PHILOSOPHIES

OF
EDUCATION
Prepared by: Mrs. Maria Lucia Arcega
SICAB
BASIC
IENCEPEREX
EXPERIENCE
IEEXNSTCE
EXISTENCE
TIEUNIMHAS
HUMANITIES
ITICDONINONG
CONDITIONING
 MAJOR EDUCATIONAL
PHILOSOPHIES

ESSENTIALISM
EXISTENTIALISM
PROGRESSIVISM
BEHAVIORISM
PERENNIALISM
 ESSENTIALISM
"Gripping and enduring interests frequently grow out of initial
learning efforts that are not appealing or attractive." William Bagley

It refers to the traditional or “Back to the Basic” approach to

education.
It strives to instill students with the "essentials" of academic
knowledge and character development.
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.
It should focus on facts-the objective reality out there--
and "the basics," training students to read, write, speak,
and compute clearly and logically.
Why teach?
• Teachers should teach to help learners acquire basic knowledge,
skills and values.
What to teach?
• Basic skills or the fundamental Rs – reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic, right
conduct
• Curriculum includes the traditional discipline such as math, natural
sciences, history, foreign language and literature

How to teach?
• Teachers emphasize the MASTERY of subject matter.
 PROGRESSIVISM
"We may, I think, discover certain common principles amid the variety
of progressive schools now existing. To imposition from above is
opposed expression and cultivation of individuality; to external
discipline is opposed free activity; to learning from texts and teachers,
learning through experience; to acquisition of' isolated skills and
techniques by drill is opposed acquisition of them as means of attaining
ends which make direct vital appeal; to preparation for a more or less
remote future is opposed making the most of the opportunities of
present life; to statistics and materials is opposed acquaintance with a
changing world." -- John Dewey
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.
Believing that people learn best from what they consider most
relevant to their lives, progressivists center the curriculum around the
experiences, interests, and abilities of students.
Teachers expose students to many new scientific, technological, and social
developments, reflecting the progressivist’s notion that progress and
change are fundamental.
Progressivists believe that education should be a perpetually enriching
process of ongoing growth, not merely a preparation for adult lives.
Effective teachers provide experiences so that students can learn by doing.
They also deny the essentialist belief that the study of traditional subject
matter is appropriate for all students, regardless of interest and personal
experience.
Why teach?
• Progressivist teachers teach learners so that they may live fully
NOW not to prepare them for adult life.
What to teach?
• More concerned with teaching learners the skills to cope with
CHANGE.
• Natural and social sciences, social developments, technology

How to teach?
• Teachers employ experiential methods, problem-solving methods,
thought-provoking games and puzzles.
 PERENNIALISM
“The great books of ancient and medieval as well as modern times are a
repository of knowledge and wisdom, a tradition of culture which must
initiate each generation.” -- Mortimer Adler

The roots of perennialism lie in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle,

as well as that of St. Thomas Aquinas
Espousing the notion that some ideas have lasted over centuries and
are as relevant today as when they were first conceived, perennialism
urges that these ideas should be the focus of education.
While Hutchins and Adler regard perennialism as a badly needed
alternative to essentialism, the two philosophies have many
similarities.
Both aim to rigorously develop all students' intellectual powers, first,
and moral qualities, second.
Moreover, both advocate classrooms centered around teachers in
order to accomplish these goals.
They apply whatever creative techniques and other tried and true
methods are believed to be most conducive to disciplining the
students' minds.
According to perennialists, when students are immersed in the study
of those profound and enduring ideas, they will appreciate learning
for its own sake and become true intellectuals.
The perennialists base their support of a universal curriculum on the
view that all human beings possess the same essential nature: We are
all rational animals.
Perennialists urge schools to spend more time teaching about
concepts and explaining how these concepts are meaningful to
students.
Why teach?
• To develop the students’ rational and moral powers

What to teach?
• Humanities and General Education

How to teach?
• The perennialist classrooms are “centered around
teachers”. The teachers do not allow the students’ interest
or experiences to substantially dictate what they teach.
 EXISTENTIALISM
“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first
principle of existentialism.'‘ -- Jean Paul Sartre

The existentialist movement in education is based on an intellectual

attitude that philosophers term exitentialism. Both in nineteenth-
century Europe, exitentialism 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.
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).
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.
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
Why teach?
• Students’ behavior is a product of his environment

What to teach?
• 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 (e.g., well-mannered classroom, use
of attention catchers and incentives)
Other Philosophies…
Reconstructionism/ Critical Theory -- Reconstructionist educators
focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform as the aim of
education.
Cognitivism/Constructivism -- Cognitivists or Constructivists believe
that the learner actively constructs his or her own understandings of
reality through interaction with objects, events, and people in the
environment, and reflecting on these interactions. For learning to
occur, an event, object, or experience must conflict with what the
learner already knows.
Humanism -- . Humanism was developed as an educational
philosophy by Rousseau (1712-1778) and Pestalozzi, who emphasized
nature and the basic goodness of humans, understanding through the
senses, and education as a gradual and unhurried process in which
the development of human character follows the unfolding of nature.
Humanists believe that the learner should be in control of his or her
own destiny. Since the learner should become a fully autonomous
person, personal freedom, choice, and responsibility are the focus.
The learner is self-motivated to achieve towards the highest level
possible. Motivation to learn is intrinsic in humanism.
THANK YOU!
