Bruno Curko

The present article examines the manner in which ethical dialogue and philosophical inquiry are integrated into education through a selection of European projects implemented by the Croatian non-governmental organisation Association Petit Philosophy (Mala filozofija). Utilising a qualitative, practice-based approach, the study analyses project materials, workshop designs, teaching manuals, implementation notes, and practitioner observations from initiatives such as ETHIKA, ETHOS, PEEC, ZOOM OUT, Young Minds, and PLATO's EU. The projects encompassed children and young people from early childhood to secondary education, in addition to teachers and educators in both formal and non-formal learning settings. The analysis identifies recurring pedagogical methods, including storytelling, Socratic questioning, role-play, film-based discussion, digital scenarios, and the community of inquiry model. The observed outcomes of these practices suggest that they support critical thinking, reasoning, empathy, perspective-taking, dialogical competence, ethical awareness, and civic engagement. In view of the fact that the extant data are of a qualitative nature and non-experimental in nature, it is imperative that the findings are interpreted as practice-based insights, rather than as statistically generalisable evidence. The article posits that philosophical dialogue has the potential to serve as a valuable framework for ethics and values education, and it calls for more systematic evaluation of such practices.

Petit philosophy is an experimental project, conducted in the private elementary school Nova in Zadar, Croatia, aimed at introducing philosophy to children in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. In this program we make use of children’s stories and games, but the program itself does not differ essentially from other philosophy programs for children in so far as it makes use of discussions, questions, arguments and counterarguments. This article offers the complete syllabus of our program for one school year, together with an example of a preparation for one specific school hour

U četiri djela objavljena do 1562. godine, Frane Petrić tematizira vrlinu i sreću. Osnovna tema prvog Petrićeva djela, La città felice, jest postizanje sreće putem vrline. Ostala tri Petrićeva djela u kojima se tematizira vrlina ili sreća su Il Barignano. Dialogo dell’honore, Della historia diece dialoghi i Della retorica dieci dialoghi. U navedenim su djelima vrlina i sreća teme kojih se Petrić dotiče samo usput. U Barignanu, dijalogu o časti, tematizira se odnos vrline i časti. Deset dijaloga o povijesti donosi nam kratku raspravu o ostvarenju sreće, kao podtemu raspravi o svrsi povijesti. U Deset dijaloga o retorici Petrić kratko raspravlja o povezanosti pohvale i vrline te o različitosti izvora vrline i dobra. Petrić je pisao kako mu je cilj slijediti božanskog Platona, međutim, u navedena četiri djela, barem što se tiče vrline i sreće, ostaje vjeran Aristotelu i njegovim učenjima iz Politike, Nikomahove etike i Retorike.In the four works published up to the year 1562, Frane Petrić discusses virtue and happiness. The basic theme of his first book, La città felice, is how to achieve happiness through virtue. The other three works in which Petrić deals with virtue and happiness are Barignano. Il Dialogo dell’honore, Della historia diece dialoghi and Della retorica dieci dialoghi. In these works, the issues of virtue and happiness are just collateral issues. In Barignano, dialogue of honor, Petrić discusses the relationship between virtue and honor. In della historia Petrić brings us a short discussion on the achievement of happiness, as a subtopic in the discussion about the purpose of history. In della retorica Petrić briefly discusses the connection between praise and virtues, as well as the diversity of sources of virtues and good. Petrić wrote that his goal is to follow the divine Plato; however, in these four works he is still loyal to Aristotle – at least regarding the issues of virtue and happiness – and his teachings from Politics, The Nicomachean Ethics and Rhetoric.

Hrvatsko filozofsko društvo jedan dio svojih aktivnosti usmjeruje prema filozofiji odgoja i problemima nastave. Najbolji primjer za to jest časopis Metodički ogledi, koji je specijaliziran za filozofiju odgoja. Njegov dijapazon obuhvaća i nastavu filozofije, logike i etike, ali i nastavu drugih predmeta, kako u osnovnom i srednjem školstvu tako i na sveučilištima. Časopisi Filozofska istraživanja i Synthesis philosophica redovito objavljuju radove iz odgojno-obrazovnog područja. Neko je vrijeme u izdanju HFD-a izlazio i časopis Logika, koji se bavio pitanjima nastave logike. U biblioteci »Filozofska istraživanja« izdane su četiri knjige tematski vezane za filozofiju odgoja i nastavu filozofije. HFD je i organizator dva velika znanstvena skupa o toj problematici: Filozofija i obrazovanje i Filozofija i odgoj u suvremenom društvu . Potonji je skup rezultirao zbornikom Filozofija i odgoj u suvremenom društvu, ur. Milan Polić .Posebnu pozornost društvo posvećuje nastavi filozofske grupe predmeta. Osim što su članovi društva sudjelovali u izradi programa gore navedenih predmeta, HFD je suorganizator Natjecanja iz filozofije i logike. Inicijativa o priključenju naših učenika u Međunarodnu filozofsku olimpijadu upravo je krenula od Hrvatskog filozofskog društva.The Croatian Philosophical Society directs a part of its activities toward the philosophy of education and the problems of teaching. The instance best illustrating this is journal Metodički ogledi, specialized in the philosophy of education. Its range encompasses the teaching of not only philosophy, logic and ethics, but also other subjects, at primary, secondary or higher education levels. Journals Filozofska istraživanja and Synthesis philosophica publish papers from the field of education on a regular basis. Croatian Philosophical Society used to publish for a while journal named Logika, which dealt with the questions of teaching logic in schools. In the “Filozofska istraživanja” series, four books thematically related to the philosophy of education and philosophy teaching in schools have been published. The Society also organized two significant scientific conferences on the topic: Philosophy and Education and Philosophy and Education in Contemporary Society . The latter resulted in the publication of the collected papers entitled Philosophy and Education in Contemporary Society, ed. Milan Polić .Special attention within the Society is given to teaching philosophical group of subjects . In addition to the fact that society members participated in designing curricula for the aforementioned subjects, the Society is the co-organiser of the regular school competitions in philosophy and logic. Also, the initiative to include Croatian students into the International Philosophical Olympiad had its roots in the Croatian Philosophical Society

