Chapter 8: Philosophies Of Education
Lesson 1:Our Philosophical Heritage:Philosophies of Education
Learning Objectives:
1.Define and distinguish between seven philosophies of education.
2.Identify the core principles, beliefs, and values underlying each philosophy.
3.Apply the principles of each philosophy to practical classroom scenarios and teaching
decisions.
“To philosophize is so essentially human-And in a sense to philosophize means living a truly
human life”- J. Pieper
Introduction:
We are heirs to a rich philosophical heritage.Passed on to us are a number of
philosophies of various thinkers who lived before us. These thinkers reflected on life in this
planet. They occupied themselves searching for answers to questions about human
existence These existential questions come in different versions- “what is life?" "who am I?”
“why am I here?” or “what am I living for?” “what is reality?” “is the universe real?” “what is
good to do?” “how shou’s I live life meaningfully?” and the like.
In the school context, these existential questions are: “why do I teach?” “what should
I teach? “how should I teach?” “what is the nature of the learner?” “how do we learn?” etc.
These questions are philosophical questions.They are tackled in the subject, philosophies
of education.
Essentialism
William Bagley,James Koener
“Essence Precedes Existence”
• Why teach?
This philosophy contends that teachers teach for learners to acquire basic
knowledge, skills and values.Teachers teach “not to radically reshape society but rather to
transmit the traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that students need to
become model citizens”
• What to teach?
Essentialist programs are academically rigorous. The emphasis is on academic
content for students to learn the basic skills or the fundamental r’s reading, riting, ‘rithmetic,
right conduct as these are essential to the acquisition of higher or more complex skills
needed in preparation for adult life.
The essentialist curriculum include the “traditional disciplines such as math, natural
science, history, foreign language, and literature
The teachers and administrators decide what is most important for the students to learn and
without considering student interests, background and styles.
• How to teach?
Essentialist teachers emphasize mastery of subject matter. They are expected to be
intellectual and moral models of their students.
They are seen as “fountain” of information and as “paragon of virtue, if ever there is such a
person.To gain mastery of, basic skills, teachers have to observe “cure requirements, longer
school day, a longer academic year…”
With mastery of academic content as primary focus, teachers rely heavily on the use
of prescribed textbooks, the drill method and other methods that will enable them to cover
as much academic content as possible like the lecture method. There is a heavy stress on
memorization and discipline.
Existentialism
Jean Paul Sartre, Soren Kiengeraad
“Existence precedes Essence”
• Why to teach?
The main concern of the existentialists is “to help students understand and
appreciate themselves as unique individuals who accept complete responsibility for their
thoughts, feelings and actions.” Since ‘existence precedes essence’, the existentialist
teacher’s role is to help students define their own essence by exposing them to various paths
they take in life and by creating an environment in which they freely choose their own
preferred way.
Since feeling is not divorced from reason in decision making, the existentialist demands the
education of the whole person, “not just the mind.”
• What to teach?
“In an existentialist curriculum, students are given a wide variety of options from
which to choose.Students are afforded great latitude in their choice of subject matter. The
humanities, however, are given tremendous emphasis to “provide students with vicarious
experiences that will help unleash their own creativity and self-expression.
Moreover, vocational education is regarded more as a means of teaching students
about themselves and their potential than of earning a livelihood. In teaching art,
existentialism encourages individual creativity and imagination more than copying and
imitating established models”
• How to teach?
Existennalist methods focus on the individual. Learning is self-paced, self-directed.
It includes a great deal of individual contact with the teacher, who Relates to each student
openly and honesty.
To help students know themselves and their place in society, teachers employ values
clarification-judgmental the use of such strategy, teachers remain non-judgmental and take
care not to impose their values on their students since values are personal.”
Constructivism
• Why teach?
Constructivists sees to develop intrinsically motivated and independent learners
adequately equipped with learning skills for them to be able to construct knowledge and
make meaning of them.
• What to teach?
The learners are taught how to learn. They taught learning processes and skills such
as searching critiquing and evaluating information, relating these pieces of information,
reflecting on the same, making meaning out of them, drawing insights, posing questions,
researching and constructing new knowledge out of these bits of information learned.
• How to teach?
In the constructivist classroom, the teacher provides students with data or
experiences that allow them to hypothesize, predict, manipulate objects, pose questions,
research, investigate, imagine, and invent. The constructivist classroom is interactive. It
promotes dialogical exchange of ideas among learners and between teacher and learners.
The teacher’s role is to facilitate this process.
Knowledge isn’t a thing that can be simply deposited by the teacher into the empty
minds of the learners. Rather, knowledge is constructed by learners through an active,
mental process of development; learners are the builders and creators of meaning and
knowledge. Their minds are not empty. Instead, their minds are full of ideas waiting to be
“midwifed” by the teacher with his/her skillful facilitating skills.
Progressivism
• Why teach?
Progressivist teachers teach to develop learners into becoming enlightened and
intelligent citizens of a democratic society. This group of teachers teaches learners so they
may live life fully NOW not to prepare them for adult life.
• What to teach?
The progressivists are identified with need-based and relevant curriculum. This is a
curriculum that “respondemts to students” needs and that relates students personal lives
and experience.”
