Quotations: Teachers

«We interpret developments as the sum of the child’s learning processes and we claim that important developmental impetuses emanate from his social environment, especially the family, but also from school. Educators possess techniques that trigger learning processes in the child which would never emerge based on his spontaneous activities. Important mechanisms in this conscious steering of the child’s learning lie in the offer of structured behavioral role models, which, owing to his urge for action, the child imitates.» (1983a, 391)

«Thus, we see a substantial part of the child’s seemingly spontaneous development as being stimulated and guided by the interaction with adults in everyday life. If this stimulation is lacking, the child develops symptoms of cultural deprivation and his development suffers. The educational effects in the family and in school differ merely in degree. The triggering and steering of learning processes occurs more systematically in school than in the family and in other areas of everyday life outside of school. School learning moves forward rapidly, but at the cost of many risks. All too often, the outcome is merely hollow words, without a deeper anchoring in behavior, and equally frequently, there is a lack of consolidation through diverse practice and application. Therefore, the reactions acquired in school often also rapidly decay. The results of learning in everyday life, by contrast, are frequently practiced and applied thousandfold and are thus deeply anchored in general behavior. On the other hand, the individual insights are often isolated here and with little systematic interlinking.» (1983a, 391/392)

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