Education of the Future:Reproductive-Productive Transition

Abstract

Education of the future is a fundamental challenge of the present time that de­fines a horizon of thinking of society and about society. The knowledge society stepping into the role of a horizon brings the substance of the matter to the ability of education to cultivate the creative function of thinking. From the ontological point of view, this article deals with the problem of the education transformation from reproductive to productive forms of working with knowledge (the repro­ductive-productive transition). The prevailing reproductive model of modern ed­ucation is a class-and-lesson (or lecture-seminar) system. Institutionalization of class-and-lesson education in the Reformation years in the XVI c. is ana­lyzed, and key didactic and organizational principles laid down in its basis by Ph. Melanchton are identified. Arguments are presented against qualification of educators in the age of Reformation as humanists. The concept of epistemic dominant is introduced for the purpose of explaining the education transforma­tion process. It is shown that the reproductive-productive transition belongs to the essence of our time. The stability of the class-and-lesson system can be ex­plained by resting on an essential part of educational universals that are timeless in nature. Based on the theory of non-Kuhn’s paradigms, the relationship be­tween the reproductive-productive transition and a shift in the ontological foun­dations of the education phenomenon as to its forms, ways, functions, and gener­alization of its being is shown.