BIG PICTURE A

ULO a.
▪ Formulate a learner-centered philosophy of education.
Philosophies of Education
OUR PHILOSOPHICAL HERITAGE
To philosophize is so essentially human -
and in a sense to philosophize means
living a truly human life.
– J. Pieper
Your
Educational
Philosophy
Find out to which philosophy you adhere.
Answer the activity sent with the study
guide.
Seven
Philosophies
of Education
Constructivism
Essentialism
Progressivism
Perennialism
Existentialism
Behaviorism
Linguistic philosophy
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Why teach?
→ 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?
→ Learners are taught how to learn.
→ They are taught learning processes and skills:
→ 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?
→ The teacher provides students with data or
experiences.[1]
→ The constructivist classroom is interactive. [2]
→ The teacher’s role is to facilitate.
→ Knowledge is constructed by learners through an
active, mental processes of development. [3]
ESSENTIALISM
Why teach?
→ 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?
→ Academically rigorous; emphasis on academic content
→ reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic, right conduct

→ Includes 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; little emphasis on
student interests
How to teach?
→ Emphasize mastery of subject matter
→ Teacher’s Role:
→ intellectual and moral models of their students;
→ “fountain” of information and as “paragon of virtue”;
→ observes “core requirements, longer school day, a longer academic
year…”
→ Rely heavily on the use of prescribed textbooks, drill method,
lecture method
→ Heavy stress on memorization and discipline
PROGRESSIVISM
Why teach?
→ To develop learners into becoming enlightened and
intelligent citizens of a democratic society
→ Teaches learners so they may live life fully NOW not to
prepare them for adult life
What to teach?
→ Identified with need-based and relevant curriculum
→ “responds to students’ needs and that relates to students’ personal lives
and experiences
→ Change is the only thing that does not change.
→ Teaching the learners the skills to cope with change.
→ Emphasis in the “natural and social sciences”
→ Students solve problem in the classroom similar to those they will
encounter outside of the schoolhouse.
How to teach?
→ Employ experiential method – problem-solving method –
scientific method
→ Learning by doing (John Dewey); Book learning is no
substitute for actual experience.
→ “hands-on-minds-on-hearts-on” teaching methodology:
field trips, thought-provoking games, and puzzles
PERENNIALISM
Why teach?
→ 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?
→ Humanities, on general education
→ Not a specialist curriculum but rather a general one
→ Less emphasis on vocational and technical education
→ From the Great Books (Philosopher Mortimer Adler)
How to teach?
→ “centered around teachers”
→ Teachers do not allow the students’ interest or experiences to
substantially dictate what they teach.
→ They apply whatever creative techniques and other tried and
true methods which are believed to be most conducive to
discipling the students’ mind.
→ Socratic dialogues, mutual inquiry sessions
EXISTENTIALISM
Why teach?
→ To help students understand and appreciate themselves
as unique individuals who accept complete responsibility
for their thoughts, feelings and actions
→ 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
→ Education of the whole person, not just the mind
What to teach?
→ Students are given a wide variety of options from which to choose.
→ Humanities are given tremendous emphasis, to provide students
with vicarious experiences
→ Focus upon the actions of historical individuals
→ Vocational education is regarded more as a means of teaching
students about themselves and their potential than of earning a
livelihood.
→ Encourages individual creativity and imagination
How to teach?
→ Focus on the individual
→ Learning is self-paced, self-directed.
→ Individual contact with the teacher, relates to students openly
and honestly
→ Employ values clarification strategy;
→ Teachers are non-judgmental and take care not to impose
their values on their students since values are personal.
BEHAVIORISM
Why teach?
→ Concerned with the modification and shaping of
students’ behavior by providing for a favorable
environment
→ Students are a product of their environment
→ They are after students who exhibit desirable behavior
in society
What to teach?
→ Teachers teach students to respond favorably to various
stimuli in the environment
How to teach?
→ Arrange environmental conditions so that students can make
the responses to stimuli
→ Control physical variables: light, temperature, arrangement of
furniture, size and quantity of visual aids
→ Make the stimuli clear and interesting to capture and hold the
learner’s attention
→ Provide appropriate incentives to reinforce positive responses
and weaken or eliminate negative ones
LINGUISTIC
PHILOSOPHY
Why teach?
→ To develop the communication skills, the very essence
of man.
→ Teachers teach to develop in the learner the skill to
send messages clearly and receive messages
correctly.
What to teach?
→ To communicate clearly
→ Communication: (1) verbal, (2) nonverbal (3) paraverbal

