Saturday, October 10, 2009

Work in Pavlysh

I have been extremely busy over the past two days, collecting material to help me with my research into the life and work of Vasily Sukhomlinsky. I have also met with students from the school here, attending a year 9 geography class, where I answered lots of questions about myself and about Australia, meeting with members of the student club attached to the Sukhomlinsky museum, and attending a concert given by children in the primary school. I have a mass of photographs, and even hours of filmed material, some of it dating from when Sukhomlinsky was alive.

I have learnt that there are still many teachers and researchers in Ukraine and Russia who are interested in Sukhomlinsky’s work, and try to learn from his experience. I have also learnt that there is huge interest in Sukhomlinsky’s work in China, and many Chinese scholars have come to the school here to learn about him. There are many schools in China trying to implement Sukhomlinsky’s ideas.

I was overjoyed today to be able to copy hours of video footage to my laptop. It includes footage of Sukhomlinsky himself working with children and discussing his ideas, and also later footage of many former students talking about their memories of the school. When I get back to Australia I will try to organise an evening when I can show some of this footage to people who are interested. Everything I have seen has reinforced my opinion that Sukhomlinsky was a remarkable educator who deserves to be much better known in English speaking countries.

No comments:

Post a Comment