PERENNIALISM

Perennialism in education is the idea that school curricula should focus on what is
everlasting. You can remember the word 'perennialism' by remembering that
perennial means lasting for many years. Thus, perennialism is focused on things
that have lasted for many years. Perennialism is a teacher-centered educational
philosophy that focuses on everlasting ideas and universal truths. To clarify,
Perennialism suggests that the focus of education should be the ideas that have
lasted for centuries believing the ideas are as relevant and meaningful today as
when they were written. This educational philosophy aims to prepare students for
life by developing their intellectual and moral qualities through emphasizing
knowledge and the meaning of knowledge, servings to enhance student’s critical
thinking skills in their search for individual freedoms, human rights and
responsibilities through nature.
Role of Teacher – perennialism is a teacher- centered philosophy, in which the
teacher is less concerned with student interest and more concerned with
transferring knowledge from older generations to younger generations. The teacher
will focus on the importance of reading and will often use the underlying reading
lessons to make a moral point. Teachers use history, religion, literature, and the
laws of science to reinforce universal ideas that have the potential to solve any
problem in any era.
IDEALISM
Idealism is a philosophical approach that has as its central tenet that ideas are the
only true reality, the only thing worth knowing. In a search for truth, beauty, and
justice that is enduring and everlasting, the focus is on conscious reasoning in the
mind. Plato, father of Idealism, espoused this view about 400 years BC, in his
famous book, The Republic. Plato believed that there are two worlds. The first is the
spiritual or mental world, which is eternal, permanent, orderly, regular, and
universal. There is also the world of appearance, the world experienced through
sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound, that is changing, imperfect, and disorderly.
This division is often referred to as the duality of mind and body. Reacting against
what he perceived as too much of a focus on the immediacy of the physical and
sensory world, Plato described a utopian society in which "education to body and
soul all the beauty and perfection of which they are capable" as an ideal.
In idealism, the aim of education is to discover and develop each individual's
abilities and full moral excellence in order to better serve society. The curricular
emphasis is subject matter of mind: literature, history, philosophy, and religion.
Teaching methods focus on handling ideas through lecture, discussion, and Socratic
dialogue (a method of teaching that uses questioning to help students discover and
clarify knowledge). Introspection, intuition, insight, and whole-part logic are used to
bring to consciousness the forms or concepts which are latent in the mind.
Character is developed through imitating examples and heroes.
BEHAVIORISM
Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable and measurable aspects of
human behavior. In defining behavior, behaviorist learning theories emphasize
changes in behavior that result from stimulus-response associations made by the
learner. Behavior is directed by stimuli. An individual selects one response instead
of another because of prior conditioning and psychological drives existing at the
moment of the action.
Using behaviorist theory in the classroom can be rewarding for both students and
teachers. Behavioral change occurs for a reason; students work for things that bring
them positive feelings, and for approval from people they admire. They change
behaviors to satisfy the desires they have learned to value. They generally avoid
behaviors they associate with unpleasantness and develop habitual behaviors from
those that are repeated often (Parkay & Hass, 2000). The entire rationale of
behavior modification is that most behavior is learned. If behaviors can be learned,
then they can also be unlearned or relearned.
ESSENTIALISM
According to essentialists, the study material of the students of the elementary
schools must concentrate upon the basic skills, and as for the secondary school, the
curriculum shall concentrate upon that particular discipline that student is going for.
The term essentialism is generally used in three meanings. Firstly, it uses biological,
physiological and, increasingly, genetic causes to explain the unchangeable human
behavior. Secondly, term essentialism is used when generalized statements are
asserted that make no reference to cross-cultural differences or previous historical
variation. Sometimes it is also known as universalism. The third and final use of the
term refers to all the everyday conversations or academic writings in which we
make use of the unified concepts.
The points included in the tenets of the essentialists’ state that education is a fine
combination of hard work and effort. If the student is interested in the subject
he/she is studying that’s good, but if not, the interest of the student must be
developed in that subject area, as the student doesn’t what he/she may be needing
in the future and student must perform all the tasks regardless of the fact, whether
the teacher is providing him/her with sound motivation or no.
DISCIPLINISM
characterized by two reactions during the first half of the 18th century:
1. The rise of formal discipline
2. The development of aristocracy of reason or rationalism

