The rapid pace of digital media development implies social and cultural changes. The role of the school is to prepare the human being for the world dominated by these changes. Education 4.0 is one of the concepts for the comprehensive development of the human being. The first part of the article presents the chronology of changes in education in relation to the evolving digital media. Hence, the source of the changes and the subsequent stages of the concept from Education 1.0 to Education 3.0 are described. The second part of the article describes Education 4.0 and its components, the implementation of which in the learning and teaching process is a challenge for the contemporary school. The components described include: -Internet of Things, -the Cloud Computing, -Big Data analytics, -Autonomous Process Organisation, -Augmented Reality, -Horizontal and Vertical Integration, -Advanced Robots and Co-robots. The practical considerations on Education 4.0 follow from the reflections presented by a primary school headmaster who is also an academic staffmember.

The article is an attempt to characterize the methodology of multidisciplinary empirical research, designed and implemented within technical, exact, natural, social, and humanistic sciences. Three paradigms have been characterized: Education 4.0, Industry 4.0, and Society 5.0. The author’s attention was drawn to the need for a clear formulation of detailed concepts as well as their content and context. The types of possible empirical research and the methods and techniques used in them were presented, attention was also drawn to the importance of the model used in the research. It was considered necessary to disseminate methodological knowledge for the reliable execution of empirical research, allowing for its repeatability, verification, and evaluation.

The multidimensionality of educational failure – didactic perspective

The paper focuses on educational failure, exposing its multidimensional nature. The author’s thesis is that it is an implication of many circumstances that shape the image and place of failure in educational systems. The subject of analysis was the persistent and even increasing size of school delays, especially on the mega-scale. Attention was paid to the ambiguity of understanding the “school failure” and its types. An important impetus for considering the multidimensionality of educational failure from a didactic perspective became the observed transformations in educational philosophy and the accompanying complex conditions of the educational process in the 21st century, including modern technologies, humanisation of educational interactions, parallelism, and permanence of education. They prompt a reinterpretation of “school failure”. Moreover, the paper shows the pejorative consequences of failure, including suicidal thoughts and acts. The specific dimension of failures in the form of their peculiar “inheritance” through successive educational stages was also signaled. The article is part of the current of activities aimed at restoring school failure to its proper rank in scientific research and theoretical reflection, as well as in teacher education and training programmes.