Evolve.

Adapt.
Overcome.
CEFI is now ready.

The 7 Philosophies of Education

PEC 102: The Teaching Profession

DR. KAREN J. CUSI

College of Education
 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Essentialism
Why Teach – this philosophy contends that teachers teach for learners to acquire basic
knowledge, skills and values. Teachers 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? – Essentialist program are academically rigorous. The emphasis is on academic
content for student to learn the basic skill or the fundamental r’s – reading, riting, rithmetic,
right conduct – as these are essential to the acquisition of higher or more complex skills needed
in preparation for adult life. The essentialist curriculum includes the “traditional disciplines such
as math, natural science, history, foreign language, and literature”. Essentialist frowns upon
vocational courses or other courses with watered down academic content. The teachers and
administrator decide what is most important for the student to learn and place little emphasis
on student interests, particularly when they divert time and attention from the academic
curriculum.”
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Essentialism
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”

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Essentialism
DO YOU LIKE TRADITIONS?

DO YOU VALUE THE PAST?

TRANSFER MORAL VALUES & INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE?

BUILD MODEL CITIZENS?

WHAT IS ESSENTIAL?
ELEMENTARY
RUDIMENTS
FUNDAMENTALS: 3 R’s (READING, RITING, RITHMETIC
MASTERY OF SUBJECT MATTER
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Progressivism
Why Teach – progressivist teachers teach to develop learners
into becoming enlightened  and intelligent citizens of a
democratic society. This group of teachers teaches learners so
they may live life 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’ needs and that relates to students’
personal lives and experiences.”

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or otherwise, without permission in writing from the author or lecturer.
 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Progressivism
Progressivists accept the impermanence of life and inevitability of
change. For the progressivists , everything else changes. Change is the
only thing that does not change. Hence, progressivist teachers are more
concerned with teaching facts or bits of information that are true today
but become obsolete tomorrow, they would rather focus their teaching
on the teaching of skills or processes in gathering and evaluating
information and in problem – solving.  The subjects that are given
emphasis in progressivist schools are the “natural and social sciences”.
Teachers expose students to many new scientific, technological, and
social development, reflecting the progressivist’s  notion that progress
and change are fundamental.
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Progressivism

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or otherwise, without permission in writing from the author or lecturer.
 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Key Points for Progressivism

DO YOU WANT TO ENLIGHTEN?

MOLD INTELLIGENT CITIZENS?

EMPHASIZE ON DEMOCRACY?

TO LIVE LIFE FULLY NOW?

EXPERIENTIAL METHODS & CHANGE
PROGRESSIVIST: JOHN DEWEY
LEARN BY DOING
LEARN BY PROBLEM SOLVING
HANDS-ON
MINDS-ON
HEARTS-ON
ACTIVITIES: FIELD TRIPS, SIMULATIONS
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Perennialism
Why Teach – We are all rational animals. Schools should, therefore, develop the
students’ rational and moral powers. According to Aristotle, if we neglect the students’
reasoning skills, we deprive them of the ability to use their higher faculties to control
their passions and appetites.

What to Teach – the Perennialist curriculum is a universal one on the view that all
human beings possess the same essential nature. It is heavy on the humanities, on
general education. It is not a specialist curriculum but rather a general one. There is less
emphasis on vocational and technical education. Philosopher Mortimer Adler claims
that 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”.
What the Perennialist teachers teach are lifted from the Great Books.
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Perennialism
How to Teach – the Perennialist classroom is “centered around the
Teacher”. The teachers do not allow the students’ interest or experiences to
substantially dictate what they teach. They apply whatever creative
techniques and other tried and true methods which are believed to be
most conducive to disciplining the students’ minds. Students engaged in
Socratic dialogues, or mutual inquiry sessions to develop an understanding
of history’s most timeless concepts.”

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Key Points for Perennialism

WE ARE ALL RATIONAL ANIMALS.
ARISTOTLE said,
“REASONING SKILLS SHOULD BE DEVELOPED
RATIONAL AND MORAL POWERS SHOULD BE DEVELOPED.”
Key Word: Reasoning

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Existentialism
Why Teach – the main concern of the existentialists is “to help students understand and
appreciate themselves as unique individuals who accept complete responsibility for
their thoughts, feelings and actions” Since existence precedes essence “ the
existentialist teacher’s role is to help students define their own essence by exposing
them to various paths they take in life and by creating an environment in which they
freely choose their own preferred way. Since feeling is not divorced from reason in
decision making, the existentialist demands the education of the whole person, not just
the mind.”

