to perform professional and social functions.
From previous research on these problems, it can be concluded that they can be prevented and solved, of course, if they are detected in time, and prevented if all necessary factors that can contribute to improving the quality of education in these environments are included in solving them. It is especially important to know the prerequisites for proper school education, the problems encountered by the participants in this education and the measures that can be taken to prevent, minimize or eliminate them. School education plays an important role in the formation of a multifaceted personality of students, in physical, intellectual, moral, aesthetic, labor-technical and environmental terms. In order for school education to be realized in accordance with positive educational outcomes, it is necessary to adequately organize, realize and monitor its outcomes and results.
The study of the factors that most often contribute to proper school education, adult education and religious education is very important and significant, both for professionals and for other educators. The importance and role of the teacher, from whom much is required, should certainly be emphasized in order to be able to respond to the new and increased demands of the present and future times. First of all, he should be a good connoisseur of his profession with a lot of knowledge from all areas. He should know the psychophysical characteristics of children of a certain age and have an empathic attitude, have a sense of developing interpersonal relationships, be able to create a favorable pedagogical climate in student and parent groups, delight others with his work, be always new, unique and modern. In everyday work with children, they will solve many issues such as acquiring knowledge, skills and habits, student motivation, helping students organize work, rest, games and useful entertainment, need to know methods of getting to know and guiding personality, know biological, medical, psychological and pedagogical issues of growth and development of personality, etc. All this falls on the backs of teachers who, if they love their vocation, overcome these difficulties rationally and become stronger after their solution.
All changes in educational and teaching activities in the school are related to the orientation of teaching towards the student.