Progress accept the impermanence of life and the inevitability of change. For the
progressivists everything else changes Change is the only thing that shoes not change
Hence, progressivist teachers are more concerned with teaching the learners the skills to
cops with change Instead of occupying themselves with teaching facts or bits of information
that are true today but become obsolete tomorrow, they would rather focus on the skills or
processes in gathering and evaluating information and in problem-solving their teaching on
The subjects that are given emphasis in progressivist schools are the "natural and
social sciences, Teachers expose students to many new scientific, technological, and social
developments, reflecting the progressivist notion that progress and change are
fundamental. In addition, students solve problems in the classroom similar to those they
will encounter outside of the schoolhouse.
• How to teach?
Progressivist teachers employ experiential methods. They believe that one learns by
doing. For John Dewey, the most popular advocate of progressivism, book learning is no
substitute for actual experience. One experiential teaching method that progressivist
teachers heavily rely on is the problem-solving method. This problem-solving method makes
use of the scientific method. (You will learn more of this in your Principles and Strategies of
Teaching.)
Other “hands-on-minds-on-hearts-on” teaching methodology that progressivist
teachers use are field trips during which students interact with nature or society. Teachers
also stimulate students through thought-provoking games, and puzzles.
Perennialism
• Why teach?
We are all rational animals. Schools should, therefore, develop the students’ rational
and moral powers. According to Aristotle, if we neglect the students’ reasoning skills, we
deprive them of the ability to use their higher faculties to control their passions and
appetites.
• What to teach?
The perennialist curriculum is a universal one on the view that all human beings
possess the same essential nature. It is heavy on the humanities, on general education. It is
not a specialist curriculum but rather a general one. There is less emphasis on vocational
and technical education. Philosopher Mortimer Adler claims that the “Great Books of
ancient and medieval as well as modern times are a repository of knowledge and wisdom. A
tradition of culture which must initiate cach generation” What the perennialist teachers
teach are lifted from the Great Books.
• How to teach?
The perennialist classrooms are centered around teachers.” The teachers do not
allow the students interests of experiences to substantially dictate what they teach. They
apply whatever creative techniques and other tried and true methods which are believed to
he most conducive to disciplining the students’ minds. Students engaged in Socratic
dialogues, or mutual inquiry sessions to develop an understanding of history’s most timeless
concepts.”
Behaviorism
• Why teach?
Behaviorist schools are concerned with the modification and shaping of students’
behavior by providing for a favorable environment, since they believe that they are a product
of their environment. They are after students who exhibit desirable behavior in society.
• What to teach?
Because behaviorists look at “people and other animals… as complex combinations
of matter that act only in response to internally or externally generated physical stimuli,”
behaviorist teachers teach students to respond favorably to various stimuli in the
environment.
• How to teach?
Behaviorist teachers “ought to arrange environmental conditions so that students
can make the responses to stimuli. Physical variables like light, temperature, arrangement
of furniture, size and quantity of visual aids have to be controlled to get the desired
responses from the learners…. Teachers ought to make the stimuli clear and interesting to
capture and hold the learners’ attention. They ought to provide appropriate incentives to
reinforce positive responses and weaken or eliminate negative ones.” (Trespeces, 1995)
Linguistic philosophy
• Why teach?
To develop the communication skills of the Icarner because the ability to articulate,
to voice out the meaning and values of things that one obtains from his/her experience of life
and the world is the very essence of man. It is through his/her ability to express
himself/herself clearly, to get his/her ideas across, to make known to others the values that
he/she has imbibed, the beauty that he/she has seen, the ugliness that he/she rejects and
the truth that he/she has discovered.
Teachers teach to develop in the learner the skill to send messages clearly and receive
messages correctly.
• What to teach?
Learners should be taught to communicate clearly – how to send elear, concise
messages and how to receive and correctly understand messages sent. Communication
takes place in three (3) ways-verbal, nonverbal, and paraverbal. Verbal component refers to
the content of our message, the choice and arrangement of our words. This can be oral or
written. Nonverbal component refers to the message we send through our body language
while paraverbal component refers to how we say what we say the tone, pacing and volume
of our voices.
There is need to teach learners to use language that is correct, precise, grammatical,
coherent, accurate so that they are able to communicate clearly and precisely their thoughts
and feelings. There is need to help students expand their vocabularies to enhance their
communication skills. There is need to teach the learners how to communicate clearly
through non-verbal means and consistently though para-verbal means.
There is need to caution the learners of the verbal and non-verbal barriers to
communication.
Teach them to speak as many languages as you can. The more languages one speaks,
the better he/she can communicate with the world. A multilingual has an edge over the
monolingual or bilingual.
• How to teach?
The most effective way to teach language and communication is the experiential way.
Make them experience sending and receiving messages through verbal, non-verbal and
para-verbal manner. Teacher should make the classroom a place for the interplay of minds
and hearts. The teacher facilitates dialogue among learners and between him/her and his
her students because in the exchange of words there is also an exchange of ideas.
Summary
We have a very rich philosophical heritage But only seven philosophies were
discussed here: essentialism, progressivism, perennialism, existentialism, behaviorism,
linguistic philosophy and constructivism.The seven philosophies differ in their concepts of
the learner and values, in why do we teach (objectives), what should be taught (curriculum)
and how should the curriculum be taught (teaching strategies). However, there exist also
some similarities among the philosophies.
