Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region IV-A – CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF LUCENA CITY
TALAO-TALAO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
LUCENA CITY

My Reflection on Educating the Learners Using Various Philosophy in Teaching

A teacher is a person who imparts knowledge of an assigned topic to a group of students.

And in imparting knowledge to students, educational institutions must consider their teaching
philosophies and pedagogies to determine how they impact learners and the institutions.

By definition, teaching philosophy is a set of statements that identifies and clarify the
beliefs, values, and understanding of a teacher or an educational institution in general. It is a
partially organized body of knowledge and opinion of education standards in terms of concepts and
practice.

A clear educational philosophy identifies and explains different principles and themes that
the school’s textbooks or syllabus fail to exemplify. However, these philosophies are consistent
with the beliefs and values of the teacher or the institution.

The aim of all the different types of teaching philosophies is to ensure the complete and
balanced development of students, equipping them with not only intellect but wisdom to prosper.
Education is vocational in the sense that it prepares the youth for all the dimensions of life. So,
teachers impart information that gives a defined structure but flexible direction to their learning
journey.

Understanding Pedagogy

Pedagogy is a term that describes how teachers cultivate, sustain, nurture, and transform students. It
encompasses the vision, professional knowledge, and ideals, as well as the curriculum selection,
learning design, classroom organization, and style of teaching and lesson delivery. Pedagogy also
defines the methods of assessment the teacher chooses and the overall control and discipline of the
classroom.

My Thoughts in Educational Philosophy

1. Idealism

Idealism focuses on the importance of learning different ideas and concepts. Idealists believe in
reasoning and question the use of sense perception and the scientific method. They believe that
ideas remain constant through time and place, and when it comes to teaching, idealists share
universal ideas and works.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A – CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF LUCENA CITY
TALAO-TALAO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
LUCENA CITY

According to Idealism, every student should have a teacher or role model who they should look up
to, so they can learn the norms of society. Teachers in the classroom with an idealist mindset put a
lot of focus on discussion, imitation of important people, and the lecture.

2. Realism

Realism encourages and recommends the use of scientific investigation and sense perception to
learn. Realists consider the physical world to be the realm of knowledge, reality, and value and
believe that the mind is independent of this. Realists believe that educational institutes should
promote rationality using experimentation and observation of science and human behavior.

This means that teachers have a responsibility on their shoulders to have the right information and
background and need to believe in the importance of experimental learning. To learn, students must
take a hands-on approach.

3. Pragmatism

Pragmatists believe in the idea of change, which allows people to understand what it means to
know. Pragmatism, as a philosophy of education, states that knowledge represents an exchange
between the learner and the environment. They also believe that truth and values are dependent on
the changes that occur in people and their environments.

The most important thing pragmatists teach students is to ask themselves how to question what they
know and how to evolve their knowledge to match the changing world. Teachers focus on carefully
solving problems considering change by giving students brainstorming activities to encourage
collaboration.

4. Existentialism

Existentialism involves focusing on the ideas of existence in which individuals create their meaning
and purpose. Existentialists believe in the importance of personal choice, and in educational
institutes where existentialism is promoted, teachers try to develop students into free, self-
actualizing adults.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A – CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF LUCENA CITY
TALAO-TALAO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
LUCENA CITY

In a typical classroom of existentialists, students discuss their lives and the decisions they make
while teachers emphasize asking questions and teaching them to define themselves through their
way of life.

We can break down the different types of teaching philosophies into three main categories: student-
centered philosophies, teacher-centered philosophies, and society-centered philosophies. It is
important to note that all of these philosophies are a combination of two or more schools of thought
in educational philosophy, e.g., Idealism and Existentialism.

The following are the main philosophies of education:

1. Perennialism

Perennials are teachers who believe that knowledge passed through the ages should continue to be
part of the curriculum, i.e., the classic work Plato, Einstein, or Thomas Edison. Perennials focus
their teachings on logic, analytical thinking, and reasoning. To them, only fixed information over
the ages is relevant, and they do not consider student input.

The classes that fall under this approach would be physics, chemistry, science, math, religion, and
history. Perennialism is a subject-centered philosophy in which the educator teaches students to
think rationally. A perennial classroom is organized and well-disciplined, and teachers try to guide
the thought process of students towards appreciation of great works such as literature and science
discoveries.

