THE INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHY TO CURRICULUM

Educators, curriculum makers, and teachers must have espoused a philosophy or philosophies deemed necessary
for planning, implementing, and evaluating a school curriculum. The philosophy they have embraced will help
them achieve the following:

1. define the school’s purpose,

2. identify the essential subjects to be taught,
3. design the kind of learning students must have,
4. develop approaches or methodologies on how students can acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and
attitude,
5. produce the instructional materials,
6. identify the methods and strategies to be used, and
7. determine how teachers will evaluate students.

Likewise, philosophy offers solutions to problems by helping the administrators, curriculum planners, and
teachers make sound decisions. A person’s philosophy reflects his/her life experiences, social and economic
background, shared beliefs, and education.

When John Dewey proposed that “education is a way of life,” his philosophy is realized when put into practice.
Now, particularly in the Philippines, Dewey’s philosophy served as an anchor to the country’s educational system.

Importance Of Curriculum Foundation

1. Introduction

Curriculum foundation refers to the factors that influence the minds of curriculum developers to make a decision
on what to be included in the curriculum and its structure. There are certain factors which provide background
information on which the curriculum developers depend to make the decisions. They may be philosophical
foundations which based on nature and value systems. Psychological foundation which is based on the learners
and learning theory influences the curriculum and sociological and cultural foundation which influences the
curriculum from the social life, society and its culture.

“An educational program which provides for a study of the population situation in family, community, nation and
world with the purpose
Apart from the above the cultural beliefs, social expectations, communal values, norms traditions also influence
the curriculum. Society is group of people or communities or nations which constitutes a cultured mankind.
Society is a general body of people, communities or nations constituting civilized mankind. Therefore, curriculum
should be designed in the radiance of inclination from the development of society. Any curriculum’s merit comes
from the reflection it shows from the local culture and the social needs in which it is being developed. It is the
way the people live in the society, their intellect, obedience, training which should reflect in the way curriculum is
designed.

The curriculum developers should take the moral, cultural, creative development from the society.

Cultural, social changes and anticipation of the institution will affect the accomplishment of the curriculum. But
the major changes in the society like unemployment, social values, economic growth, and employer, community
and family institutional relationships. This is affected by the educational requirements and confrontations. The
influences of government policies, external stakeholders and research also factors affecting the curriculum
through sociological foundations.

2. The theories of Curriculum drawn by the influence of Social…show more content…

The teachers can and will use a general process while teaching and use a democratic language in the mother
tongue of the students. But in the standpoint of a sociological foundation, the knowledge should be cognitive and
experimental. Though the knowledge is a student’s personal experience and comes from their own attributes
learnt, the promoters of this theory have concerns about the knowledge the society possess.

In the social theory view the process of learning is beyond control of student’s interaction, but it starts when the
student makes effort to develop the environment. The learner is treated as an activist of society and a change
agent. The teachers should get prepared to participate in this social practice to play a role as a provider than a
game changer. The supporters of this foundation theory consider teachers as partners. The teacher is the one
who is leading the project, and the curriculum which is implemented lays emphasis on the social experiences with
challenge based techniques.

The philosophical foundation of curriculum helps determine the driving purpose of education, as well as the
roles of the various participants. While all foundations propose to set goals of curriculum, philosophy presents the
manner of thinking from which those goals are created.

It helps educators in formulating beliefs, arguments, and assumptions and in making value judgments. Philosophy
develops a broad outlook, and it also helps in answering what schools are for, what subjects are important, how
students should learn, and what materials and methods should be used.

Educational Philosophies Definitions and Comparison Chart

Within the epistemological frame that focuses on the nature of knowledge and how we come to know, there are
four major educational philosophies, each related to one or more of the general or world philosophies just
discussed. These educational philosophical approaches are currently used in classrooms the world over. They are
Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism, and Reconstructionism. These educational philosophies focus heavily
on WHAT we should teach, the curriculum aspect.

Perennialism For Perennialists, the aim of education is to ensure that students acquire understandings about the
great ideas of Western civilization. These ideas have the potential for solving problems in any era. The focus is to
teach ideas that are everlasting, to seek enduring truths which are constant, not changing, as the natural and
human worlds at their most essential level, do not change. Teaching these unchanging principles is critical.
Humans are rational beings, and their minds need to be developed. Thus, cultivation of the intellect is the highest
priority in a worthwhile education. The demanding curriculum focuses on attaining cultural literacy, stressing
students' growth in enduring disciplines. The loftiest accomplishments of humankind are emphasized– the great
works of literature and art, the laws or principles of science. Advocates of this educational philosophy are Robert
Maynard Hutchins who developed a Great Books program in 1963 and Mortimer Adler, who further developed
this curriculum based on 100 great books of western civilization.

Essentialism Essentialists believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to be transmitted to
students in a systematic, disciplined way. The emphasis in this conservative perspective is on intellectual and
moral standards that schools should teach. The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and
academic rigor. Although this educational philosophy is similar in some ways to Perennialism, Essentialists accept
the idea that this core curriculum may change. Schooling should be practical, preparing students to become
valuable members of society. It should focus on facts-the objective reality out there--and "the basics," training
students to read, write, speak, and compute clearly and logically. Schools should not try to set or influence
policies. Students should be taught hard work, respect for authority, and discipline. Teachers are to help students
keep their non-productive instincts in check, such as aggression or mindlessness. This approach was in reaction to
progressivist approaches prevalent in the 1920s and 30s. William Bagley, took progressivist approaches to task in
the journal he formed in 1934. Other proponents of Essentialism are: James D. Koerner (1959), H. G. Rickover
(1959), Paul Copperman (1978), and Theodore Sizer (1985).

