The course book Didactics, published by Bognar and Matijevic in 1993 is the result of a years-long engagement in the process of changing teaching. In these endeavours, the authors have realised that it is not possible to change teaching unless the theory on which that teaching is based is changed as well. This relates to a synchronised change of theory and praxis, whereby the participants themselves experience a personal change.
This process took place in specific social conditions in the eighties of the last century. Turbulent events that took place in Europe in 1968 had a huge impact on the democratisation of society, namely on the changes in education. It all affected the situation in Croatia and former Yugoslavia to a great extent. Back then, European Forum for Freedom in Education was founded, and many educationists participated actively in its work, whereas the authors of this chapter were among its founders in Croatia. Now, we witness the rise of promoters of pluralism in education among Croatian educationists.
Trying to find new practical solutions, the authors have carried out a number
of projects including the model of initial education and the model of primary school that required new theoretical approaches and a diversion from traditional didactic concepts. Furthermore, they have studied numerous didactic approaches and in finding new didactic solutions they have cooperated not only with many high quality teachers, but also many scientists. They have surveyed numerous theoretical approaches, and on the basis of those rich resources, they have built a general personal system, taking into account new trends in the field of philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, didactics and teaching theories. This Didactics has not sought out to be the reflection of “what is” but the theory of “what could be” and that is why it has remained important for all these years. The book has had three editions so far.