UNIVERSIDAD DE MANILA

(Formerly City College of Manila)

UDM Annex, Plaza Lacson, Sta. Cruz, Manila
College of Education – Technical-Vocational
Task Sheet #8

You will interview two (2) teachers or your critic teacher and another teacher. This will give you an opportunity
to identify different philosophies in education.
Be guided by the following:
1. Read and understand the Learning Essentials.
2. Before the interview, answer first the Know thy Self.
3. During the interview, you will also ask the teachers to answer the Know thy Self and you will plot all
the answer in the My Philosophy to know what the dominant philosophy is.
4. Observe one (1) class of your Critic teacher and record in the observation ten (10) teaching actions that
reflect her philosophy in education. Describe the details.
5. Make a reflective writing regarding the philosophy of education.
6. For purposes of reliability, electronic outputs should be encoded using Century Gothic and font size is
12. Handwritten outputs should be rendered in print not in script.
Learning Essentials:
As a teacher, one should have a philosophy of education. A philosophy is a strong belief that is
translated into action. A philosophy will guide you on what you teach, how you teach, why you teach, among
others. The different schools of thought or philosophies were handed down to us by different philosophers. But
as the world progressed, other philosophies emerged.
Below are major educational philosophies.
Philosophy of Education Basic Features
Essentialism Aim: Promote intellectual growth of learners for competence
Teacher’s role: Sole authority in the subject matter
Focus: Essential skills, 3 Rs
Trends: Back to Basics, cultural literacy, excellence
Perennialism Aim: To educate the rational person, cultivate intellect
Teacher’s role: Assist learners to think with reason (critical thinking, HOTS)
Focus: Classical subject, Great Books, enduring curriculum
Trends: Use of Great Books, Bible, Koran, classical books
Existentialism Aim: Education of the whole being, as unique individuals
Teacher’s role: Help students define who they are, their essence
Focus: Self-paced, self-directed, learner-centered
Trends: Individualized learning, values clarification
Progressivism Aim: Promote democratic social living
Teacher’s role: Develop lifelong learners
Focus: Learner-centeredness, interdisciplinary, outcomes-based
Trends: Humanistic education, contextualized curriculum, equal opportunities
for all.
Reconstructionism Aim: Improve and reconstruct society. Education for change.
Teacher’s role: Agent of change and reform
Focus: Transformation of present to future landscape
Trends: Global education, convergence, transformative education
Linguistic Philosophy Aim: Develop communication skills in different languages (Multilingualism)
Teacher’s role: Provide experiential learning to learn language
Focus: Language and communication
Trends: Mastery of communication skills (verbal, non-verbal, paraverbal or
listening, speaking, writing, reading and viewing)
Behaviorism Aim: Modify and shape learner’s behavior
Teacher’s role: Arrange environmental conditions to change behavior
Focus: Learners and the learning environment that act as stimuli

