Introduction To Philosophies of Education

Module 1
Introduction to Philosophies of Education
Module 1.1- Meaning of Philosophy
Intended Learning Outcomes
 Discuss the meaning of philosophy

 Enumerate and briefly present the different branches of Philosophy
Introduction:
A beginning teacher is often harried to meet the day-to-day demands of

students, parents, administrators, colleagues, school and off-school activities.
The demands of lesson planning, meeting classes, attending meetings and and
conferences, testing and grading leave a little time for reflection on his role in the
enterprise of education.
Teaching requires a careful blending of theory and practice. Theory
without practice is insufficient while practice without theory is aimless.
Questions like what shall I teach? How shall I teach? Shall I teach my students
to memorize facts and more facts or teach them to experiment so that they learn
to conserve traditions? Or shall I lead my students to question the status quo
and aim for change? To answer these questions, a teacher will be delving in the
philosophy of education, an intellectual base that supports educational
practices.
Meanings of Philosophy and Education
Philosophy in it literal sense means love of wisdom. In its broadest sense,

philosophy is a man’s attempt to think most speculatively, reflectively, and
systematically about the universe in which he lives and his relationship to that
universe. Its remarkable feature is its effort to evaluate the sum total of human
experience. Philosophy adds no new facts to existing knowledge. It examines the
facts provided by scientists and analyzes the meaning, interpretation,
significance and value of these facts. Most will accept the ideas that philosophy
is a systematic and logical examination of life so as to frame a system of general
ideas of which the sum total of human experience may be evaluated.
Philosophy provides a comprehensive systematic study which is
categorized into five major areas. Each area has important implications for the
goals and practices of education.
Areas of Philosophy
Epistemology deals with the nature of knowledge and knowing and is
closely related to methods of teaching and learning. Idealists see knowing or
cognitive learning as the recall of ideas that are latent in the mind. The most
appropriate method is the Socratic method where the teacher stimulates the
students by asking leading questions which elicit ideas hidden in the learner’s
mind. A teacher who used the realists formula of sensation and abstraction
would develop classroom activities that utilize sensory stimuli. The pragmatists
believe that people learn by interacting with the environment; hence, problem-
solving Is a very appropriate method of teaching and learning,
Metaphysics deals with the nature of reality and existence. Idealists see
reality in non-material or spiritual terms; realists see reality in an objective order
in educational philosophy; metaphysics relates reality to the context, experiences
and skills in the curricula. The social and natural sciences are good venues in
teaching reality to the learner.
Axiology deals with values. Axiology is divided into ethics and aesthetics.
Ethics examines moral values and the rules of right conduct. Aesthetics deals
with values in beauty and art. Parents, teachers and society reward certain
preferred behavior and punish behavior that deviates from the concept of what
is good, right and beautiful. Idealists and realists agree that the good, the
beautiful and the right are universally valid in all places at all times while
pragmatists believe that values are relative and vary in time and place.
Advance Organizer
Activity
Multiple Choice Quiz:
1. What is the origin of the word Education?

