Logotherapy in education - Terminological determination and content guidelines

Abstract

The paper terminologically determines the syntagm Logotherapy in Education, i.e. the term Logopedagogy (Logopädagogik). The term Logopedagogy (Logopädagogik) comes from German-speaking areas and implies that it can be practised by educators in a broader sense, and not only those who have studied Pedagogy. This includes preschool teachers, school teachers, professors, i.e. all those who generally work in practice within the educational system. The prerequisite for this is, of course, being educated in Logotherapy and existential analysis. To avoid inaccuracies in interpreting the term «logopedagogy», after a thorough linguistic analysis of the aforementioned terms and phrases in both German and Croatian, we reached several conclusions on their proper use in the Croatian language and thus give preference to the phrase logotherapy in education. The paper further analyses the need to introduce logotherapy in the education system, recognised by numerous international authors in the mid-20th c e nt u r y, as well as content guidelines. Even today, we can observe a wide variety of problems among young people, whose starting points are the sense of futility and a contempt for life, despite their financial stability. A logotherapeutic view of a person as a being who can always develop their potential teaches us to also see children and young adults from this perspective, in other words, to see them as «persons in becoming», not perceiving what they are at the moment, but also what they can become. More than ever, precisely because of the constant and rapid changes which we are constantly exposed to, and which contain the achievements of countless possibilities of being, it is crucial to raise children in the way that enables them to cope with constant uncertainties reflected in the states of unrest and tension. All of the above puts logotherapy in the foundation of the education of children because, in logotherapy, uncertainty is exposed in its primal sense. By raising a child so that it asks itself «What should I do?» while at the same time not questioning whether it is able to do what is needed, we develop and sensitise the child's «organ of sense», the conscience, as an ability the child will use to recognise life's duties free of the fear of powerlessness to execute them. This will enable its true and healthy progress, which is the purpose and the meaning of education. The continually growing need for logotherapy in education is further supported by statistical data on the state of mental health of children and youth in Croatia and abroad. Relying on the works of Viktor E. Frankl, Elisabeth Lukas, and other relevant authors, we analysed possibilities of implementing logotherapy in education. We also analysed and compared the existing training opportunities in this field, both in Croatia and abroad, and derived new content guidelines for this field.