SySTEMOLOGY OF EDUCATION: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CONCEPT AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Systemology of education is the field of general systemology. On the other hand, systemology of education can reasonably be considered a structural part of contemporary education. There are many different arguments to substantiate such a position. For example, during the last two decades, educational (pedagogical) terminology has changed extremely rapidly. Education science has become more diverse than ever. Such branches as cooperation pedagogy, nonviolence pedagogy, pedagogy of the oppressed, peace pedagogy, success pedagogy, career pedagogy, theatre pedagogy and many others have appeared in educational scientific literature, not to mention the level of education. On the one hand, we do not deny the existence of these branches, on the other hand, the question arises about the scientific system in education in general (Lamanauskas, 2012). It is obvious that the development of education is characterised by two opposite trends – differentiation and integration. In such an abundance of currents, branches, directions, etc., it is not only easy to get lost, but it is even easier to lose the ability to identify mutual relations and define the place of each of them in the common stem of education science.

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PROBLEMS
OF EDUCATION
IN THE 21st CENTURY
Vol. 80, No. 6, 2022
744
ISSN 1822-7864 (Print) ISSN 2538-7111 (Online)
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SySTEMOLOGY OF EDUCATION: SOME
THOUGHTS ON THE CONCEPT AND
DEVELOPMENT
Vincentas Lamanauskas
Vilnius University, Lithuania
E-mail: vincentas.lamanauskas@sa.vu.lt
Systemology of education is the eld of general systemology. On the other hand,
systemology of education can reasonably be considered a structural part of contemporary
education. There are many dierent arguments to substantiate such a position. For example,
during the last two decades, educational (pedagogical) terminology has changed extremely
rapidly. Education science has become more diverse than ever. Such branches as cooperation
pedagogy, nonviolence pedagogy, pedagogy of the oppressed, peace pedagogy, success
pedagogy, career pedagogy, theatre pedagogy and many others have appeared in educational
scientic literature, not to mention the level of education. On the one hand, we do not deny
the existence of these branches, on the other hand, the question arises about the scientic
system in education in general (Lamanauskas, 2012). It is obvious that the development of
education is characterised by two opposite trends – dierentiation and integration. In such
an abundance of currents, branches, directions, etc., it is not only easy to get lost, but it is
even easier to lose the ability to identify mutual relations and dene the place of each of
them in the common stem of education science. It is rstly. Secondly, the need to integrate
education and other sciences becomes even more evident. It is reasonable to think that the
time has come to systematise all this. As Vaitkevičius rightly noticed, today’s didactics has
been ooded by a large number of pedagogic theorists (and even more imitating them) and
teacher practitioners, looking for answers to partial teaching/learning organisation questions
and creating a partial theory of didactics mostly in an empirical way (Vaitkevičius, 1998). The
situation of the time is obvious – no one dares to create comprehensive theories, systems, or at
least try to conceptualize educational ideas. Still hope remains. According to Vaitkevičius, it is
necessary to believe that these extensive searches in the eld of didactics will sooner or later
bear the expected fruits and the modern-day Comenius will be born, classical didactics of the
modern times will be formed, reecting the personality of today’s student, giving a complete
picture of his/her teaching, training, upbringing in the teaching/learning process (Vaitkevičius,
1998). According to Broks (2001) systemology is applied philosophy and psychology, general
theory about putting the world in order. Broks treats education as the spiritual and physical
arrangement of a man (Broks, 2016).
It is understandable that the interaction between human and the surrounding environment
is very complex and multifaceted. It can be said that the educational eect (impact) aects a
person in the most diverse systems. The process of impact and the result of impact are two
important objects of systemology of education.
https://doi.org/10.33225/pec/22.80.744

