CONCEPTUAL CONTROVERSIES OF THE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AS AN IDEOLOGICAL CHALLENGE

Abstract

The key problem lies in the fact that the current discourse on the operation of the educational environment is dominated by a set of definitive approaches that mainly focus on formal aspects and largely ignore substantive factors. As a result, the understanding of this subject area lacks the necessary clarity in terms of problem challenges, perspectives, threats, and dangers. The emphasis on formal, methodological, and quantitative aspects of the educational environment hinders the comprehension of substantive, methodological, and qualitative priorities. In essence, such an approach does not correspond to the nominative status of the "educational environment," as it effectively deals with conditions that are universal for the social environment as a whole–meaning they apply not only to the educational environment but to every element of the social system. In other words, the educational component of such an environment is quite conditional, as it actually refers to universal features, factors, and criteria that can be equally applied to any other sphere of social life. If the goal is to achieve substantive correspondence, it is necessary to supplement the formal features of the educational environment with substantive criteria such as coherence between the educational mission and the application of means necessary and sufficient to achieve this goal. It is also necessary to eliminate misunderstandings regarding basic conceptual orientations, such as the hierarchy of ideological priorities of the educational environment, the mission and vision of education, and the typology of thinking and understanding. These subject areas significantly determine the level of knowledge capitalization and skill generalization, the intellectual and overall personal format of educational service recipients, as well as the quality and effectiveness of education as a whole. In other words, by ignoring these subject areas, it is difficult to expect progress towards the practical implementation of the calling of education in general and the key function of the educational environment in particular.