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. The scientific method is used by progressivist
educators 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. Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) was
the founder of social reconstructionism, in reaction against the realities of World War II. He recognized the
potential for either human annihilation through technology and human cruelty or the capacity to create a
beneficent society using technology and human compassion. George Counts (1889-1974) recognized that
education was the means of preparing people for creating this new social order.
Critical theorists, like social reconstructionists, believe that systems must be changed to overcome oppression and
improve human conditions. Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was a Brazilian whose experiences living in poverty led him
to champion education and literacy as the vehicle for social change. In his view, humans must learn to resist
oppression and not become its victims, nor oppress others. To do so requires dialog and critical consciousness,
the development of awareness to overcome domination and oppression. Rather than "teaching as banking," in
which the educator deposits information into students' heads, Freire saw teaching and learning as a process of
inquiry in which the child must invent and reinvent the world.
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.

Eclecticism
Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but
instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies
different theories in particular cases.
It can be inelegant, and eclectics are sometimes criticised for lack of consistency in their thinking, but it is
common in many fields of study. For example, most psychologists accept parts of behaviorism, but do not
attempt to use the theory to explain all aspects of human behavior. A statistician may use frequentist techniques
on one occasion and Bayesian ones on another. An example of eclecticism in economics is John Dunning's eclectic
theory of international production.
Existentialism
"Childhood is not adulthood; childhood is playing and no child ever gets enough play. The Summerhill theory is
that when a child has played enough he will start to work and face difficulties, and I claim that this theory has
been vindicated in our pupils' ability to do a good job even when it involves a lot of unpleasant work."
• A. S. Neill
Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism.' '
• Jean Paul Sartre
Existentialism as a Philosophical Term
The existentialist movement in education is based on an intellectual attitude that philosophers term
existentialism. Born in nineteenth-century Europe, existentialism is associated with such diverse thinkers as
• Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), a passionate Christian, and
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1811 1900)
who wrote a book entitled The Antichrist and coined the phrase God is dead. While the famous existentialists
would passionately disagree with one another on many basic philosophical issues, what they shared was a respect
for individualism. In particular, they argued that traditional approaches to philosophy do not adequately respect
the unique concerns of each individual.
Jean Paul Sartre's classic formulation of existentialism--that "existence precedes essence"--means that there
exists no universal, inborn human nature. We are born and exist, and then we ourselves freely determine our
essence (that is, our innermost nature). Some philosophers commonly associated with the existentialist tradition
never fully adopted the "existence precedes essence" principle. Nevertheless, that principle is fundamental to the
educational existentialist movement.

Existentialism as an Educational Philosophy

Just as its namesake sprang from a strong rejection of traditional philosophy, educational existentialism sprang
from a strong rejection of the traditional, essentialist approach to education. Existentialism rejects the existence
of any source of objective, authoritative truth about metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Instead, individuals
are responsible for determining for themselves what is "true" or "false," "right" or "wrong," "beautiful" or "ugly."
For the existentialist, there exists no universal form of human nature; each of us has the free will to develop as we
see fit.
In the existentialist classroom, subject matter takes second place to helping the students understand and
appreciate themselves as unique individuals who accept complete responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and
actions. The teacher's role is to help students define their own essence by exposing them to various paths they
may take in life and creating an environment in which they may 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.
Although many existentialist educators provide some curricular structure, existentialism, more than other
educational philosophies, affords students great latitude in their choice of subject matter. In an existentialist
curriculum, students are given a wide variety of options from which to choose.
To the extent that the staff, rather than the students, influence the curriculum, the humanities are commonly
given tremendous emphasis. They are explored as a means of providing students with vicarious experiences that
will help unleash their own creativity and self-expression. For example, rather than emphasizing historical events,
existentialists focus upon the actions of historical individuals, each of whom provides possible models for the
students' own behavior. In contrast to the humanities, math and the natural sciences may be de-emphasized,
presumably because their subject matter would be considered "cold," "dry," "objective," and therefore less
fruitful to self-awareness. 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.
Existentialist methods focus on the individual. Learning is self-paced, self directed, and includes a great deal of
individual contact with the teacher, who relates to each student openly and honestly. Although elements of
existentialism occasionally appear in public schools, this philosophy has found wider acceptance in private schools
and ill alternative public schools founded in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Comparison of Attributes Traditional Contemporary

of Educational
Philosophies Categories
Philosophical- Realism
orientation
Theoretical- Perennialism
orientation
Direction in time
Educational value
Educational process
Intellectual focus
Subject-matter
Idealism & Pragmatism Pragmatism
Realism
Essentialism Progressivism Reconstruction
ism
preserving the past growth, reconstruct present,
change society, shape future
fixed, absolute, objective changeable, subjective,
relative
focuses on teaching focuses on active self-
learning
train, discipline the mind engage in problem-solving,
social tasks
for its own self-importance all have similar value
Curriculum composed of three Rs
Learning cognitive learning,
disciplines
Grouping homogeneous
Teacher disseminates, lectures,
dominates instruction
Student receptacle, receives
knowledge, passive
Social direction, control, restraint
Citizenship cognitive, personal
development
Freedom and Democracy conformity, compliance with
authority, knowledge and
discipline
Excellence vs. Equality excellence in education,
academic, rewards and jobs
based on merit
Society group values, acceptance of
norms, cooperative and
conforming behavior
three Rs, arts, sciences,
vocational
exploratory, discovery
heterogeneous, culturally
diverse
facilitates, coaches, change
agent
engages discoverer,
constructs knowledge
Individualism
personal, social
development
creativeness, self-
actualization, direct
experiences
equality of education, equal
change to disadvantaged
individual growth, individual
ability, importance of
individual