a. Word Educate
b. Edu and “Catum”
c. ‘E’ and ‘Catum’
d. None of these
2. Which of the following statements is correct?
a. Education is an art.
b. Education is a science.
c. It is neither an art nor science.
d. To some extent it is an art and to some extent it is a science.
3. What is called education acquired without any specific purpose, fixed
period and place?
a. Formal Education c. Indirect Education
b. Informal Education d. Individual Education
4. Which of the following sentences is correct about the nature of
teaching?
a. It is remedial.
b. It is diagnostic.
c. It is diagnostic as well as remedial.
d. All the above statements are correct.
5. What is the compulsory element of learning?
a. Tendency to know c. bright mind
b. Ability to read d. none of these
6. What is the place of principal in an educational institute?
a. Owner of the school c. Manager of the school
b. Founder of the school d. Over-all head of the school
7. If a student failed in any class what should be done to him?
a. He should be kept in the same class.
b. He should be advised to leave studies.
c. He should be given a chance to improve and sent to the next class
after he improves.
d. All the above methods are right.
8. Why are curriculum activities used in teaching?
a. To assist the teacher.
b. Make teaching easy.
c. To make teaching attractive.
d. To make teaching interesting, easy to understand and effective.
9. What are the three components of the educational process.
a. Direction, instruction, and skill
b. Teaching, learning and practice
c. Teacher, student and education
d. Education, teacher and books
10. What is teaching through deductive method?
a. From easy to difficult.
b. From macro to micro
c. From general to specific
d. From specific to general
Analysis
Abstraction/Generalization
Education refers very broadly to the total social processes that bring a
person into life in a culture. By living and participating in a culture, the youth
gradually becomes a recipient of and a participant in a culture. Education, in a
more formal and deliberate sense, takes place in the school, a specialized social
agency established to cultivate knowledge, attitudes (values) and skills in the
learner. The term informal education is simply incidental learning: learning how
to cross the street or wash dishes is learned by the child through observation.
The term non-formal education is used to label activities/programs to improve
the quality of life. These activities are literacy (for out-of-school youth and adults)
rural development, training for occupational skills and informative education.
The target clientele are the unemployed, the underemployed, those who never
had or had little schooling and technical workers who need to upgrade their
skills.
If education is to promote change for the better, the education has to turn
to philosophy to determine that “better” is for a particular segment of society or
for society as a whole. Educational philosophy then is the application of
philosophy to the study of all factors affecting the aims and goals of education,
its method, content and organization in terms of human values as they affect the
nature and purpose of man and society.
The curriculum includes all the experiences of the learner for which the
school assumes responsibility. In its broadest sense, the curriculum can be
defined as the organized experiences that a student has under the guidance and
control of the school. In a more precise and restricted sense, the curriculum is
the systematic sequence of courses or subjects that form the school’s formal
instructional program. For the traditional philosophies, the major goal of
education is the transmission and preservation of the cultural heritage. A
curriculum consists of skills and subject matter, the necessary tools in
transmitting, in learnable units, to the immature for the survival of civilization.
The subject matter is arranged in a hierarchy, with priority given to subjects
regarded as more general, hence, more significant. The more recent philosophies
are more concerned with the process of learning. The curriculum which follows
this idea makes use of activities and projects, and experimental and problem-
solving modes that are determined by the learner’s interests and needs.
Methodology of Instruction
Methodology is the process of teaching and learning by which the learner

is brought into relationship with the skills and knowledge that are specified and
contained within the curriculum. In the school, methods are the means or
procedure that a teacher uses to aid students in having an experience, mastering
a skill or process, or acquiring an area of knowledge.
Teacher and Learner
Formal education involves a teacher and a learner. This relationship is

based on the roles of the teacher and learner in the education process. In the
context of the subject-matter school (the traditionalists) the teacher is the
expressive recipient who must acquire and master this knowledge. Thus the
method of instruction depends upon the systematic organization of subject
matter. The progressionists look to the child’s needs and interests and make the
teacher a guide or a facilitator in the learning process.
The five major areas of philosophy are epistemology, metaphysics,
axiology, ethics and aesthetics. These major areas have to do with the resolution
of educational goals, content of education, organization of the curriculum,
teacher education, academic freedom, student discipline, freedom of expression,
social relationships, and the teaching-learning process.
Ethics, for example, will determine what is worth teaching, what the
content of the curriculum will be and what experiences will bring about desirable
behavior. In today’s classroom, would students in the elementary grades be
taught about condoms because of AIDS? What kind of values do we stress in the
curriculum, the traditional values like humility as against the progressive value
of aggressiveness? Epistemology will determine which curricula will be organized
and taught, what methods and techniques will be effective. In the teaching of
Mathematics in high school, for example, all areas like algebra, geometry, and
trigonometry are given beginning the first year and followed year after year in
increasing difficulty. About twenty years ago students took up algebra in the first
year, geometry in the second year, advanced algebra in the third year and
trigonometry it the fourth year. The same is true in the sciences. Metaphysics
will determine what and how to teach in the reality of the time and place we live
in.

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Module 1

Introduction to Philosophies of Education

Module 1.1- Meaning of Philosophy

Intended Learning Outcomes

 Discuss the meaning of philosophy

A beginning teacher is often harried to meet the day-to-day demands of

Meanings of Philosophy and Education

Philosophy in it literal sense means love of wisdom. In its broadest sense,

Multiple Choice Quiz:

1. What is the origin of the word Education?

Methodology is the process of teaching and learning by which the learner

Formal education involves a teacher and a learner. This relationship is

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