CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF

PHILOSOPHY
JAINI SHAH
F.Y.B.Ed
Index
CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF PHILOSOPHY

• MAHATMA GANDHI’S PHILOSOPHY ON ACTIVITY BASED EDUCATION

• JOHN DEWEY’S PHILOSOPHY ON DISCOVERY BASED EDUCATION

• PAULO FREIRE’S PHILOSOPHY ON DIALOGUE BASED EDUCATION

 MODERN CHILD – CENTERED EDUCATION

• Child-centered learning (Also called student – centered Learning) is an approach

to education focusing on the needs of the children.
• The children are collaborators in learning.
• A successful student-centred learning environment is open, dynamic, trusting,
respectful, and promoting the natural desire and curiosity to learn.
• Children will collaborate on meaningful, authentic problems which serve to
further their understandings of the subject matter and themselves. 
• In Child-centered education, the Teacher focuses on children’s interests first.
MODERN CHILD – CENTERED EDUCATION
The Method

• The Teacher engages students in the learning process.

• In child-centered classrooms, students build their knowledge by themselves.
• The teacher encourages students to reflect deeply, prompting them to understand
the what and how of their learning.
• The teacher is a facilitator, instead of an instructor.
• the Teacher motivates students by giving them control over the learning process.
• Students choose to pick assignments and decide assessment criteria.
• Child-centered teachers promote collaboration in learning.
Figure: Principles of Student – Centered Learning
MAHATMA GANDHI
1869 - 1948

 Born in India
 A Hindu by Relegion
 Civil Rights Leader
 Practiced “Ahimsa “ ( non-violent
resistance)
 Led india to independence from Britain.
 GANDHIJI’S PHILIOSOPHY OF ACTIVITY BASED EDUCATION
1. Gandhiji wanted that within the ages 7 and 14 there should be free, compulsory and universal primary education.
2. Craft is to be the center of education. Gandhiji believed that the highest development of mind and the soul was
possible only through handicraft. The education of the child should begin with a useful and productive craft. Craft
should form the nucleus of all instruction.
3. The sale proceeds of the products of the children would meet the expenses of the school including the salaries of the
teachers.
4. Gandhiji emphasised mother-tongue both as a subject of study and a medium of instruction.
5. A unique feature of Gandhiji’s educational philosophy was the application of the principle of non-violence in the
training of the child as a prospective citizen of the world.
6. Gandhiji’s scheme of education emphasises on dignity of manual labour through active participation in productive
work. 
7. Gandhiji laid stress on imparting knowledge and acquisition of productive efficiency and practical skills through a
craft.
8. Social awareness and responsibility can be developed through the involvement of students in programmes of
community service.
 Free Compulsory
Education

Craft-Centered
Social Awareness EducationSelf-
and Service Supporting Aspect
of Education

8 Main Tenets of
Gandhiji’s Educational Philosophy

Emphasis on Mother-Tongue as
Practice rather the Medium of
than Theory Instruction

Creed of Non-
Dignity of Labour
Violence
 GANDHIJI’S PHILIOSOPHY OF ACTIVITY BASED EDUCATION

• Gandhiji had a synthetic view of life, education and culture. He synthesised all the
three basic philosophies of education into his philosophy of education — Naturalism,
Idealism and Pragmatism. Like a Naturalist, Gandhiji emphasised self-discipline
among children.
• In the opinion of Dr. M. S. Patel Gandhiji’s philosophy of education is “naturalistic in
its setting; idealistic in its aims and pragmatic in its method and program of
work.”
• Craft, Art, Health and education should all be integrated into one scheme. Nai Talim
is a beautiful blend of all the four and covers  the whole education of the individual
from the time of conception to the moment of death.
GANDHIJI’S PHILIOSOPHY OF ACTIVITY BASED EDUCATION
Figure: Activity Based Learning
JOHN DEWEY
1859 - 1952

 Born in Vermont
 A Hindu by Relegion
 An academic philosopher
 A proponent of educational reform, in 1894
 Co-founded The New School for Social Research.
DEWEY‘S PHILIOSOPHY OF DISCOVERY BASED EDUCATION

1.Dewey’s philosophy, known as experimentalism, or instrumentalism, largely centered on

human experience.
2.Dewey’s philosophy claimed than man behaved out of habit and that change often led to
unexpected outcomes.
3.For Dewey, thought was the means through which man came to understand and connect
with the world around him.
4.A universal education was the key to teaching people how to abandon their habits and
think creatively.
5.Dewey believed that human beings learn through a 'hands-on' approach.
6.Dewey thought that people learn the best through experience. He thought knowledge could
be falsified. Thus, It needed to be consistently challenged and experimented on.
7.He emphasized on inquiry based education.
DEWEY‘S PHILIOSOPHY OF DISCOVERY BASED EDUCATION

• Dewey focused his concept of instrumentalism” in education on “learning by

doing or hands-on learning”, which means to learn not only by the theory, but
also by the practice. “Instrumentalism” is a theory of knowledge created by
Dewey in which ideas are seen to exist primarily as instruments for the solution
of problems encountered in the environment. 
• “Dewey's education philosophy helped forward the progressive education
movement, and spawned the development of experiential education programs
and experiments”
DEWEY‘S PHILIOSOPHY OF DISCOVERY BASED EDUCATION
Figure: John Deweys Philosophy
Figure: Discovery Based Learning
PAULO FREIRE
1921 - 1997

 Born in Brazil
 An educator and philosopher
 Influential theorist of critical pedagogy
 Brought literacy to third world countries.
 Author of Pedagogy of the oppressed and The
politics of education.
FREIRE‘S PHILIOSOPHY OF DIALOGUE BASED EDUCATION

• Freire suggests that the main purpose of education is to develop the social
awareness and critical thinking skills of people.
• Freire considers education as a process of assistance to raising one’s awareness.
• According to Freire, banking education is one of the instruments that hinder the
humanization process
• Freire suggests we should reject banking model of education and replace it with
the problem posing education.
• The central concept in Freire’s epistemology is praxis, which means conscious
action.
• Freire regards dialog as the basic item in the knowledge structure.
FREIRE‘S PHILIOSOPHY OF DIALOGUE BASED EDUCATION

• teachers and students, through the praxis of democratic and humanizing teaching,
can raise their consciousness to critical consciousness, and thus become more
fully human.
• Freire was quite hopeful that every human could be educated.
• To Freire, human existence can be nourished only by true words, with which men
and women name and transform the world.
FREIRE‘S PHILIOSOPHY OF DIALOGUE BASED EDUCATION
 Praxis
(Action/Re
flection)

Codificatio Generativ
n e Themes

Freire’s
Philosophy of
Education

Easter
Conscienti
Experienc
zation
e

Dialogue

Diagram : Freire’s Education Philosophy

CONCLUSION

• Modern Child-centered education enables the optimal

development of a child's personality and competencies in line with
his/her individual needs and requirements.
• Activity,Discovery and Dialogue are all modern child centered
learning models.
• It transitions students from passive to active learners and
acknowledges individuality.
• It’s a student-driven approach that empowers youth to take
accountability for their education, and for their future.