THE TEACHING PROFESSION

CHAPTER 7
PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION

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 THE TEACHING PROFESSION

CHAPTER 7
LESSON 1 – OUR PHILOSOPHICAL HERITAGE: PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION

LEARNING OUTCOME

 Explain at least seven philosophies of education.

ACTIVITY

Find out to which philosophy you adhere. To what extent does each statement apply you?
Rate yourself 4 if you agree with the statement always, 3 if you agree but not always, 2 if you agree
sometimes, and 1 if you don’t agree at all.

Statement 1 2 3 4
1 There is no substitute for concrete experience in learning.
The focus of education should be the ideas that are as relevant
2
today as when they were first conceived.
Teachers must not force their students to learn the subject
3
matter if it does not interest them.
Schools must develop students’ capacity to reason by stressing
4
on the humanities.
In the classroom, students must be encouraged to interact with
5 one another to develop social virtues such as cooperation and
respect.
Students should read and analyze the Great Books, the creative
6
works of history’s finest thinkers and writers.
Teachers must help students expand their knowledge by
7 helping them apply their previous experiences in solving new
problems.
Our course of study should be general, not specialized; liberal,
8
not vocational; humanistic, not technical.
There is no universal, inborn human nature. We are born and
9
exist and then we ourselves freely determine the essence.
10 Human beings are shaped by their environment.
11 Schools should stress on the teaching of basic skills.
12 Change of environment can change a person.
Curriculum should emphasize on the traditional disciplines
13
such as math, natural science, history, grammar, literature.
Teacher cannot impose meaning; students make meaning of
14
what they are taught.
Schools should help individuals accept themselves as unique
15 individuals and accept responsibility for their thoughts,
feelings and actions.
16 Learners produce knowledge based on their experiences.
For the learner to acquire the basic skills, he/she must go
17
through the rigor and discipline of serious study.
The teacher and the school head must prescribe what is most
18
important for the students to learn.
19 The truth shines in an atmosphere of genuine dialogue.

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Statement 1 2 3 4
20 A learner must be allowed to learn at his/her own pace.
The learner is not a blank slate but brings past experiences and
21
cultural factors to the learning situation.
The classroom is not a place where teachers pour knowledge
22
into empty minds of students.
The learner must be taught how to communicate his ideas and
23
feelings.
To understand the message from his/her students, the teacher
24 must listen not only to what his/her students are saying but
also to what they are not saying.
An individual is what he/she chooses to become not dictated
25
by his/her environment.

Interpreting your Scores: If you have 2 answers of 2/4 in numbers:

1,3,5,7 -------------------------- you are more of progressivist
2,4,6,8 -------------------------- you are more of a perennialist
9,15,20,25--------------------- you are more of an existentialist
10,12 -------------------------- you are more of a behaviorist
11,13,17,18------------------- you are more of an essentialist
14,16,21,22 ------------------ you are more of a constructivist
19,23,24 ---------------------- you are more of a linguistic philosophy

ANALYSIS

If you have 2 scores of 4 in several of the 7 clusters, you have an eclectic philosophy which
means you put the philosophies together. If your scores are less than 4, this means that you are
not very definite in your philosophy. Or if your scores are less than 3 in most of the items, this
means your philosophy is quite vague.

ABSTRACTION

THE SEVEN PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Why teach? Constructivists see to develop intrinsically motivated 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.

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’s classroom is interactive. It
promotes dialogical exchange of ideas among learners and between teacher and learners. The
teacher’s role is to facilitate this process.

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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 citizens.

What to teach? Essential list 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.
How to teach? Essentialist teachers emphasize mastery of subject matter. They are seen
as “fountain” of information and as “paragon” of virtue, if ever there is such person. To gain
mastery of basic skills, teachers have to observe core requirements, longer school day and 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 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 in relevant curriculum.
This is a curriculum that responds to students needs and that relates to students’ personal lives
and experiences.

Progressivists accept the impermanence of life and the 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 the learners the skills to cope with
change. 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 skills or
processes in gathering and evaluating information in problem solving.

How to teach? Progressivist teachers employ experiential methods. They believe that one
learns by doing. For John Dewey, the most popular advocate of progressivism, book learning is no
subtitle for actual experience. One experiential teaching method that progressivist teachers
heavily rely on is the problem solving method. This problem solving method makes use of the
scientific method.

PERENNIALISM
Why teach? We are all rational animals. School 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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How to teach? The perennialist classroom are centered around teachers. The teachers do
not allow the students interests 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 engage in Socratic dialogues, or
mutual increase sessions to develop an understanding of history’s most timeless concepts.

