Fundamental Pedagogy Jana Doležalová

10.2 Typology of Family Education 
In education, parents take different approaches to children. Families also differ 
in the atmosphere prevailing in them. This atmosphere is created by the 
relations between parents and children and the way they communicate as well 
as by the means of education they use. Here we can differentiate three basic 
types of family education: 
Democratic education is the most appropriate type of family education. It 
combines love to the child and reasonable strictness. Parents and children 
openly communicate with each other, which is why they have good relations 

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and trust each other. Parents respect the child’s possibilities, his/her age and 
individual peculiarities. They support but also rightly reward the child. They 
regularly check and evaluate the requirements for the child and the tasks or 
rules agreed. This type of education is fairly demanding for parents. It requires 
consistency, maintenance of partner and democratic relations between parents 
and children and also grace and a detached view and worldly wisdom. It heads 
towards healthy self-confidence of the child, self-criticism and self-education; it 
builds self-reliance and supports the child’s initiative.  
Authoritarian education is regarded as a negative extreme not bringing any 
favourable environment for optimal education of children. Adults (parents) 
assert and enforce solely their own opinions and requirements.
According to V. Tamášová (2006), special types of this education include 
uncompromising family education (where parents determine unconditional 
requirements), brutal education (where school outcomes are evaluated one-
sidedly and negatively and where ruthless educational methods are used) and 
ambitious education (where ambitious parents set unrealistic goals for the child, 
thus causing feelings of anxiety in the child).