Johan Huizinga u svojoj knjizi Homo ludens tvrdi kako civilizacija proizlazi i razvija se u igri i kao igra. Ona jest jedna od ljudskih karakteristika, ljudski obred, a služi za rekreaciju, zabavu, ali i učenje. Može li se onda dobro usmjerenom igrom razvijati ljudsko mišljenje? Cilj programa filozofije za djecu jest uvježbavanje multidimenzioniranog mišljenja. Po Mathew Lipmanu multidimenzionirano mišljenje jest cjelina koja se sastoji od kritičkog, kreativnog i skrbnog mišljenja. Program filozofije za djecu usmjeren je i prema predškolskoj i osnovnoškolskoj populaciji. Radi toga je u programu neizbježna igra kao put k razvitku multidimenzioniranog mišljenja. U radu ćemo prikazati i nekoliko igara usmjerenih k uvježbavanju umnih sposobnosti koje se koriste u programu filozofije za djecu.Johan Huizinga, in his book Homo ludens, claims that civilization arises and develops through play and as a play. Playing is a characteristic of humans, a human ritual and yet it is for recreation, fun, but also for learning. Can it be then that well-directed play leads to a development of human thinking? The aim of philosophy for children programme is practising multidimensional thinking. According to Mathew Lipman, multidimensional thinking is the entirety consisted of critical, creative and caring thinking. Philosophy for children programme is directed towards pre-school as well as towards elementary-school population. For that reason this programme considers play as an inevitable way into the development of multidimensional thinking. In this paper we will also present a few games which are being used in philosophy for children programme, and which are also directed towards practising intellectual abilities

Desiderius Erasmus considered that the education of children has to start at an early age. To get a better understanding of Erasmus’ theories about the education, this paper analyses the use of his term eruditio, but also the use of terms such as ratio, usus and philosophia. The aim is to point out the interesting link between the contemporary understanding of critical thinking and Erasmus’ concept of eruditio. Furthermore, for a better understanding of his perception of education, we analyse Erasmus’ description of characteristics of a good teacher. Here mentioned description of a good teacher, in some aspects, link Erasmus with contemporary theorists such as John Dewey and Oscar Brenifier. As early training and practice for the development of a proper inference, Erasmus suggests fables, language exercises and proverbs, which is similar to what contemporary theorists and practitioners of critical thinking and philosophy with children do.

Kroz program Erasmus+, u Ključnoj aktivnosti 2 – “Strateška partnerstva u području obrazovanja i osposobljavanja ” – Udruga “Mala filozofija” provela je ili upravo provodi ukupno sedam projekata koji su usko vezani uz etičko obrazovanje. Tu valja pridodati i projekt “ETHOS: Ethical Education in Primary and Pre-Primary Schools for a Sustainable and Dialogic Future”, koji je uspješno proveden pod programom Comenius od 2012. do 2014. godine. Karakteristika je ovih projekata usmjerenost na obrazovanje u vrtićima te osnovnim i srednjim školama. Uz “Malu filozofiju”, u projektima sudjeluju sveučilišta, osnovne i srednje škole, vrtići, udruge i institucije iz trinaest zemalja. Navedeni Erasmus+ KA2 projekti su: ETHIKA – Ethics and Values Education in Schools and Kindergartens, LITTLE – Learning Together to Live Together: Teachers Leading Ethical Education for an Inclusive Society, AVAL – Added Value Learning for Preschool Teachers & Pedagogical Coordinators, COMET – A Community of Ethics Teachers in Europe, Integrating Ethics of Sport in Secondary School Curriculum, BEAGLE – Bioethical Education and Attitude Guidance for Living Environment, TRACE – Traditional Children’s Stories for a Common Future. U članku ćemo ukratko prikazati projektne aktivnosti u navedenim projektima, s posebnim naglaskom na materijale koji su namijenjeni odgajateljima, nastavnicima i učenicima.