Pedagogy of Cooperation and Pedagogy of Opposition

Introduction. The article addresses the fundamental incompleteness of approaches in pedagogy and educational psychology that consider social interaction solely as supportive and facilitative. It argues for the need to analyse a specific type of learning in which one subject intentionally or unintentionally obstructs the learning and psychological development of another. This field of phenomena is conceptualised as the “pedagogy of opposition”.

Method. The analysis is based on a theoretical examination of opposition to learning and development, a description of its cultural means and forms of manifestation, and a discussion of examples drawn from myths, fairy tales, proverbs, and interpersonal interactions among children and adults. The article also presents an experimental study of 5- to 6-year-old children’s representations of the need either to assist or to oppose another subject’s learning.

Results. The article demonstrates that opposition to learning is not an exceptional case, but a widespread psychological and pedagogical phenomenon. Such opposition may be either unjustified or justified, particularly when it concerns the restriction of the transmission of dangerous forms of experience. The goals, means and outcomes of opposition are represented in various cultural forms through which social experience is fixed and transmitted. It is shown that older preschool children are already capable of evaluating certain situations in terms of the need either to assist or to oppose another subject’s learning. Within the context of opposition, the concept of the zone of proximal development is reconsidered: it may be understood as that which a subject cannot learn independently, but can learn and develop through opposition with another.

Conclusion. Assistance and opposition in learning are considered as two interrelated types of social interaction that transform the direction of development in different ways. While assistance and support tend to guide development along a prefigured trajectory, opposition changes its course in a more unpredictable manner. The study of opposition to learning and development should therefore become an important area of research in pedagogy, educational psychology and related fields.