UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY

Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CULTURE

AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
SUBJECT CODE: TCC 003
TOPIC OR LESSON 1: Philosophical Thoughts on Education
WEEK: 2nd Week
SUB TOPIC/S
A. The Seven Philosophies of Education
B. Profiles in Teaching

An Overview: Philosophical Thoughts on Education

For thousands of years, philosophers have been wrestling with many of the same
questions such as; What is the basis of human knowledge? What is the nature of the just
society? These and other philosophical questions influence education. Educators must
take stances on such questions before they can determine what and how students should
be taught.

Since educators do not agree on the answers to these questions, different philosophies
of education have emerged. Although there are similarities, there are also profound
differences in the way leading educators define the purpose of education, the role of the
teacher, the nature of curriculum and evaluation, and the method of instruction.

This module introduces you to the seven philosophies on education and examines some
of the key questions of philosophy that are important to teachers. These educational
philosophies focus on how to teach and what to teach, the curriculum aspect and describe
examples of each in practice.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of module 1, learners can create an eclectic philosophy of education.

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 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the module 1, learners should be able to:

a. Understand the importance of philosophical thoughts on education;
b. Compare and contrast the seven philosophies of education;
c. Identify key educators associated with each philosophy, and;
d. Develop their own philosophy of education as they apply in the teaching and
learning process.

ENGAGE

1. Try to recall your teacher before who had an impact on you and describe his/her
teaching philosophy.

2. Observe the picture below and share your view and perspective towards it.

EXPLORE

1. Watch a video from you tube entitled “Philosophies of Education” and share your
perspective towards it.

2. Each of us has a philosophy of education, a set of fundamental beliefs regarding

how we think schools should be run. Analyze the different educational
philosophies and which educational philosophy is most compatible with your
belief? Explain why?

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 EXPLAIN

The Seven Educational Philosophies

Essentialism

Essentialists urge that the most essential or basic academic skills and knowledge be
taught to all students. Traditional disciplines such as math, natural science, history and
literature form the foundation of the essentialist curriculum. Essentialists frown upon
vocational, life-adjustment, or other courses with “watered-down” academic content.

Elementary students receive instruction in skills such as writing, reading, measurement,

and computing. Even when learning art and music, subjects most often associated with
the development of creativity, the students are required to master a body of information
and basic techniques, gradually moving from less to more complex skills and detailed
knowledge. Essentialists maintain that classrooms should be oriented around the teacher,
who ideally serves as an intellectual and moral role model for the students. Essentialist
teachers focus heavily on achievement test scores as a means of evaluating progress.

Progressivism

The person most responsible for the success of progressivism was John Dewey. The
progressivist movement stimulated schools to broaden their curricula, making education
more relevant to the needs and interest of students. Dewey taught that people are social
animals who learn well through active interplay with others and that our learning increases
when we are engaged in activities that have meaning for us. Book learning, to Dewey’s,
was no substitute for actually doing things. Fundamental to Dewey’s epistemology is the
notion that knowledge is acquired and expanded as we apply our previous experiences
to solving new, meaningful problems. Education, to him, is a reconstruction of
experience, an opportunity to apply previous experiences in new ways.

Perennialism

Perennial means everlasting, for instance, a perennial flower is one that comes up year
after year. 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. According to perennialist, 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. It strives to develop our capacity to reason, and
regards training in the humanities as particularly essential to the development of our
rational powers.

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Existentialism

Just as its namesake sprang from a strong rejection of traditional philosophy, educational
existentialism sprang from a strong rejection of the traditional, essentialist approach to
education. 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. The teacher’s role is to
help students define their own essence by exposing them to various paths they may take
in life and creating an environment in which they may 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. They are explored as a
means of providing students with experiences that will help unleash their own creativity
and self-expression.

Behaviorism

For a behaviorist, any human being is shaped entirely by his external environment. Alter
a person’s environment, and you will alter his thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Provide
positive reinforcement whenever students perform a desired behavior and soon they will
learn to perform the behavior on their own.

