Introduction to

Psychological
Perspectives in
Education
Aakanksha Verma
Group 1
Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women
 Education
People’s perception vary on each topic, hence, different people have different definitions for
education. For instance, according to Aristotle, “Education is the process of training man to
fulfill his aim by exercising all the faculties to the fullest extent as a member of society”. On the
other hand, according to Socrates, “Education means the bringing out of the ideas of universal
validity which are latent in the mind of every man”. John Dewey says that, “Education is all one
with growing; it has no end beyond itself”.

The word “Education” comes from Latin words Educare, Educere and Educatum. Educatum
refer to the act of teaching, and Educare and Educere refers to bring up, to lead out, to draw out,
propulsion from inward to outward. Through all these definitions and meaning it can be
concluded that the main aim of education is to create man’s inherent internal capacity. It tries to
give an individual some desirable knowledge, understanding, abilities, attitude and critical
thinking by educating him or her.
The Indian view point denotes education by the term “shiksha”. This word originates from a
sanskrit word “shiksh” which means to acquire knowledge or to make others learn or attain
knowledge.

The word “education” refers to both the study of the field and for the formal enterprise that is
being studied. Therefore, to understand this dual meaning of education two definitions from
American Heritage Dictionary and Dictionary of the History of Ideas should be considered:-

 American Heritage Dictionary defines education as:

i. The act or process of educating or being educated.
ii. The knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process.
iii. A program of instruction of a specified kind or level.
iv. The field of study that is concerned with the pedagogy of teaching and learning.
v. An instructive or enlightening experience.
 William Frankena in the Dictionary of the History of Ideas defines education as:
i. As the activity of one doing the educating, the act or process of educating or teaching
engaged in by the educator.
ii. The process or experience of being educated or learning that goes on in the one being
educated.
iii. As the result produced and in the one being educated by the double process of
educating and being educated.
iv. As a discipline or study of education.

It can be gathered from these definitions that the term “education” can be used in three different
ways: Knowledge, Subject, and Process. By referring education as “knowledge” it refers to all
formal and informal knowledge that an individual gains during their lifetime. In this sense,
qualification degree of a person is not termed as education. On the other hand, by referring
education as “subject” it is used in a sense of discipline. For instance, while studying in an
institution an individual takes up education as his or her discipline then education can be termed
as a subject. Next, education can also be termed as a “process” because while referring it as an
enterprise it contains various systems of education and, therefore, primarily an activity.

Educational Psychology
The term “Psychology” refers to the scientific study of the human mind and its functions,
especially those affecting behavior in a given context. It is derived from two Greek words,
‘Psyche’ and ‘Logos’ which means ‘soul’ and ‘science’ respectively. Since psychology has
spread its wings into various fields, such as sports, organization, clinical, etc. educational
psychology is one of its subfields.
Educational psychology can be defined as scientific study of human behavior in educational
settings. In this branch of psychology findings of psychology are applied in the field of
education.It includes studying how individuals learn, including subjects like student results, learn
ing process, individual learning differences, talented learners, and learning disabilities. Johann
Herbart is considered to be the father of Educational Psychology. According to him interest of
students in a subject had tremendous impact on the learning outcome. He suggested that,
therefore, to decide the most appropriate type of instruction, educators should consider both,
interest and prior knowledge to the subject. Educational psychology uses psychological
knowledge and methods to understand the nature of the processes of teaching and learning. It
provide teachers with information about how students learn and what stimulates them to learn.

According to B.F. Skinner, “”Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals
with teaching and learning and also covers the entire range and behavior of the personality as
related to education”. Whereas, Anderson says that, “While general psychology is pure science,
educational psychology is its application in the field of education with the aim of socializing an
individual and modifying his behavior”. E.A. Peel gives a very simple definition of educational
psychology by stating that, “It is the science of education”.

As with other psychological fields, when considering an issue, scientists in educational psycholo
gy tend to take on distinct views, as follows:-

 The Behavioral Perspective

According to the behavioral perspective, every behavior is learned through the process of
conditioning. Psychologists who take this view strongly depend on operant conditioning
principles to clarify how learning occurs. For instance, teachers could give out tokens that
could be traded with desirable items like candies and toys to reward positive behavior.

 the Developmental Perspective

The focus of this perspective is to examine how children gain new skills and knowledge as
they develop. Therefore, by understanding children’s thought processes at different stages of
life, educational psychologists are better able to comprehend what children are capable of at
each stage of their growth.

