Postgraduate Diploma in

Education
Course Title: Foundations of Education
Code: ESEM5003

Topic 2
 Topic 2: Understanding Education:
-
-A Multidisciplinary And Interdisciplinary Approach

Asst. Prof. Dr. Johari Talib

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The Foundations Perspective

a) Introduction
• This topic will discuss the understanding of education through
foundations of education perspective.
• The topics covered in the foundations of educations course are the purpose
of schooling, philosophy of education, sociology of education, history of
education, politics of education, curriculum and pedagogy, transmission of
knowledge, schools as organization, teacher professionalism, equality of
opportunity, educational outcomes, educational inequalities, educational
reforms, school improvements, current issues and trends in education, and
the future of education.
• Which of these topics do you think are multidisciplinary, and which of them
are interdisciplinary?

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The Multidisciplinary Approach

• “Multidisciplinary approach in understanding of education”

means “understanding of education through many separate
disciplines of knowledge”.
• For example, the sociological foundations of education, and
teacher professionalism.
• These two disciplines of knowledge are different, with little or no
overlapping contents. The theories and/or principles that made
up the two disciplines come from two different disciplines of
knowledge (sociological foundations of education & teacher
professionalism).

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The Social Foundations of Education

• “Sociology” is defined as “the branch of knowledge that deals

with the origin, development, organization and functioning of
human society”.
• Education develops within, not a part from, social contexts.
Schools influence the cultures of the people that the schools
serve.
• Likewise, the surrounding cultures shape the schools and their
curricula.

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The Social Foundations of Education (cont’d)

• Other than the dynamic nature of our local cultures, we have

the technology (such as internet and other electronic
technologies) that exposes global cultures to our community.
• Can we provide relevant education to cater for these dynamic
cultures?
• This is actually part of the social foundations of education.
We have to study the present and perhaps future cultures to
determine the direction of our present education.

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The Social Foundations of Education (cont’d)

• In trying to understand education, we need to understand the

sociology of a particular country.
• We then try to relate the life and cultures of this country to its
education system, particularly to the philosophy, aims, goals
and objectives of education.
• Since we can study sociology of a country as a separate
discipline, we can study social foundations of education
through a multidisciplinary approach.

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b) Teacher Professionalism
• “Professionalism” is defined as “professional character, spirit, or methods
of professionals, as distinguished from an amateur”.
• Hence, “teacher professionalism” means “professional character, spirit, or
methods of a teacher, as distinguished from non-teachers”.
• Good teachers are not just born with the professional character, spirit, or
methods; but they acquire them through trainings and experiences. They
gain their knowledge from successful and unsuccessful experiences

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5 Aspects of Teaching and Learning:

Teachers differ from others at least in five aspects of teaching and

learning:
1. they have the content knowledge of the subject-matter they teach;
2. they have the knowledge and skills of how best to deliver/teach a
particular content;
3. they can understand learners’ needs in teaching and learning;
4. they know how to handle students with discipline problems; and
5. they know various methods/techniques to evaluate students’ academic
achievement, skill performance, attitudes and social interaction.

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Multidisciplinary Approach

• In trying to understand education of a particular country, we need

to understand, partly, the teaching and learning process and
teacher professionalism that are being practiced in the country.
• We can also look at the character, spirit, or methods of other
professionals; and compare them with those for the teachers.
• Since we can study teacher professionalism as a separate
discipline, therefore it can be studied through a multidisciplinary
approach.

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The Interdisciplinary Approach

• “Interdisciplinary approach in understanding of education

through foundations perspective” means “understanding of
education through related disciplines of knowledge”.
• For example, the philosophical foundations of education and
the historical foundations of education are interdisciplinary
knowledge.
• We use the theories and principles from other disciplines
(philosophy & history) and create theories and principles for the
“Philosophical Foundations of Education” and the “Historical
Foundations of Education”.

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(a) The Philosophical Foundations of Education

• “Philosophy” is a combination of two Greek words, the “phil’s”

which means “love”, and “sophia” which means “wisdom”.
• Hence, the word “philosophy” means “love of wisdom”, i.e. we
need to “search for wisdom”.
• It involves searching for defensible values, clarifying our
perceptions, beliefs and attitudes; formulating principles for
making decisions; and finally implementing these decisions.

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Philosophy of education

• Philosophy of education focuses on the values, beliefs and

attitudes related to education, i.e. the process of growth of
individuals and society.
• These values, beliefs and attitudes determine the direction of
our education, particularly the aims, goals, objectives,
contents, delivery and assessment of education.
• We look at our life and problems in full perspective in
deciding on our philosophy of education.

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Philosophy of Perennialism

• For example, the philosophy of “perennialism”, the oldest and

most conservative philosophy, is based on “realism”.
• Realist views the world in terms of objects and matter.
• People come to know about the world through senses and
reason.
• Everything is derived from nature and is subjected to its laws.
• American education, up to the late nineteenth century, was
dominated by perennialist thinking.

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General Philosophies

• Hence, in order for us to understand the philosophy of education,

we need to know the general philosophies first, and then relate
them to the aims of education of a country.
• That is, we have to combine the knowledge about “philosophy”
and the knowledge about the “education” to form the knowledge
about the “Philosophical Foundations of Education” of a
particular country, which can be regarded as an interdisciplinary
approach.

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(b) The Historical Foundations of Education

• “History” is defined as “the branch of knowledge that deals with

past events”.
• History involves searching for what had occurred within a
particular time frame and context.
• All human activities, including those in the field of education,
occur within time and context.
• The events that took place during a particular period of time in a
country had influenced the education of that country.
• In Malaysia, can you recall an event that had changed our
education?
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Historical Foundations of Education

• In the USA, the historical foundations of education started with

the colonial Massachusetts, which settled by Puritans (members
of a sect of Protestant from England) who hold strictly to
religious discipline.
• The earlier schools were closely related to Puritan church. The
major purpose of school was to teach children to read the
Scriptures (passages from Bible) and notices of civil affairs.
• The purpose of schooling at that time was to make sure children
can read.

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Events That Had Taken Place

• Hence, in order for us to understand the history of education of a

country, we need to know the events that had taken place at a
particular time, and relate them to what had happened in
education of a country.
• That is, we have to combine the knowledge about “history” and
the knowledge about the “education” to form the knowledge
about the “Historical Foundations of Education” of a particular
country, which can be regarded as an interdisciplinary
approach.

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Tutorial Activity

• Relate the social phenomena in the Malaysia (the social

foundations of education) to the roles of schools (what schools
can do to educate young children to reduce the risks that
threaten school attendance).

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Thank you