Behaviorism urges teachers to use a system of positive reinforcement (pleasant stimuli

or rewards) to encourage the types of behavior that the school desires. It is most
important that the students be rewarded whenever they demonstrate the desired
response and thus begin to associate the accomplishment of learning with the
pleasurable feeling of the reward. Gradually they will firmly acquire that knowledge or
moral virtue their schools consider important.

Constructivism

Constructivism in education has roots in epistemology. The learner has prior knowledge
and experience, which is often determined by their social and cultural environment.
Learning is therefore done by students constructing knowledge out of their experiences.
Constructivism is often associated with pedagogic approaches that promote active
learning or learning by doing. Social constructivism encourages the learner to arrive at
his version of the truth, influenced by his background, culture or embedded worldviews.
Historical developments and symbol systems such as language, logic and mathematical
systems are inherited by the learner as a member of a particular culture and these are
learned through the learner’s life. This also stresses the importance of the nature of the
learner’s social interaction with knowledgeable members of the society, without social
interactions with other more knowledgeable people, it is impossible to acquire social
meaning of important symbols systems and learn how to utilize them.

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Reconstructivism

Social reconstructivism is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing of social

questions and a quest to create a better society and worldwide democracy.
Reconstructionist educators focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform, student
experience and taking social action on real problems. Strategies dealing with
controversial issues such as social studies and literature, inquiry dialogue and multiple
perspectives are the focus. The strategies are the community-based learning and
bringing the world into the classroom.

Profiles in Teaching

A. John Locke (1632-1704): The Empiricist Educator

He was an English philosopher, often classified as an ‘empiricist’, because he believed
that knowledge was founded in empirical observation and experience.
● All ideas come from the two kinds of experience:
1. Sensation - observation of external objects
2. Reflection - observation of the internal operations of the mind. Some
examples of reflection are perceiving, thinking, doubting, believing,
reasoning, knowing, and willing.
● Simple ideas become more complex through comparison, reflection and
generalization - the inductive method.
Three Specific Mental Processes that form complex ideas:
1. Simply combining together more simple ideas. Example, I can get a complex
idea of an apple by assembling the simple ideas of roundness, redness,
sweetness, and moistness.
2. Complex ideas involve relations that we get from comparing two things, such
as the notions of “larger” and “smaller” that I get when comparing two apples
of different sizes.
3. Complex ideas that result from the mental process of abstraction, such as
when I arrive at the abstract notion of “roundness” by looking at an apple and
stripping away all of its attributes except for its being round.
● Questioned the long traditional view that knowledge came exclusively from literary
sources, particularly the Greek and Latin classics.
● Opposed he “divine right of kings” theory which held that the monarch had the right
to be an unquestioned and absolute ruler over his subjects.
Natural Rights
Locke wrote and developed the philosophy that there was no legitimate
government under the divine right of kings theory. The Divine Right of Kings
theory, as it was called, asserted that God chose some people to rule on earth in
his will. Therefore, whatever the monarch decided was the will of God. When you
criticized the ruler, you were in effect challenging God. This was a very powerful
philosophy for the existing ruler. But, Locke did not believe in that and wrote his
theory to challenge it.

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 Perhaps the part of Locke's writing which most influenced the founding
fathers of the United States Constitution was the idea that the power to govern
was obtained from the permission of the people.
He thought that the purpose of government was to protect the natural rights
of its citizens. He said that natural rights were life, liberty and property, and that
all people automatically earned these simply by being born. When a government
did not protect those rights, the citizen had the right and maybe even the
obligation of overthrowing the government.
If these ideas seem familiar to you, it is because they were incorporated into
the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. Once they took root in
North America, the philosophy was adopted in other places as justification for
revolution.
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/biographies/john-locke/
● Political order should be based upon a contract between the people and the
government.
● Aristocrats are not destined by birth to be rulers. People were to establish their
own government and select their own political leaders from among themselves;
civic education is necessary.
● People should be educated to govern themselves intelligently and responsibly
(Ornstein, 1984).

B. Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) Utilitarian Education

He was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist known for
his infamous theory of social Darwinism throughout contemporary history.
● Spencer is perhaps best known for coining the term “survival of the fittest,” later
commonly termed “Social Darwinism” means that human development had gone
through an evolutionary series of stages from the simple to the complex and from the
uniform to the more specialized kind of activity.
● Social Darwinism: a theory that the laws of evolution by natural selection also
apply to social structures.
● Herbert Spencer built on Darwin’s framework of evolution, extrapolating it to the
spheres of ethics and society. This is why Spencer’s theories are often called
“social Darwinism.”
● Social development had taken place according to an evolutionary process by which
simple homogeneous societies had evolved to more complex societal systems
characterized with humanistic and classical education.
● Industrialized society requires vocational and professional education based on
scientific and practical (utilitarian) objectives rather than on the very general
educational goals associated with humanistic and classical education.
● Curriculum should emphasize the practical, utilitarian and scientific subjects that
helped humankind master the environment.
● Was not inclined to rote learning; schooling must be related to life and to the activities
needed to earn a living.
● Curriculum must be arranged according to their contribution to human survival and
progress.

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● Science and other subjects that sustained human life and prosperity should have
curricular priority since it aids in the performance of life activities.
● Individual competition leads to social progress. He who is the fittest survives
(Ornstein, 1984)

Specialized Education of Spencer vs. General Education

● To survive in a complex society, Spencer favors specialized education over that of

general education. We are in need of social engineers who can combine
harmoniously the findings of specialized knowledge. This is particularly true in the
field of medicine.
● The expert who concentrates on a limited field is useful, but if he loses sight of the
interdependence of things he becomes a man who knows more and more about less
and less. Of course we do not prefer the other extreme, the superficial person who
knows less and less about more and more.

Spencer’s Survival of the Fittest

● He who is fittest survives. Individual competition leads to social progress. The
competition in class is what advocates of the whole-child approach and Socio-
emotional Learning (SEL) atmosphere negate. The whole child approaches a
powerful tool for SELF-focused schools has a tenet - “each student learns in an
environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults” and “each
student has access to personalized learning and is supported by qualified and caring
adults.” (Frey, N. 2019)
The highlighted words points to no competition for competition works against an
emotionally safe environment.

C. John Dewey (1859-1952) Learning through Experience

● Education is a social process and so school is intimately related to the society that it
serves.
● Children are socially active human beings who want to explore their environment and
gain control over it.
● Education is a social process by which the immature members of the group,
especially the children, are brought to participate in the society.
● The school is a special environment established by members of society, for the
purpose of simplifying, purifying and integrating the social experience of the group so
that it can be understood, examined and used by its children.
● The sole purpose of education is to contribute to the personal and social growth of
individuals.
● The steps of the scientific or reflective method which are extremely important in
Dewey’s educational theory are as follows:
⮚ The learner has a “genuine situation of experience” involvement in an activity in
which he/she is interested.

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 ⮚ Within this experience the learner has a “genuine problem” that stimulates
thinking.
⮚ The learner possesses the information or does research to acquire the
information needed to solve the problem.
⮚ The learners develop possible and tentative solutions that may solve the problem.
⮚ The learner tests the solutions by applying them to the problem. In this way one
discovers their validity for oneself.
● The fund of knowledge of the human race-past ideas, discoveries and inventions was
to be used as the material for dealing with problems.
● The school is social, scientific and democratic. The school introduces children to
society and their heritage. The school as a miniature society is a means of bringing
children into social participation.
● The school is democratic because the learner is free to test all ideas, beliefs and
values.
● School should be used by all, it being a democratic institution.
● The authoritarian or coercive style of administration and teaching is out of place
because they blocked genuine inquiry and dialogue.
● Education is a social activity and the school is a social agency that helps shape
human character and behavior.
● Values are relative but sharing, cooperation, and democracy are significant human
values that should be encouraged by the schools.

