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Whatever the educator and the educand accomplish during their pedagogic encounter,
one thing is certain, and that is that the events are aimed toward a future about which
the educand is still uncertain. He searches for certainty. His human form of existence
is a venturing out to the future. As this is inevitable, he has to rely on the support of
the adult to do so. Since his future actually represents a greater existential venturing
than in the present, he searches for or is in need of someone whom he can trust and
in this way gain a foothold in life, today, tomorrow and in the days to follow. He wants
to make sure that life (with his educator) is meaningful, and that his participation in
life and in reality is not without significance. He yearns for safety and security, and
once he has acquired this, he experiences emotional security (Du Plooy, Griessel &
Oberholzer 1982 : 95).
A trusting sphere in which child and educator accept each other as persons who are
bearers of human dignity is necessary to constitute the education relationship. In
accepting the' child, the adult must accept the child as he is, but also as he wants to
be, must be and should be. The mutual involvement of educator and child is
manifested in the adult's accosting of the child as ·child". In calling out the name
"child" the adult concurs that he accepts the existence of an ontic bond between
himself and the child. This ontic bond is a pre-eondition for the constitution of a
co-existential world as life-world inwhich the child can trust the adult as someone who
welcomes him on the grounds of his indisputable human dignity (Kilian & Viljoen
1974 : 167-169).
The child should not be viewed in a cold and unsympathetic manner, but he should
be lovingly accepted by the adult as a fellow human being. Since one is concerned here
with the mutual involvement of adult and child it is also of utmost importance for the
child to trust the adult. The child's trust in the adult is manifested in his wil1ingness
to accept and realise the norms himself that are exemplified through the adult's life.
The relationship of trust as a precondition for education implies active participation
of adult and child. In actively calling to the child the adult exhibits his trust in the
child. In other words, the adult shows his trust in the child to lead a life which is
worthy of being human In his being together with the child, in trust the adult is