 The Cognitive Perspective

The field of cognitive psychology aims to understand how people think, learn, remember,
and process information. Educational psychologists considering cognitive perspective are
anxious to know and understand how children are motivated to learn, how they remember
and solve their problems.

Educational psychology is scientific in nature. It employs scientific methds such as, data
collection and experiments to verify the assumptions. It is a social science and like any other
subject of science it is experimental in nature. Kelly (1941) viewed the psychology of education
in the following way:-

i. To give knowledge related to the nature of child

ii. To get an understanding of the nature, aim and purpose of education.
iii. To obtain understanding of the scientific methods and procedures used in arriving at the
facts and principles of educational psychology.
iv. To present the principles and techniques of learning and teaching.
v. To provide training in methods of measuring abilities and achievement in school subject.
vi. To give knowledge that aids in the growth and development of children.
vii. To assist in the better adjustment of children and to help them prevent maladjustment.
viii. To study the educational significance and control of emotions.
ix. To give an understanding of the principles and techniques of correct training.

The area of educational psychology has a wide scope, extended to the learner, learning process,
learning experience, learning situation, and the teacher. It is correlated to other fields also such
as, counseling and clinical psychology.

Relevance of Educational Psychology

The field of education and psychology are intertwined in many respects and psychology plays a
major role in formulating teaching strategies and learning principles in the educational setting.
The development of the modern system of educational was significantly contributed by
educational psychology. The teacher receives assistance with educational psychology in the
following ways:-

 To understand Stages of Development

According to psychology human life takes place before adulthood at different stages of
development, i.e., infancy, childhood, teenagers and adults. In these different lifetime
periods, psychologists studied carefully the characteristic patterns of behavior. Therefore,
Identifying periods with different sets of attributes and characteristics in terms of physical,
 mental and emotional development will greatly help educators to design curricula and to dev
elop appropriate teaching methods for students of various stages.

 To know the learner

The child or the learner is an important part of the teaching-learning process. Educational
psychology enables the educator to understand children’s interest, attitudes, skills or othe
capabilities gained by them. In addition, it also helps to understand how their needs, emotive,
intellectual, physical and aesthetic are related to their phases of growth; understand how they
have the level of aspiration and their behaviors; motive and group conduct; their disputes,
wishes and other behaviors.

 To Understand the Nature of Classroom Learning

Educational psychology enables the teacher to adapt themselves as well as their teaching
method with respect to the level of learners. The teacher must have the knowledge of
different approaches to the learning process, principles, laws and factors affecting it in order
to deal efficiently with students in class.

 To Understand Individual Differences

School children vary in their level of intelligence, abilities, likes, dislikes, and other
propensities and potentialities. There are children who are gifted, backward, and also who are
physically or mentally challenged. Therefore, psychology lets the teacher know about the
prevailing individual differences in class and what procedure, method, and technique should
be adopted for them.

 To Develop Necessary Skills and Interest in Teaching

Educational psychology enables the teacher to obtain and develop the required skills and
abilities needed to cope with issues generated by students, to preserve a good atmosphere in
the classroom and to demonstrate concern about the betterment of kids.

 To Understand the Mental Health of the Child

Educational psychology enables the teacher to understand what variables are accountable for
a student’s mental illness and recommend enhancement. In addition, it also helps the teacher
with needed insight to enhance their own mental status.

 To Provide Guidance and Counseling

 As psychological skills, interests and teaching styles vary from one individual to the other,
guidance to a student at every point of life is required. For instance, what course the student
should opt in his future. The teacher can respond effectively to such questions if they
understand children’s psychology.

 To Inculcate Positive and Creative Discipline

Traditional teachers motto was “spare the rod and spoil the child.” The repressive system
now has been substituted by the preventive system of educational psychology. Now,
educators are adopting a cooperative and scientific strategy to change students’ behavior. by
creative and constructive operations, emphasis is placed on self-discipline.

 Educational Psychology Helps in Professional Growth, Changing Attitude and

Innovative Thinking
Educational psychology has enabled the teacher to accomplish adequate conditioning of
students within the classroom by creating and guiding programs in the classroom. In
addition, educational psychologists also aim to discover innovations, which lead to
professional development of teacher.

Therefore, in can be concluded that educational psychology has made a significant contribution
to the development of the contemporary instructional scheme. It has helped educators,
headmasters, administrators, inspectors, guidance and counseling employees, social workers to
create an impartial and compassionate approach towards students considerably and to form them
into incorporated personalities.

