Student Record
Luminiţa T ĂSICA
Institute of Educational Sciences, Bucharest
Marcela MARCINSCHI C ĂLINECI
Centre for Psycho-pedagogical Assistance, BucharestHistory
Knowing the personality of a pupil has been the fundamental concern of any professional
pedagogue, and it is implicit in the process of teaching and learning.
Socrates’ method of reaching the truth, as a heuristic method of (self) knowledge and
education, is perhaps among the first exercises of becoming aware of the need to record
data on the progress of a disciple during schooling. Certainly, precursors were confronted
with the difficulty of keeping the records and this is why history has nevertheless kept
little information on the academic evolution of some great personalities in the ancient
world.
Some “reports” come from the Middle Ages to say that court masters were obliged to
present their seniors the performances of their offspring in the trials of knightly arts or
ecclesiastic studies.
The Renaissance spurs humanist education on and contributes to deeper knowledge due
to personalities like: Comenius, Locke, Rousseau, who classify education by age stages
and underline the importance of retaining and carrying data on pupils from one age to the
other.
School record becomes a constant concern in the 19th century, when the experimental
pedagogy intensifies investigations regarding the development of the pupils’
individuality. The 20th century, which Ellen Key called “the century of the child”, places
at the centre the scientific research of children and adolescents. Binet, Claparede, Dewey,