The Fund of Knowledge of Human Race

● Dewey does not disregard the accumulated wisdom of the past. These past ideas,
discoveries and inventions, our cultural heritage will be used as the material for
dealing with problems and so will be tested. If they are of help, they become part of
reconstructed experience. The ideal learner for Dewey is not just one who can
connect accumulated wisdom of the past to the present.

Schools are for the People and by the People

● Schools are democratic institutions where everyone regardless of age, ethnicity,
social status is welcome and is encouraged to participate in the democratic process
of decision-making. Learners and stakeholder practice and experience democracy in
schools.

D. George Counts (1889-1974)

Building a New Social Order
● Education is not based on eternal truths but is relative to a particular society living at
a given time and place.
● By allying themselves with groups that want to change society, schools should cope
with social change that arises from technology.
● There is a cultural lag between material progress and social institutions and ethical
values.
● Instruction should incorporate a content of a socially useful nature and a problem-
solving methodology. Students are encouraged to work with problems that have
social significance.

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● Schools become instruments for social improvement rather than an agency for
preserving the status quo.
● Teachers should lead society rather than follow it. Teachers are agents of change.
● Teachers are called on to make important choices in the controversial areas of
economics, politics and morality because if they failed to do so, others would make
the decisions for them.
● Schools ought to provide an education that affords equal learning opportunities to all
students. (Ornstein, A. 1984)

E. Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) - Social Reconstructionism

● As the name implies, social reconstructionism is a philosophy that emphasizes the
reformation of society. The social reconstructionists contend that:
… humankind has moved from an agricultural and rural society to an urban and
technological society… there is a serious lag in cultural adaptation to the realities of a
technological society. Humankind has yet to reconstruct its values in order to catch up
with the changes in the technological society order, and organized education has a major
role to play in reducing the gap between the values of the culture and technology.
(Ornstein, 1984)

● So the social reconstructionist asserts that schools should:

critically examine present culture and resolve inconsistencies, controversies and
conflicts to build a new society not just change society… do more than reform the social
and educational status quo. It should seek to create a new society… Humankind is in a
state of profound cultural crisis. If schools reflect the dominant school values… then
organized education will merely transmit the social ills that are symptoms of the pervasive
problems and afflictions that beset human kind… The only legitimate goal of a truly human
education is to create a world order in which people are in control of their own destiny. In
an era of nuclear weapons, the social reconstructionists see an urgent need for society
to reconstruct itself before it destroys itself. (Ornstein, A. 1984)
● Technological era is an era of interdependence and so education must be
international in scope for global citizenship.
● For the social reconstructionists, education is designed “to awaken students’
consciousness about social problems and to engage them actively in problem
solving”. (Ornstein, 1984)
● Social reconstructionists are firmly committed to equality or equity in both society and
education. Barriers of socio-economic class and racial discrimination should be
eradicated.
● They also emphasize the idea of an interdependent world. The quality of life needs to
be considered and enhanced on a global basis. (Ornstein, 1984)

F. Paulo Freire (1921-1997) - Critical Pedagogy

Critical Pedagogy and Dialogue vs. Banking Model of Education
● Paulo Freire, a critical theorist, like social reconstructionists, believed that systems
must be changed to overcome oppression and improve human conditions.
● Education and literacy are the vehicle for social change. In his view, humans must
learn to resist oppression and not become its victims, nor oppress others. To do so