→ To use language that is correct, precise, grammatical,

coherent, accurate
→ To expand vocabularies to enhance communication skills
→ To speak as many languages as you can
How to teach?
→ Experiential way
→ Classroom is a place for the interplay of minds and hearts
→ Teacher facilitates dialogue among learners and between
students
Let’s Research!
With a group, research on the following philosophies. Give the gist of
each philosophy. Name its proponents. Present through PowerPoint.
1. Idealism
2. Realism
3. Pragmatism
4. Social Reconstructivism
5. Humanism
6. Naturalism
7. Nationalism
8. Behaviorism
Let’s Check!
Answer each with a YES or NO. If your answer is NO, explain your
answer in a sentence.
Essentialism
1. Do essentialists aim to teach students to reconstruct society?
2. Is the model citizen of the essentialist the citizen who contributes
to the re-building of society?
3. Do the essentialist teachers give up teaching the basics if the
students are not interested?
4. Do the essentialist teachers frown on long academic calendar and
core requirements?
Progressivism
5. Do the progressivist teachers look at education as a preparation
for adult life?
6. Are the students’ interest and needs considered in a progressivist
curriculum?
7. Does the progressivist curriculum focus mainly on facts and
concepts.?
8. Do the progressivist teachers strive to simulate in the classroom
life in the outside world?
Perennialism
9. Are the perennialist teachers concerned with the students’
mastery of the fundamental skills?
10.Do the perennialist teachers ss the wisdom of ancient, medieval,
and modern times?
11.Is the perennialist curriculum geared towards specialization?
12.Do the perennialist teachers sacrifice subject matter for the sake
of students’ interests?
Existentialism
13.Is the existentialist teacher after students becoming specialists in
order to contribute to society?
14.Is the existentialist concerned with the education of the whole
person?
15.Is the course of study imposed on students in the existentialist
classroom?
16.Does the existentialist teacher make heavy use of the
individualized approach?
Behaviorism
17.Are behaviorists concerned with the modification of students’
behavior?
18.Do behaviorist teachers spend their time teaching their students
on how to respond favorably to various environmental stimuli?
19.Do behaviorist teachers believe they have control over some
variables that affect learning?
20.Do behaviorist teachers believe that students are a product of
their environment?
Linguistic Philosophy
21.Do linguistic philosophers promote the study of language?
22.Is the communication that linguistic philosophers encourage
limited to verbal language only?
23.Do linguistic philosophers prefer the teacher who dominates
discussion to save time to a teacher who encourages dialogue?
24.Is the curriculum of the linguistic philosopher open to the learning
of as many languages, like Mother Tongue, as possible?
Constructivism
25.Does the constructivist agree to a teaching methodology of
telling?
26.Do constructivists believe that students can construct
knowledge?
27.Do constructivists approve of teaching learners the skill to
learn?
28.Do constructivists believe that meaning can be imposed?
Formulating
My Philosophy
of Education
The unexamined life is not worth living.
– Socrates
Teacher Macrina’s
Philosophy of Education
Here is a sample of a philosophy of education.
Study the example of Teacher Macrina’s Philosophy of
Education.
My Philosophy of Education as a Grade School Teacher
I believe that every child
▪ has a natural interest in learning and is capable of learning.
▪ is an embodied spirit.
▪ can be influenced but not totally by his/her environment.
▪ is unique, soc comparing a child to other children has no basis.
▪ does not have an empty mind, rather is full of ideas and it is my task
to draw out these ideas.
I believe that there are unchanging values in changing times and these
must be passed on to every child by my modeling, value inculcation, and
value integration in my lessons.
I believe that my task as a teacher is to facilitate the development of every
child to the optimum and to the maximum by:
▪ reaching out to all children without bias and prejudice towards the
“least” of the children.
▪ making every child feel good and confident about himself/ herself
through his/her experiences of success in the classroom.
▪ helping every child master the basic skills of reading, communicating
in oral and written form, arithmetic, and computer skills.
▪ teaching my subject matter with mastery so that every child will use
his/her basic skills to continue acquiring knowledge, skills and values
for him/her to go beyond basic literacy and basic numeracy.
▪ inculcating or integrating the unchanging values of respect, honesty,
love and care for others regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality,
appearance and economic status in my lessons.
▪ consistently practicing these values to serve as model for every child.
▪ strengthening the value formation of every child through “hands-on-
minds-on-hearts-on” experiences inside and outside the classroom
▪ providing every child activities meant to develop the body, the mind
and the spirit
▪ teaching not only what to learn but more important how to learn.
Let’s Analyze!
Analyze the given example of philosophy, then answer the
following questions.
1. Which of the philosophies studied in Lesson 1 are
reflected in the given philosophy?
2. What are Teacher Macrina’s concept/s of the learner?
3. Who according to Teacher Macrina’s philosophy, is the
good and educated person?
4. What is the teacher’s concept on values?
5. What does Teacher Macrina believe to be her primary
task?
6. Do her concepts of the learner and the educated
person match with how she will go about her task of
facilitating every child’s full development?
7. You noticed that Teacher Macrina’s thought on the
learner, values and method of teaching begin with the
phrase “I believe.” Will it make a difference if she writes
her philosophy of education in paragraph from using
the third person pronoun?
8. Why is one’s philosophy of education said to be one’s
“window” to the world or “compass” in life?
Let’s Apply!
With Teacher Macrina’s philosophy of education as an
example, formulate your own philosophy of education.
Print your philosophy of education. This should serve as an
everyday reminder of what you should be and what you
should do as a teacher.
Submit your philosophy of education one week before the
final examination.