FORMAL DISCIPLINE or DISCIPLINISM 

the theory that the mind has a number distinct and general power of faculties, such
as observation, memory, and will power, which should be strengthened by
exercise. 
JOHN LOCKE 
postulated that everything in the mind came from experience, which in turn was
based on the perception of the senses .
He believed that the development came only through formation of habits through
discipline.
In some thoughts concerning education, strongly advocated the disciplinary theory
of education, believing that the mind of the child at birth was a 
tabula rasa 
Tabula rasa 
– blank tablet
*All the pupils had to pass through the three levels: elementary, secondary and
college
Locke’s presented three steps in learning
1. SENSE LEARNING
2. MEMORIZATION
3. REASONING
What are sensed should be retained
No one can reason out if he has nothing in his head
REALISM
Absolute reality whether we perceive them or not. Educational realism is the belief
that we should study logic, critical thinking, and the scientific method to teach
students to perceive and understand reality. As you might imagine, there is a heavy
emphasis on math and science, though the humanities can also be influenced by
educational realism. Realism is the reinforcement of our common acceptance of this
world as it appears to us. Hands on learning
PRAGMATISM
The man who introduced Pragmatism in Education is John Dewey. According to him,
the real value of a thing lies in its utility for human development and welfare. Thus
even education is useless if it does not promote human welfare and so the system
of education should be changed so that it becomes both desirable and beneficial.
Education should provide real life experiences to the learners so as to make them
dynamic, resourceful efficient and enterprising. John Dewey characterizes education
mainly as growth, as life, as continuous reconstruction of experiences, as a social
process (Singh, 2007).
Pragmatists believe that individual always determines the aims not by any
organization or any structure. Perhaps the best statement of what might be called
the pragmatists educational aims can be found in the writing of John Dewey. The
aim for education is to teach children to be comfortable in their learning
environment to an extent that children are living their life. Dewey believed in this
type of environment that is not considered a preparation for life, but life itself. He
believed that educators should know the ideas and materials that motivate and
interest children and plan accordingly. Dewey believed that aims should grow out of
existing conditions, be tentative, and have an end view.
PROGRESSIVISM
Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on
the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students
should test ideas by active experimentation. Learning is rooted in the questions of
learners that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The
learner is a problem solver and thinker who makes meaning through his or her
individual experience in the physical and cultural context. Effective teachers provide
experiences so that students can learn by doing. Curriculum content is derived from
student interests and questions. Progressivist educators use the scientific method
so that students can study matter and events systematically and first hand. The
emphasis is on process-how one comes to know. The Progressive education
philosophy was established in America from the mid 1920s through the mid-1950s.
John Dewey was its foremost proponent. One of his tenets was that the school
should improve the way of life of our citizens through experiencing freedom and
democracy in schools. Shared decision making, planning of teachers with students,
student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority.

Reconstructionism/Critical Theory
Social reconstructionism is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing of social
questions and a quest to create a better society and worldwide democracy.
Reconstructionist educators focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform as
the aim of education. George Counts (1889-1974) recognized that education was
the means of preparing people for creating this new social order.
For social reconstructionists and critical theorists, curriculum focuses on student
experience and taking social action on real problems, such as violence, hunger,
international terrorism, inflation, and inequality. Strategies for dealing with
controversial issues (particularly in social studies and literature), inquiry, dialogue,
and multiple perspectives are the focus. Community-based learning and bringing
the world into the classroom are also strategies.
EXISTENTIALISM
Existentialist philosophy begins from human essence. It is by existing in this absurd
world, one person encounters the essence. Existence comes before man encounters
with values. That is the essence will be seen how one approaches it. This encounter
defines him/herself in his/her own subjectivity. The aim of the education is to enable
the learner to equip with the necessary aids in this essence seeking understanding.
It transcends the natural laws.
Education process becomes complete only when a tri-polar process (Teacher-
Student- Society) has taken place in it. It is the duty of the teacher to unleash the
child from reluctance to get in to new fields of knowledge to realize the essence. So
existentialism promotes the subjects that include moral and religious education in
the curriculum. Education should lead one to realize the essence and make him/her
alive to the realized essence. Education is for the whole man. Therefore, an
existential educational process is necessary to cultivate the ability in men to realize
who they are.
Existentialist education is learner– centered. It gives full freedom to the learner to
realize his/her essence because freedom is an unavoidable fact in essence-seeking
understanding. Education should transform being to be. According to existentialist
educational philosophy, education should encourage learners to choose what to
study. The modern education is designed in this manner. Those learners do not find
difficulty in choosing what to study and how to study. Modern education system is
based on freedom of choice and the students would be free to select from many
available learning situations. It enables them to unleash their own creativity and self
–expression. Therefore curriculum must include humanities, ethics and religion. The
student should feel free to realize the essence under the guidance of the teacher.

NATURALISM
The naturalists emphasised the nature of the child. According to the naturalists
education should be according to the nature of the child, Rousseau has played a
great role in this regard (Sahu, 2002). In 1759, Rousseau published his famous book
“Emile” which contained Rousseau’s ideas on naturalism. Emile means boy in
French. In this novel Rousseau focuses on the private education of the boy (Shahid,
2000). Rousseau considered world as an artificial, autocratic, egotistic and arrogant
place and Rousseau believed that education should be given according to the
natural interest of the child aiming at a holistic development of the personality .
Nature is the best teacher and means of education according to Rousseau (Singh,
2007).
Rousseau's philosophy of education is naturalistic (Shahid, 2000). According to
naturalists education is the process of development of a natural life (Seetharamu,
2004). Rousseau believed that education does not only mean to memorize or store
information and knowledge rather it is the process which results in the development
of the child’s nature and personality internally. Rousseau’s philosophy of education
best ensures that the pupil will absorb information and concepts. (Shahid, 2000).
Naturalism states that parents are natural teachers and there is no need for the
institutions such as school (Pathak, 2007).
EMPIRICISM
Empiricism is a philosophical perspective based on experience and observation.
Empiricism is a philosophical belief that states your knowledge of the world is based
on your experiences, particularly your sensory experiences. According to
empiricists, our learning is based on our observations and perception; knowledge is
not possible without experience.
EXPERIMENTATION
Trial or error
Commission of error