 Contribution of Psychology to Education

Psychology is the science of animals including man's intellects, personalities, and behaviour.
Human education is concerned with certain modifications in men's intelligence, personality, and
conduct, and its issues are approximately covered by these four subjects:
 Aim Material

Means Method

Aim

The aim of education can be better understood with the help psychology. Psychology is able to
do so by defining aims of education, by making the clearer, by limiting tem, showing people
what can be done and what cannot, and also by suggesting new features that should be made
parts of them. The aim of education become clearer with psychology as it put the notion of aim
of psychology in terms of exact changes that education is to make. In addition, psychology
define changes which actually do occur in human beings.

Method

Psychology can make contributions to the method of teaching in three ways, which are as
follows:

1. Psychology explains why one methods succeeds more than the others.
2. Psychology may suggest means to test and verify or refuse the claim of any method by its
method of measuring knowledge and skills.
3. Psychology can deduce methods right from the laws of human nature.

Material

Psychology is the chief contributor to as understanding of the material of education. Its share
with physiology, sociology and other sciences concerning changes in men’s body or mental
nature of work, providing thinker and worker in the field of education with knowledge of
material with which they work.

Mean

Psychology also helps in understanding the means of education as intellects, and characters of
any one’s parents, teachers and friends are very important means of educating him, and also
because the influence of any other means, such as books, maps or apparatus, cannot be usefully
studies apart from the human nature which they are able to act upon.

Education and Schooling

In present time, education is strongly related to schooling. Entering the term “education” into a
search engine instantly generates a wealth of data on schools, colleges, and responsible
government bodies. Hence, there is a clear connection between education and schooling.
Schools, colleges, and universities, attended by students, have become an essential part of
people’s lives. Every nation has their own approach to schooling. Early-year English education
tends to be relatively formal with closely documented learning objectives, but, for instance,
early-year education in Norway is less formal and more dependent on the immediate natural
environment experience of students.

However, the difference between schooling and education is huge. Education is an ideal. Schools
are institutions set up to formalize teaching. Schools need not be educational at all, and often
aren’t. Indeed, they can indoctrinate. It is the ethical concern of education for learning to live
well that is lost when the two are confused. Schooling is a formal type of education where a
curriculum-based subject is taught to learners in a classroom. Teachers direct their lesson plans
around the core of the curriculum to ensure that the students are successful by society. Without
education, one can be trained. For instance, if kids work well with their hands and can construct
stuff, they've learned engineering practice.

Different Forms of Schooling

There are various forms of schooling as follows:

 Montessari

Homeschool Traditional

Forms of
Schooling

Waldorf
Unschooling
Education

1. Traditional Form of Schooling

Traditional education, also known as back-to-basics, conventional or customary education,
relates to long-established customs that are traditionally used by society in schools.
Traditional education is not a particular form of education, and the significance of traditional
education differs according to place and time. Traditional schooling is an established type of
teaching that focuses on the values that a society at that moment considers most essential.
Traditional schools emphasize basic educational practices and expect mastery of academic
learning in key subjects of math, science, reading, writing, and social studies. Public schools
usually adopt this model of education, although charter schools can give a more flexible
strategy to education.
The main aim of traditional schools is to pass on the values, manners skills, and the social
practice to the next generation which is necessary for their survival. Students in traditional
education learn about the customs and tradition of the society in which they live.
2. Homeschooling
Homeschooling, also known as home education, is children's education at home or a variety
of places other than school. Home education is usually carried out by a parent, tutor, or
teacher online. It has been made legal option of schooling in many developed countries.
However, in other nations it continues to be illegal or limited to particular circumstances as
recorded by Homeschooling International Status and Statistics.
Educating children at home by family members was a common practice in earlier times.
Enrolling professional tutors was only an option for the wealthy. Homeschooling decreased
in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with the enactment of compulsory attendance laws.
However, it was still practiced in some isolated societies. In the 1960s and 1970s,
homeschooling began a resurgence with educational reformers dissatisfied with industrial
education.

