Educazione e formazione: l’approccio, le sfide e la risposta audace di Edmund Bojanowski

Abstract

Edmund Bojanowski, an esteemed Polish pedagogue who lived in the XIX century, dedicated his life to the creation of education services for small children in his country, (which he called Ochronki (= protection), and to the training of the women instructors (Ochroniarki = the protectors). His objective was a preschool education inspired by Catholic values, as man was created “in the image and likeness of God”; he envisioned a system that would raise good citizens and good Christians, enabling them to tackle the challenges of life. Blessed with a strong educational vocation, he put great effort in preparing the women instructors for this task, providing them with both pedagogic knowledge and rigorous moral principles, as well as promoting critical thinking and sense of responsibility, with the authority borne of love for the true good. He strived to promote these abilities in his instructors, so that they would transfer them to the children; he felt these qualities transform knowledge into life wisdom, and allow a person to live with dignity and respect for oneself and others. These core beliefs were also the basis for the creation of a religious order of nuns.