Philosophy of Education

Albert E. Lupisan, Ed.D.

Facilitator
Philosophy of Education
Philosophies of Education:
Essentialism
Progressivism
Perennialism
Existentialism
Behaviorism
 Essentialism
Why teach?
This philosophy contends that teachers
teach for learners to acquire basic
knowledge
skills
values
Teachers teach “ not to radically shape
society” but rather “to transmit the
traditional moral values and intellectual
knowledge that students need to become
model citizens.”
 Essentialism
What to teach?
Essentialist programs are academically
rigorous. The emphasis is on academic
content for students to learn the basic skills
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.
 Essentialism

What to teach?
The essentialist curriculum includes the
traditional disciplines such as math,
science, natural science, history, foreign
language, and literature
Essentialists frown upon vocational
courses or other courses with ‘‘watered
down” academic content
 Essentialism

What to teach?

The teachers and administrators decide

what is most important for the students
to learn and place small emphasis on
students’ interests, particularly when
they divert time and attention from the
academic curriculum
 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”
Teachers have to observe “core requirements,
longer school day, a longer academic year
 Essentialism

How to teach?
With mastery of academic content as
primary focus, teachers rely heavily on the
use of prescribed textbooks, the drill
method and other methods that will
enable them to cover as much academic
content as possible like the lecture method
There is a heavy stress on memorization
and discipline
 Essentialism
Essentialism 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 citizens.”
 Progressivism

Why teach?
Progressivist teachers teach to develop
learners into becoming enlightened and
intelligent citizens of democratic society
This group of teachers teach learners so
they may live life fully NOW not to
prepare them for adult life
 Progressivism

What to teach?
The progressivists are identified with
need-based and relevant curriculum
This is a curriculum that “responds to
student’ needs and that relates to
students’ personal lives and
experiences”
 Progressivism
What to teach?
Progressivists accept impermanence of life
and the inevitability of change
everything else changes
change is the only thing that does not
change
teachers are more concerned with
teaching the learners the skills to cope
with change
 Progressivism
What to teach?
instead of occupying themselves 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
 Progressivism
What to teach?
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
developments, reflecting the progressivist
notion that progress and change are
fundamental
Students solve problems in the classroom
similar to those they will encounter outside
of the schoolhouse
 Progressivism
How to teach?
Progressivists teachers employ experiential methods
They believe that one learns by doing
For John Dewey, the most popular advocate of progressivism,
book learning is no substitute for actual experience
They rely heavily on the problem-solving method
which makes use of the scientific method
Other “hands-on-minds-on” teaching methodology
is the field trip
Teachers also stimulate students through thought-
provoking games and puzzles
 Progressivism

Progressivists accept the impermanence of

life and the inevitability of change
For the progressivists, everything else
changes
Change is the only thing does not change
 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
 Perennialism

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
 Perennialism

What to teach?
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
 Perennialism
How to teach?
The perennialist classrooms are “centered around
teachers”
The teachers do not allow the students’ interest 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 students’ minds
Students engaged in Socratic dialogues, or mutual
inquiry sessions to develop an understanding of
history’s most timeless concepts
 Perennialism
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
 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”
 Existentialism

Why teach?
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
 Existentialism

Why teach?
Since feeling is not divorced from reason in
decision making, the existentialist demands
the education of the whole person, not just
the mind
 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 expression
 Existentialism

What to teach?
For example, rather than emphasizing
historical events, existentialists focus
upon the actions of historical
individuals, each of whom provides
possible models for the students’ own
behavior
 Existentialism

What to teach?
Moreover, vocational education is
regarded more as a means of teaching
students about themselves and their
potential than of earning a livelihood
 Existentialism

What to teach?
In teaching art, existentialism
encourages individual creativity and
imagination more than copying and
imitating established models
 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
 Existentialism

How to teach?
To help students know 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 personal
 Existentialism
The main concern of the existentialist is
“to help students understand and appreciate
themselves as unique individuals who accept
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 n life and by creating
an environment in which they freely choose
their preferred way
 Behaviorism
Why teach?
Behaviorist schools are concerned with the
modification and shaping of student’s
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
 Behaviorism

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

How to teach?
Behaviorist teachers ought to arrange
environmental conditions so that students
can make the responses to stimuli
Physical variables like light, temperature,
arrangements of furniture, size, and
quantity of visual aids have to be controlled
to get the desired responses from the
learners
 Behaviorism

How to teach?
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 negative ones
 Behaviorism

Behaviorist schools 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