In this teaching philosophy, the teacher is the main actor on the stage.

2. Positivism

Teachers who value positivism use documented facts and tangible truths as their anchor points.
These teachers don’t believe that religion and the supernatural should be part of the human thinking
process. They consider the idea of uncertainty and the unknown as illogical.

Positivism describes an approach to education that uses scientific evidence such as statistics and
experiments to reveal a truth about how a society functions. It replaces political and religious ideas
with pure science. The classes that fall under this approach could be engineering, computer science,
theoretical physics, and biology.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A – CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF LUCENA CITY
TALAO-TALAO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
LUCENA CITY

3. Behaviorism

Behaviorists believe in pain and gain through rewards and punishments. This is a control-based
approach to teaching in which educators believe that humans react to internal or external stimuli
due to their intrinsic nature.

This teacher-centered system gives full control to the educator, who maintains the classroom
environment based on student’s behavior. Many people see behaviorism as a form of classroom
management to maintain discipline. Teachers use intrinsic and extrinsic rewards whenever students
perform a desired behavior. The same concept applies to punishments.

4. Essentialism

Essentialism is a teacher-centered philosophy that aims to teach basic skills. Essentialists believe
that there is a universal pool of knowledge up for grabs and the fundamentals of teaching are the
basis of the curriculum: science, history, math, and English, etc. This educational philosophy
advocates training the mind by focusing on transmitting a series of difficult topics for the
promotion of students to the next level.

Essentialism is a common model in American public schools, and a typical day at an essentialist
school might have 7 periods of different classes. The teachers impart knowledge by giving lectures
while students take notes and solve problems.

The term ends with an assessment of the covered syllabus, and students continue the same daily
schedule for a year. Evaluations are predominantly through quizzes, exams, and projects.

5. Progressivism

Progressivism is a student-centered form of teaching philosophy. Here, students follow the

scientific method of questioning, and teachers evaluate them by assigning projects and portfolios.
However, instead of dictating and controlling the teaching process, progressivists facilitate students
with what they need.

A great example of a progressivist is Scott Clarke, the middle school teacher from Stranger Things.
Progressivists are active learners and believe that individuality, change, and progress are essential
for education. Teachers believe that students learn best from what they consider most relevant in
their lives, so they base their curricula on the needs, experiences, interests, and abilities of students.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A – CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF LUCENA CITY
TALAO-TALAO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
LUCENA CITY

They promote collaboration using group activities and problem-solving to focus on them, not the
content or the teacher. 

6. Reconstructionism

Reconstructionism is another student-centered philosophy that strives to instill a desire in students

to make the world a better place. Reconstructionists focus on controversial world issues and current
events to fuel their thinking process. These educators teach students the value of working together
to bring about change by incorporating the curriculum with trending world events.

These teachers are often activists of a movement or cause, such as global warming, war, pollution,
world hunger, and deforestation. The idea of Reconstructionism is to address social questions and
join the quest to create a better society. Plus, Theodore Brameld founded this philosophy in
reaction to the realities of World War II, which serves as a perfect example.

7. Conservatism

Conservatism is the belief the educational institutions should function according to their original
purpose. It devalues any concepts that have not been maintained throughout history and should not
be restored or be part of the curriculum.

Conservatives believe and value traditional, historical, and generally-accepted practices related to
marriage, abortion, human rights, and feminism, etc. For example, they believe in traditional family
systems with two parents, marriage between individuals of opposite genders, and freedom of
speech.

In terms of education, Conservatives believe in traditional exams and classrooms while opposing
the idea of modern education methods such as online learning.

8. Constructivism

Constructivists believe in active participation. A typical classroom contains students who are free
to explore their ideas and share concepts in non-traditional ways. It is among the most effective
ways of learning today and one of the go-to teaching philosophies teachers are trying to own.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region IV-A – CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF LUCENA CITY
TALAO-TALAO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
LUCENA CITY

Constructivism recognizes the fact that learners construct knowledge based on their beliefs and
experiences rather than passively take in information. Teachers use students’ experiences of the
world to help them build their representations and incorporate new information. It’s almost like
adding words to the dictionary or writing a poem.