3. Montessori Method of Education

Developed by Maria Montessori, the Montessori Education Method is a child-centered
instructional strategy based on scientific observation of children. Montessori's technique has
been used in many areas of the world for more than 100 years.
The Montessori Method views the child as the one who is naturally anxious for knowledge
and is able to initiate learning in a supportive learning environment that is well prepared. It
seeks physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of children.
While visiting Rome's asylum for the insane, Montessori used her observations of child
maltreatment to read all she could about intellectually handicapped kids during her schooling
with a teacher, which led to the development of her new type of education. She opened her
first school in Rome in 1907, the Casa dei Bambini, or Children's House. She opened her first
school named the Casa dei Bambini, or Children's House in Rome in 1907. Maria Montessori
then decided to relocate to Città di Castello where, together with Alice Franchetti, she resided
for two years and refined her methodology.
There are two fundamental principles in the model:
a. First, by interacting with their surroundings, kids and developing adults participate in
psychological self-construction.
b. Second, kids have an inherent route of psychological growth, particularly under the
age of six.

Based on her findings, Montessori thought that in a setting prepared according to her model,
kids who are free to choose and behave freely would behave spontaneously for ideal growth.
4. Waldorf Education
Waldorf education is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of
anthroposophy. It is also known as Steiner education. His pedagogy seeks to create in an
integrated and holistic way the academic, artistic and practical abilities of students. It’s key
focus is to foster imagination and creativity of children.
The first Waldorf school was launched in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919. A century later, it
became the world's biggest independent school movement, with around 1,200 autonomous
Waldorf schools, 2,000 kindergartens and 646 special education centres in 75 nations.
However, some English-speaking Waldorf schools have encountered with resistance due to
vaccine hesitation among some Waldorf pupils, differences in educational norms, and the
mystical and antiquated nature of some of Steiner's concepts.

5. Unschooling
The term "unschooling" was coined in the 1970s by John Holt who was widely regarded as
the father of unschooling. Unschooling is a philosophy of education that promotes learner-
selected activities as the primary means of learning. Students enrolled in this form of
schooling gain their experiences through their natural life, including playing, household
duties, private concerns and curiosity, internships and work experience, travel, books,
elective courses, family, mentors, and social interaction. Unschooling promotes children to
themselves explore operations that are initiated. It believes that the more learning is private,
the more meaningful, well-understood and therefore helpful it is to the kid. While courses
may be taken occasionally, unschooling questions the usefulness of standard curricula,
conventional grading methods, and other features of traditional schooling in each unique
child's education.

Child Centered V/S Progressive Education

Child Centered Education

Child-centered education includes teaching techniques that change the focus of teaching from te
teacher to the student. On the basis of the child’s inquisitiveness and interests, learning should
promote the child’s self-education process, especially by promoting the child’s own sense of
self-organization and responsibility. To achieve this, methods of learning are shaped by the adult
and the child and adapted according to the individual learning requirements of the child. This
requires a teaching environment with a didactic framework, one that is defined by mutual
confidence and able to enable both autonomous and cooperative learning.
Progressive Education

Progressive education, a movement that took shape during the late 19th century in Europe and
the United States as a response to traditional education's supposed narrowness and formalism.
The theory behind progressive education was that by actually performing learning-related tasks a
child learns best. In the curriculum, creative and manual arts became more important, and
children were encouraged to experiment and think independently. A progressivist teacher
provides not just reading and drills, but also real-world experiences and activities that relate to
the actual lives of the students.

Comparison

Child centered education, also known as student-centered education or learner-centered

education, includes methods of teaching that shift focus of instruction from the teacher to the
student. Whereas, Progressive Education is a response to traditional teaching method. It is
described as an educational movement that gives more importance to experience than formal
learning.

The theory and practice of child-centered education is based on the constructivist theory of
learning that emphasizes the critical role of the learner in building meaning from new
information and prior experience. Whereas, progressive education is based on experiential
learning that focuses on developing the skills of a child. The workplace, for instance, is a
cooperative environment that needs teamwork, critical thinking, creativity, and independent
capacity to function. By assisting learners acquire these abilities, experiential learning better
prepares them for college and life as productive workplace members.

The fundamental concept of child-centered education is to allow the ideal growth of the character
and skills of a child in accordance with their individual needs and needs. On the other hand, the
philosophy of progressive education suggests teachers should teach children how to think instead
of relying on rote memorization.

References
 ExamPlanning. (2019). https://examplanning.com
 Academia. (2019). https://www.academia.edu
 VeryWell. (2019). https://www.verywellmind.com
 Wood, K. (2011). Education: The Basics. Oxon: Routledge
 Woolfolk, A. (2016). Educational Psychology. England: Pearson