Research On Dewey's Thoughts And Practice Of Democratic Educational Administration

John Dewey (1859-1952) is one of the most prominent educationists of the 20^th century, whose democratic educational thoughts involve views about democratic educational administration. However, research on these views is not adequate. Therefore, interpreting Dewey's views from the perspective of educational administration can, on one hand, make up for the inadequate research on Dewey, and on the other hand, enhance the research on educational administration.This thesis consists of four parts. Part one explores the historical background and theoretical foundation of Dewey's thoughts and practice of democratic educational administration. Part two analyzes Dewey's democratic thoughts, which are deeply influenced by western liberal democratic thoughts and American democratic conventions as well as his own experience. Dewey's democracy holds profound connotation and closely relates to education, which gives rise to Dewey's thoughts of democratic educational administration. Part three is a presentation of Dewey's thoughts of democratic educational administration which includes views on administration of children, teachers, curriculum, teaching, plus views on organization of schools and educational administrators. Part four is a specific application of Dewey's thoughts of democratic educational administration which comprises administration of Dewey School and his participation in educational reform. From these researches, we reach a conclusion that Dewey's theory of educational administration regard democracy as the core, pedagogy as the basis, and exhibit obvious educationality. Dewey's theory of democratic educational administration from a pedagogical perspective retains great significance and value in respect of contemporary research on educational administration and reform of school management.