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Vincentas LAMANAUSKAS. Systemology of education: Some thoughts on the concept and development
Figure 1
Systemology of Education is the Arrangement of Various Eects on a Person in Various
Systems
EDUCATION
SYSTEMOLOGY
"MAN- MAN"
"MAN-SOCIUM"
“MAN-
CULTURE”
"MAN-
TECHNOLOGY"
"MAN- SCIENCE"
"MAN- NATURE"
In addition, each of these six systems consists of the most diverse level subsystems, in
which educational impact is dierent (in terms of process and result).
Systemology of education operates with such concepts as system, systemics, systemic,
systematization and even systemtechnics. The terms systemic planning, method of systemic
analysis, systemic orientation, etc., are also used. Sometimes the method of systemic analysis
is equated with systemic access (Tidikis, 2003), however such equalisation is not justied. It
can be said that many concepts of general systems theory permeate the language of education.
The term system approach is often noticed in education (Bhaskar & Lajwanti, 2019; Dunn et
al., 2007; Dunst et al., 1987; Herrold, 1974).
On the other hand, systemology of education can also be treated as a eld of social
systemology because education is not only a socio cultural, cultural historical, anthropological
phenomenon, but also a system and a social institute. The term pedagogical systemology is quite
widely used (Prikot, 1995, 2001). It is obvious that in foreign scientic literature both general
(Brim, 1975; Laszlo, 1972), and systemology of education questions (Broks, 2001; Faye, 1999;
Fend, 1981; Knight, 2002; Kron, 1991; Stones, 1986; Rowley, 2002) are thoroughly analysed.
Lithuanian scientists have also analysed one or the other issues of educational systemology
(Laužackas, 1999; Šermukšnytė, 1996; Targamadzė, 1996; Vaitkevičius, 1968, 1975), however,
it is necessary to note that research in this eld is not abundant. Vaitkevičius paid a lot of attention
to analysing the issues of students’ knowledge systematization. In the book "Deepening students’
knowledge in the teaching process” (1968) Vaitkevičius analysed the issues of systematisation
of knowledge in detail. According to Vaitkevičius, the systematisation of knowledge, as a
process, requires the knowledge imparted to students and assimilated by them to be combined

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Vincentas LAMANAUSKAS. Systemology of education: Some thoughts on the concept and development
into systems according to the anity of this knowledge, i.e., to classify them on the chosen
basis (Vaitkevičius, 1968, p. 9). And this has to be sought because "the system of knowledge
allows a deeper knowledge of reality, its objects, phenomena, their essence, and reasons" (p. 9).
"A human’s system of knowledge about reality also determines the system of his relations with the
environment, regulates his mental and practical activity. A human’s personality is formed in his
conscious activity, which is determined by the entire system of knowledge" (Vaitkevičius, 1968).
In his later works Vaitkevičius consistently developed the issue of knowledge
systematisation. According to the professor, in the absence of organic connections between
individual images and facts, students are presented with local knowledge in the topic, facts
that never form a system in the child’s consciousness, and do not rise to the level of theory
(Vaitkevičius, 1979, p. 17). Education science history knows many examples, reecting the
desire to systematise knowledge, to know the reality systematically. Comenius, the pioneer
of classical pedagogy, created a unied philosophy, which he called pansophy. According to
Comenius, "everyone has an innate desire to have the whole thing rather than its individual
pieces, to not tolerate narrow boundaries and to always strive for the whole rather than the part
(Komenskis, 1986, p. 377). The ideal of a harmonious personality was raised by Pestalozzi.
Although Pestalozzi considered observations to be the basis of students’ mental development,
however he understood that the knowledge gained in this way is not clear until it is organised.
Pestalozzi asserted that it is necessary to "learn to organise your observations and nish what is
simple" (Pestalocis, 1989, p. 105). It is safe to say that the idea of knowledge systematisation is
one of the essential elements of his elementary teaching theory.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, scientists try to systemise (combine) subject
knowledge, by applying the principle of systemic approach. However, one can state that in the
rst half of this century such attempts were more of mechanical nature (the methods of one
science were “transferred” to other sciences). And only from the middle of the 21st century,
the attempts to apply systemic approach are much more fruitful. Two dierent approaches are
forming – natural science and humanitarian. This was also inuenced by the rapid development
of other sciences such as psychology, philosophy, anthropology, hermeneutics, and others.
From this point of view, systemology is a relatively young science. It is worth reminding that
the idea of creating a general theory of systems belongs to naturalists – the Austrian biologist
Ludwig Von Bertalany (1901-1972). At the beginning of the 20th century and especially after
1930, systems become the research object of mathematicians. Mathematical theory of systems,
cybernetics, control theory, articial intelligence and other theories are being formed. So, it is
not surprising that the question about a general theory that examines systems arose. According
to L. von Bertalany (1969), one of the most important ideas is interdisciplinary General
System Theory (GST).
Nevertheless, it can reasonably be stated that the creation of general system theory
was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century (Mina Fayez, 2004). An interesting
fact can be mentioned that the physicists at the conference held in 1987, in Rome /Italy/ were
not able to agree on the denitions “simple system”, “complex system”. Therefore, the terms
systemology, systemic analysis, systemosophy are often used. For example, there are those who
argue that general systems theory is the same as a systemic approach (Harrell, 1978). According
to Langlois, systems theory is very diverse (Langlois, 2004). It should be noted that we often
make a lot of mistakes regarding complex systems. On the other hand, a person is able to
explain them, systemise, what makes the prerequisites to avoid them. Interesting publications
on the issues of general systemology can be found in the "International Journal of General
Systems" (ISSN 0308-1079) (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ggen20/current).
It is also important to emphasize the fact that the issues of teaching individual disciplines