TVE 412 – Field Study 2 1 of 3

 UNIVERSIDAD DE MANILA
(Formerly City College of Manila)
UDM Annex, Plaza Lacson, Sta. Cruz, Manila
College of Education – Technical-Vocational
Trends: Education for sustainable development; ubiquitous classrooms, multi-
sensory stimuli
Constructivism Aim: Develop intrinsically motivated learners
Teacher’s role: Teaching students to learn, how to learn
Focus: Experiential Learning
Trends: UNESCO’s Pillars of Education; multiple perspective
Note: Use the survey instrument below for yourself and for the two teachers in the school. Read each statement
and answer honestly.
WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION?
(Based on Sadker & Sadker, 2nd Ed. Bilbao, 2014)
What is your philosophy of education? To find out, read each of the following statements about the
nature of education. Decide whether you agree or disagree with each statement. Use the following numbers to
express your response:
Legend: 4 – Strongly agree 2 – Disagree
3 – Agree 1 – Strongly disagree
1. The student learning should be centered around 3Rs only.
2. The school subjects should focus on the great thinkers of the past.
3. Many students learn best by engaging in real-world activities than reading.
4. The students should be permitted to determine their own curriculum.
5. Subject matter is taught effectively when it is broken down into small parts.
6. The school subjects should include only essential for all students to know.
7. Schools above all, should develop students’ abilities to think deeply, analytically and creatively then
develop social skills or acquire a body of knowledge.
8. Teachers should prepare students for analyzing and solving the types of problems they will face outside
the classroom.
9. Reality is determined by each individual's perceptions. There is no objective and universal reality.
10. People are shaped much more by their environment than by their genetic dispositions or the exercise of
their free will.
11. Students should not be promoted from one grade to the next until they have read and mastered certain key
material.
12. An effective education is not aimed at the immediate needs of the students or society.
13. The curriculum of a school should be built around the personal experiences and needs of the students.
14. Students who do not want to study much should not be required to do so.
15. Programmed learning (sequential, step-by-step) is an effective method of learning.
16. Academic rigor is an essential component of education.
17. All students, regardless of ability, should study more or less the same curriculum.
18. Art classes should focus primarily on individual expression and creativity.
19. Effective learning is unstructured and informal.
20. Students learn best through reinforcement and reward.
21. Effective schools assign a substantial amount of homework.
22. Education should focus on the discussion of timeless questions such as "What is beauty?" or "What is
truth?"
23. Since students learn effectively through social interaction, schools should plan for substantial social
interaction in their curricula.
24. The purpose of school is to help students understand themselves and find the meaning of their existence.
25. Frequent objective testing is the best way to determine what students know.
26. The United States must become more competitive economically with countries such as Japan, and schools
have an affirmative obligation to bolster their academic requirements in order to facilitate such
competition.
27. Students must be taught to appreciate learning primarily for its own sake rather than because it will help
TVE 412 – Field Study 2 2 of 3
 UNIVERSIDAD DE MANILA
(Formerly City College of Manila)
UDM Annex, Plaza Lacson, Sta. Cruz, Manila
College of Education – Technical-Vocational
them in their careers.
28. Schools must place more emphasis on teaching about the concerns of minorities and women.
29. Each person has free will to develop as he or she sees fit.
30. Reward students well for learning and they will remember and be able to apply what they learned, even if
they were not led to understand why the information is worth knowing.
31. American schools should attempt to instill traditional American values in students.
32. Teacher-guided discovery of profound truths is a key method of teaching students.
33. Students should be active participants in the learning process.
34. There are no external standards of beauty. Beauty is what an individual decides it to be.
35. We can place a lot of faith in our schools and teachers to determine which student behaviors are
acceptable and which are not.
36. Schools must provide students with a firm grasp of basic facts regarding the books, people, and events
that have shaped the American heritage.
37. Philosophy is ultimately at least as practical a subject to study as is computer science.
38. Teachers must stress for students the relevance of what they are learning to their lives outside, as well as
inside, the classroom.
39. It is more important for a student to develop a positive self-concept than to learn specific subject matter.
40. Learning is more effective when students are given frequent tests to determine what they have learned.
 Essentialism Perennialism Progressivism Existentialism Behaviorism
S T1 T2 S T1 T2 S T1 T2 S T1 T2 S T1 T2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
26. 27. 28. 29. 30
31. 32. 33. 34. 35.
36. 37. 38. 39. 40.
Tot. Tot. Tot.   Tot.   Tot.  
Ran. Ran. Ran.   Ran.   Ran.  
LEGEND: S – self; T1 – Teacher 1; T2 – Teacher 2
Based on the information taken, answer the following question:
1. What philosophy is most dominant to you? Teacher 1? and Teacher 3?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

2. What philosophy is most least to you? Teacher 1? and Teacher 3?

_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

3. As a future teacher, what is the implication of the dominant philosophy and least philosophy in the
teaching-learning process.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

TVE 412 – Field Study 2 3 of 3