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 teachers’ 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.

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, existentialists focus upon the actions of
historical individuals, each of whom provides possible models for the students’ own behavior.
Moreover, vocational education is regarded more as a means of teaching students about
themselves and their potential than of earning a livelihood. In teaching art, existentialism
encourages individual creativity and imagination more than copying and imitating established
models.

How to teach? Existentialist methods focus on the individual. Learning is self-paced, self-
directed. It includes a great deal of individual contact with a teacher who relates to each student
openly and honestly to help students know themselves and their place in society. Teachers
employ values clarification strategy. In the use of such strategy, teachers remain nonjudgmental
and take care not to impose their values on their students since values are personal.

BEHAVIORISM

Why teach? 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.
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.

How to teach? Behaviorist 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 incentive to reinforce positive
responses and weaken or eliminate negative ones.

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

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 ways: verbal, nonverbal, and para-verbal. 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 language, while para-
verbal component refers to how we say what we say the tone, pacing, and volume of our voices.
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 help students expand their vocabularies to enhance their
communication skills. There is need to teach the learners how to communicate clearly through
nonverbal means and consistently through para verbal means.

Teach them to speak as many languages as you can. The more languages one speaks, the
better he or she can communicate with the world. A multilingual has an edge over the
monolingual or bilingual.
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,
nonverbal, and para-verbal manner. Teachers should make the classroom a place for the interplay
of minds and hearts. The teacher facilitates dialogue among learners in between him or her and
his or her students because in the exchange of words there is also an exchange of ideas.

APPLICATION

Explain the seven (7) philosophies of education in your own words. Why is it important
for you to learn these Philosophies of Education?

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CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

I. Understanding the Philosophies. Answer each with a YES or NO. If your answer is NO,
explain your answer in a sentence.

 Essentialism
______1. Do essentialists aim to teach students to teach students to reconstruct society?
______2. Is the model citizen of the essentialist the citizen who considered to the re-building
of society?
______3. Do the progressivist curriculum focus mainly on facts and concepts?
______4. Do the essentialist teachers frown on long academic calendar and core requirements?

 Progressivism
______1. Do the progressivist teachers look at education as a preparation for adult life?
______2. Are the students’ interests and needs considered in a progressivist curriculum?
______3. Does the progressivist curriculum focus mainly on facts and concepts?
______4. Do the progressivist teachers strive to simulate in the classroom life in the outside
world?

 Perennialism
_______1. Are the perennialist teacher concerned with the students’ mastery of the
fundamental skills?
______2. Do the perennialist teachers see the wisdom of ancient, medieval and modern times?
______3. Is the perennialist curriculum geared towards specialization?
______4. Do the perennialist teachers sacrifice subject matter for the sake of students’
interests?

 Existentialism
______1. Is the existentialist teacher after students becoming specialist in order to contribute
to society?
______2. Is the existentialist concerned with the education of the whole person?
______3. Is the course of study imposed on students in the existentialist classroom?
______4. Does the existentialist teacher make heavy use of the individualized approach?

 Behaviorism
______1. Are behaviorists concerned with the modification of students’ behavior?
______2. Do behaviorist teachers spend their time teaching their students on how to respond
favorably to various environmental stimuli?
______3. Do behaviorist teachers believe they have control over some variables that affect
learning?
______4. Do behaviorist teachers believe that students are product of their environment?

 Linguistic Philosophy
______1. Do linguistic philosophers promote the study of language?
______2. Is the communication that linguistic philosophers encourage limited to verbal
language only?
______3. Do linguistic philosophers prefer the teacher who dominates discussion to save time
to a teacher who encourages dialogue?
______4. Is the curriculum of the linguistic philosopher open to the learning of as many
languages, like Mother Tongue, as possible?

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 Constructivism
______1. Does the constructivist agree to a teaching methodology of “telling”?
______2. Do constructivists believe that students can construct knowledge?
______3. Do constructivists approve of teaching learners the skill to learn?
______4. Do constructivists believe that meaning can be imposed?

II. Test your mastery. To which philosophies does each theory of man belong?

__________1. Is a product of his environment.

__________2. Has no universal nature.
__________3. Has rational and moral powers.
__________4. Has no choice; he is determined by his environment.
__________5. Can choose what he can become.
__________6. Is a complex combination of matter that responds to physical stimuli.
__________7. Has no free will.
__________8. Has the same essential nature with others.
__________9. Is a rational animal.
__________10. First exists then defines him/herself.
__________11. Is a social animal who learns well through an active interplay with others.
__________12. Is a communicating being.
__________13. Is a maker of meaning.
__________14. A constructor of knowledge.

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