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Vincentas LAMANAUSKAS. Systemology of education: Some thoughts on the concept and development
are analysed using a systemic approach, e.g., Systemic Approach in Teaching and Learning
Chemistry /SATLC/). In addition, educational modelling is an integral part of educational
systemology. Systemology of education is related to all educational disciplines. Systemology
of education relations with some other subjects/areas are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
Systemology of Education Relations with Other Areas of Education
Without trying to show the entire panorama of educational systemology today, we will
mention that at the present time, there exist various directions of this science. For example,
in the systemology of education systems, one can distinguish such directions as knowledge
systemology, personality culture systemology, pedagogical systems systemology, education
fundamentalisation systemology, systemic education anthology, etc. It is also necessary to
mention such directions as educational innovation, education system typology, education
system management, etc. It is obvious that systemology of education is acquiring a new quality,
its signicance, interest in it is constantly increasing. Recently, there has been more and more
discussion about the development of various elds of education. What is it, a system of various
pedagogies or a unied science of education as a system? Researchers emphasize that education
science still lacks a clear systematic methodology. Education itself is treated as a systematic and
purposeful process of teaching and upbringing, satisfying the interests of a person, society, and
the state (Lamanauskas, 2004).
In summary, it can be said that systemology of education is a rapidly developing branch
of education. It is worth noting that the low development of this eld in Lithuania was caused
by 50-year lasting Lithuanian education science separation from Western experience. It can
be said that a certain part of people only imitated “doing science” but did not really contribute
much to the eld of science education. In other words, they were occupied in educational babble
(edu-babble), empty talk. Therefore, it is safe to say that knowing the ABC of educational
systemology is one of the main instruments for eective educational change. On the other
hand, systemology of education is not only the knowledge of systems in this eld. The design
of educational (pedagogical) systems becomes an extremely important issue. It is obvious that
the use of the term systemological education paradigm becomes justied in the development
of science education. On a practical level, that’s the systemology, which allows to holistically
explore educational phenomena, objects, and processes.

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Received: October 30, 2022 Accepted: November 30, 2022
Cite as: Lamanauskas, V. (2022). Systemology of education: Some thoughts on the
concept and development. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 80(6), 744-749.
https://doi.org/10.33225/pec/22.80.744
Vincentas Lamanauskas PhD, (HP), Professor, Chief Researcher, Vilnius University Šiauliai
Academy, Institute of Education, P. Visinskio Street 25-119, LT-76351
Siauliai, Lithuania.
E-mail: vincentas.lamanauskas@sa.vu.lt
Website: http://www.lamanauskas.puslapiai.lt/;
https://www.researchgate.net/prole/Vincentas_Lamanauskas
ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4130-7899