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Existentialism

What to Teach – “In an existentialist curriculum, students are given a wide variety of
options from which to choose.” Students are afforded great latitude in their choice of
subject matter. The humanities, however are given tremendous emphasis to “provide
students with vicarious experiences that will help unleash their own creativity and self-
expression. For example, rather than emphasizing historical events, existentialist focus
upon the actions of historical individuals, each of whom provide possible models for the
students’ own behaviour.

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or otherwise, without permission in writing from the author or lecturer.
 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Existentialism

How to Teach – existentialist methods focus on the individual. Learning is self-paced,

self-directed. It includes a great deal of individual contact with the teacher, who relates
to each student openly and honestly. To help students known themselves and their
place in society, teachers employ values clarification strategy. In the use of such strategy,
teachers remain non-judgmental and take care not to impose their values on their
students since values are persona.

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Key Points Existentialism

EACH PERSON IS UNIQUE

THOUGHTS

FEELINGS

LEARNER-CENTERED EXISTENCE

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Behaviorism
Why Teach – Behaviorist school are concerned with the modification and shaping of
students’ behavior by providing for a favorable environment, since they believe that
they are a product of their environment. They are after students’ who exhibit
desirable behavior in society.

What to Teach – Because behaviorists look at “people and other animals… as complex
combinations of matter that act only in response to internally or externally generated
physical stimuli”, behaviorist teachers teach students to respond favorably to various
stimuli in the environment.

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Behaviorism
How to Teach – behaviorists teachers “ought to arrange environmental
conditions so that students can make the responses to stimuli. Physical
variables like light, temperature, arrangement of furniture, size and
quantity of visual aids have to be controlled to get the desired responses
from the learners. Teachers ought to make the stimuli clear and
interesting to capture and hold the learners’ attention. They ought to
provide appropriate incentives to reinforce positive responses and
weaken or eliminate negatives ones.” (Trespeces, 1995)

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Key Points for Behaviorism

MODIFY THE ENVIRONMENT
CHANGE THE BEHAVIOR
BEHAVIORIST : JOHN WATSON

“WE ARE WHAT WE LEARN.”

He denied the existence of any human instincts, inherited capacities

or talents, and temperaments

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
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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 experiences of life and the world is the very
essence of man. It is through his/her ability to express himself/herself
clearly, to get his/her ideas across, to make known to others the values
that he/she has imbibed, the beauty that he/she has seen, the ugliness
that he rejects and the truth that he/she has discovered. Teachers in the
learner the skill to send messages clearly and receive messages correctly.

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Linguistic Philosophy
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. Communication takes place in three (3) ways
– verbal nonverbal, and paraverbal. Verbal component refers to the
content of our message, the choice and arrangement of our words. This
can be oral or written. Nonverbal component refers to the message we
send through our body languages while paraverbal refers to the messages
that we transmit through the tone, pitch, and pacing of our voices

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Linguistic Philosophy
There is need to teach learners to use language that is correct, precise,
grammatical, coherent, accurate so that they are able to communicate
clearly and precisely their thoughts and feelings. There is need to help
students expand their vocabularies to enhance their communication
skills. There is need to teach the learners how to communicate clearly
through non-verbal means.

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Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Key Points for Linguistic Philosophy

SEND MESSAGES CLEARLY

RECEIVE MESSAGES CORRECTLY

IT’S ALL ABOUT LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

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Constructivism
Why Teach – to develop intrinsically motivated and independent learners
adequately equipped with learning skills for them to be able to construct
knowledge and make meaning of them.

What to Teach – the learners are taught how to learn. They are taught
learning processes and skills such as searching, critiquing and evaluating
information, relating these pieces  of information, reflecting on the same,
making meaning out of them, drawing insights, posing questions,
researching and constructing new knowledge out of these bits of
information learned.
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Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.

Constructivism
How to Teach – in the constructivist classroom, the teacher provides
students with data or experiences that allow them to hypothesize,
predict, manipulate objects, pose questions, research, investigate,
imagine, and invent. The constructivist classroom is interactive. It
promotes dialogical exchange of ideas among learners and between
teachers and learners. The teacher’s role is to facilitate this process.

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Constructivism
DEVELOP INDEPENDENT LEARNERS

BUILD KNOWLEDGE AND MAKE MEANING OF THEM

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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
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 COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
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REFERENCE

Bilbao, P. et.al. (2018). The teaching profession. 4th ed. Manila: Lorimar Publishing Inc.

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