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 requires dialogue and critical consciousness, the development of awareness to
overcome domination and oppression.
● Rather than “teaching as banking,” in which the educator deposits information into
students’ heads, Freire saw teaching and learning as a process of inquiry in which the child must
invent and reinvent the world.
● Teachers must not see themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge and their students as empty
receptacles. He calls this pedagogical approach the “banking method” of education.
● A democratic relationship between the teacher and her students is necessary in order for the
conscientization process to take place.
● Freire’s critical pedagogy is problem-posing education.
● A central element of Freire’s pedagogy is dialogue. It is love and respect that allow us to engage
people in dialogue and to discover ourselves in the process and learn from one another. By its nature,
dialogue is not something that can be imposed. Instead, genuine dialogue is characterized by respect
for the parties involved toward one another. We developed a tolerant sensibility during the dialogue
process, and it is only when we come to tolerate the points of view and ways of being of others that
we might be able to learn from them and about ourselves in the process. Dialogue means the
presence of equality, mutual recognition, affirmation of people, a sense of solidarity with people, and
remaining open to questions.
● Dialogue is the basis for critical and problem-posing pedagogy, as opposed to banking education,
where there is no discussion, only the imposition of the teacher’s ideas on the students.

ELABORATE

Directions: Summarize the philosophies of education by using the matrix below. The
rubric for evaluation is provided below.

Philosophy of Focus of Sample Role of Teacher Goals for

Education Curriculum Classroom Students
Activity

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 RUBRIC FOR EVALUATION SCORE
3 – The explanation is 2 – The explanation 1 – The explanation is 0.5 – The 0–
REL directly relevant to is relevant to the quite relevant to the explanation is not Has no
EV the topic. Every detail topic. Most of the topic. Only a few of clear and has a very explanation
points toward the details contribute to the details contribute rough transition of
AN topic. the development of to the development of idea. The details are
CE the topic. the topic. not relevant to the
topic.
EVI 3 – The explanation 2 – The explanation 1 – The explanation 0.5 – The 0–
DE shows at least 9 shows at least 6 to 8 shows 3 to 5 explanation shows Has no
correct/valid correct/valid correct/valid at most 2 explanation
NC
evidences to support evidences to support evidences to support correct/valid
E/ his/her answer. his/her answer. his/her answer. evidences to support
AR his/her answer.
GU
ME
NT
2 – The explanation is 1.5 – The 1 – The explanation is 0.5 – The 0–
clear, has a very good explanation is clear, somewhat clear and explanation is not Has no
CLA flow of discussion, has a good has a rough transition clear and has a very explanation
RIT every detail is transition, most of from one idea to rough transition of
Y connected to each the details are another. ideas.
other. connected to each
other.
TEC 2 – The explanation 1.5 – The 1 – The explanation 1.5 – The 0–
HNI has no error in explanation has 1 to has 3 to 4 errors in explanation has at Has no
grammar, spelling, 2 errors in grammar, grammar, spelling, and least 5 errors in explanation
-
and punctuations. spelling, and punctuations. grammar, spelling,
CAL punctuations. and punctuations.
ITY
OVERALL SCORE:

EVALUATE

DIRECTIONS: In this, you will be asked to answer different sets of questions which is a
combination of different types of objective examination (multiple choices, identification,
short response, true or false or alike, and so on.)

This will be provided on the platform identified in the syllabus and course guide.

REFERENCES

The Teacher and the Community School Culture and Organizational Leadership
Nelia G. Prieto, LPT, PhD
Clotilde N. Arcanghel, LPT, PhD
Brenda B, Corpuz

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 ADDITIONAL
MATERIALS

Ornstein, Allan C. (2015). Foundations of Education. 10th Edition. Houghton Mifflin

Company. Boston :New York (E-BOOK)

Sadker, Myra Pollack`(1997) Teachers, Schools, and Society. Fourth Edition. The
McGraw Hill Companies: New York, USA

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Philosophiesofeducation

PREPARED:

DR. SALVACION J. MOPAS PROF. CATHERINE DG. SANTOS

Associate Professor I Associate Professor II

Revised:

MARILYN M. MIRAFLOR, Ed. D. DOMINIC CAMACHO ROTA, Ed. D.

PRO. CATHERINE DG. SANTOS ROMEO ACIDO M. MAHINAY, PhD

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