PREPARED BY: RENALYN ARPON ADIZAS

INTRODUCTION
Passed on to us are a number of philosophies of various thinkers who lived before us. This thinkers
reflected on life in this planet. They occupied themselves searching for answers to questions about
human existence. These existential questions come in different versions:
 What is life?
 Who Am I?
 Why I am here?
 What am I living for?
 What is the reality?
 Is the universe real?
 What is good to do?
 How should I live life meaningfully?
In the school context, this existential questions are:
 Why do I teach?
 What should I teach?
 How should I teach?
 What is the nature of the learner?
 How do we learn?

These questions are philosophical questions. They are tackled in the subject, philosophies of
education.
Seven philosophies of education:

 Constructivism
 Essentialism
 Progressivism
 Perennialism
 Existentialism
 Behaviorism
 Linguistic Philosophy
PHILOSOPHY
PHILO SOPHOS

(LOVE) (WISDOM)

PHILOSOPHY MEANS LOVE OF WISDOM

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

GOALS

FORMS

METHODS

MEANING OF
EDUCATION
Constructivism
 People construct their own understanding
and knowledge of the world.

Why teach?

 Constructivists sees to develop

intrinsically motivated and independent
learners adequately equipped with
learning skills
What to teach?

 They are taught learning processes and skills

such as searching, critiquing and evaluating
information, relating this pieces of
information, reflecting on the same, making
meaning out of them, drawing insights,
posing questions, researching and
constructing new knowledge out of this bits
of information learned.
How to teach?

 In the constructivists classroom, the teacher

provides students with data or experiences
that allow them to hypothesize, predict,
manipulate objects, pose questions, research,
investigate, imagine, and invent. It promotes
dialogical exchange of ideas among learners
and between teachers and learners. The
teacher’s role is to facilitate this process.
 Essentialism
 Training the mind with what are essential
Why teach?

 This philosophy contends that teachers

teach for learners to acquire basic
knowledge, skills and values. Teacher
teach “ not to radically reshape society
but rather to transmit the traditional
moral values and intellectual knowledge
that students need to become model
citizen.
What to teach?

 Basic skills or the fundamental R’s

such as reading, writing, arithmetic and
right conduct

How to teach?

 Essentialist teachers emphasize mastery of

subject matter. They are expected to be
intellectual and moral models of their
students. They are seen as “fountain” of
information and as “paragon of virtue,” if ever
there is such a person. To gain mastery of
basic skills, teachers have to observe “core
requirements, longer school day, a longer
academic year.
Progressivism
Why teach?

 Progressivist teachers teach to

develop learners into becoming
enlightened and intelligent citizens
of a democratic society. This group
of teachers learners so they may
live fully NOW not to prepare
them for adult life.

What to teach?

 The progressivists are identified

with need-based and relevant
curriculum. This is a curriculum
that “responds to students” need
and that relates to students’ personal
lives and experiences”
How to teach?

 Teachers employ experiential

methods
 They believe that one learns by
doing
Perennialism
 Teaching ideas that are everlasting

Why teach?

 To teach students to think

rationally and develop minds
that can think critically.

What to teach?

 Lessons are lifted from classic

and great books
How to teach?

 Classrooms are teacher-

centered
 Students engaged in Socratic
dialogue
 Existentialism
 Focuses on individual’s freedom to
choose their own purpose in life

Why teach?

 To help students understand and

appreciate themselves as unique
individuals
What to teach?

 Students are given a wide variety of

options from which to choose.
Humanities are given emphasis.

How to teach?

 Methods focus on the individual

 Learning is self-paced and self-
directed
 Behaviorism
 The acquisition of new behavior based on
the environmental conditions.

Why teach?

 To modify and shape students’

behavior

What to teach?

 Teachers teach students to respond

favorably to various stimuli in the
environment
 How to teach?

 Teachers arrange environmental

conditions
 They provide reinforcement and
punishment
 Linguistic Philosophy
Why teach?

To develop the communication skills of

the learner because the ability to
articulate, to voice out the meaning and
values of things that one obtains from
his/her experience of life and the world
is the very essence of man.

What to teach?

Learners should be taught to

communicate clearly – how to send clear,
concise messages and how to receive and
correctly understand messages sent.
How to teach?

The most effective way to teach language

and communication is the experiential way.
Make them experience sending and
receiving messages through verbal, non
verbal and para verbal manner.
 Constructivism Essentialism Progressivism Perennialism
Constructing meaning Learning the essential like the 3’s Learning by doing Utilizing the Greek books

Existential Behaviorism Linguistic Philosophy

Having individual choice Modifying behavior paying closer attention to language
Thank you for listening 