A revolutionary vision of the educational relationship – Fabian Mangion
In the time of St John Baptist De La Salle (1651-1719), there was no code that legislated on the nature, extent or characteristics of the teacher-student educational relationship, with the result that each teacher created and imposed his own rules. In this context, then, it is surprising that De La Salle, far ahead of his time in this, had developed a theory and a pedagogical praxis in which the emphasis was placed precisely in the relationship between teacher and student. According to De La Salle, the Christian teacher, through his vocation, had to be conscious of the fact that his whole life would be dedicated to the children who were in front of him. He saw Christian education almost as a daily and silent liturgical act of self-sacrifice for the spiritual well-being of the “children of the working-class and the poor”. When one studies illustrations related to schools and to teachers of the 16th and 17th centuries, one never ceases to be surprised at the very frequent sight of some means of punishment either in the hands of the teacher, or very near to him. Consequently, it was a real educational revolution that De La Salle proposed in indicating, with striking clarity, that:...