THE IMPLICATION OF PIAGETS DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY AND

FREIRES LIBERATION PEDAGOGY IN THE MODERN SCHOOL

SETTING

JOSHUA Z. MONDEJAR

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES LOS BAOS
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

COURSE OF

EDUC 102: THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION

DECEMBER 2016

Introduction
 The todays classroom is a result of rigorous continuous development of different
educational theories and principles, which all directs to the improvement of the teaching and
learning process happening between the teachers and the learners. Among those theories and
principles flourished from the brilliant minds of different psychologist, philosophers and
theorists are the Developmental Theory and the Liberation Pedagogy, which were established by
Jean Piaget and Paolo Freire, respectively. In this essay, these two concepts, along with
proponents, will be discussed and its implication on the modern day school setting.

Learning and Teaching

In order for a deeper appreciation of the two enormous theories Piagets Developmental
Theory and Freires Liberation Pedagogy, it is still appropriate to have a through exploration in
the definition of teaching, as well as learning, since these two can be considered as the heart of
the said concepts.

Definition of Learning
Humans do not stop learning. In every moment of their lives, they experience something
new and it is through these new experiences they gain fresh knowledge. Aside from these
experiences, the environment in which they move also fosters learning. The environment does
not change itself in order to fit for humans; rather, the latter are the ones who adjust themselves
so that they will be able to survive the environment to where they live. In this context, learning is
attributed to past and present experiences and to the environment in which they move around.

According to Novak (1977), learning happens through experiences resulting to the

alteration of the learners way of action. In this definition, it can be seen that learning must result
to a change. This alteration was given more emphasis on the meaning of learning given by
Hergenhahn (1988). According to him, psychologists prefer the meaning of learning which
states that it happens after an extensive training that changes the behaviour of one permanently.
As extensive training being mentioned, Novaks definition of learning can be considered
incomplete because according to Hergenhahns definition, experiences are no longer the sole
source of learning.

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 American Heritage Dictionary (as cited in Hergenhahn, 1988) defined learning as
procured from experiences and study that makes one knowledgeable, comprehensive, and expert
in a certain subject. The latter two definitions only tackled that learning should have an effect to
the behaviour or way of action of a person and did not mention anything about knowledge and
comprehension, unlike what has been stated by the American Heritage Dictionary. The
perspective of learning, which it is a result of a careful study, had been taken into consideration.
This definition of learning can be considered as complete except for one lost element that can be
found on the book Learning and the Educational Process. Learning is the variation of ones
ability over time (Krumboltz, 1965). This definition sounds like the other definitions given,
except for having the time element.

Using these four interpretations about learning, a complete definition can be drawn.
Learning, which can be a result of experiences, training and careful study, alters permanently
ones behaviour and way of action, gives knowledge and establishes comprehension, and makes
one expert in a certain subject all over a specific period. This working definition of learning
makes the digestion and appreciation of Piagets Developmental Theory a lot easier.

Definition of Teaching
Yoakan and Simpson (1957) defines teaching as a process where the younger group of the
community is lead by the more matured members. This denotation favours the definition of
learning that is induced from the environment of the learner. Teaching requires people different
from the learner themselves in order to establish learning. It was a connotation that the one who
teaches the learners must be the teachers; however, the same authors (1957) added that teaching
is not only reserved to school teachers, but can be done also by the members of the family, public
servants and speakers, provided that they are already matured, as stated in Yoakan and Simpsons
definition of teaching.
Meanwhile, in the context where the ones who conduct teaching are the school teachers,
the definition of teaching becomes more specific for them. Teaching holds a special position in
the society whereby it is not only considered as a job but also a status attached with advantages
as well as responsibilities (Waller, 1967). This focuses more on how privileged teachers are.
They gain respect from the community because they are seen as the developers of the young

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minds of children they teach. This definition of teaching is a great help in understanding Freire
on his Liberation Pedagogy since it is more focused on the tasks of the teacher.

Piagets Developmental Theory

A little background of Jean Piaget early life (Hergenhan, 1988)

Jean Piaget, who is widely known for his Theory of Intellectual Development, was born
on August 9, 1896 in Neuchtel, Switzerland. He was the oldest son of Arthur Piaget, a medieval
literature specialist and Rebecca Jackson. At a very young age, Jean exhibited a fruitful curiosity,
and this led him on publishing his very first article discussing about albino sparrow. This one-
page paper was published when he was only 11 years old. His adolescent years were filled most
of by publishing numerous papers discussing mollusks, which for no time, he was asked to be a
curator of Geneva Museum on the mollusk collection. He was still a secondary school student by
that time.

Jean Piaget had no interest in philosophy until he had stayed with his Swiss scholar
godfather. That moment with his godfather made him realized his interest on epistemology or the
branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature of knowledge (para.1, p.272). He
continued developing his knowledge in his new interest and at the same time, he continued
mastering his craft in biology where in fact, at the age of 21, he had already received his doctors
degree in biology. He did not only focus on publishing papers about molluscs but also he made
himself concerned on different disciplines. This was highlighted on his working experience
where he held a position in the Binet Testing Laboratory, an institution concerned in making
standardized tests.

It was on the laboratory where his interest to study the child psychology was driven more.
Some of his observations focused on the answers of the children on various standard tests. His
observation led him to a great discovery that there was much to study on the wrong answers of
the children knowing the rationale why they were mistaken on a certain item than evaluating
the correct answers. He employed the clinical method as a way of obtaining data. It was an

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open-ended form of questioning (para.1, p.273). Aside from this, he came also to a reflection
redefining the meaning of intelligence.

The climax of the study of Jean Piaget in child psychology started when he departed from
Binet Testing Laboratory and served as a research director of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Institute. He worked more extensively on the developmental psychology. With his wife, a former
student of the institution he was in, they studied together the development of children with their
own three offspring as their subject of study (which led to criticism on his study).

Necessary definitions in understanding better Piagets theory

Development
Since the study of Piaget is mainly directed to development, it is outright to define what
development on the context of the theory is. According to Eggen and Kauchack(1999),
development is defined as the orderly, durable changes in a learning resulting from a
combination of learning, experience, and maturation (p.27, para. 3). With this meaning, it can
be seen that development involves three concepts learning, experience, and maturation.
Learning and experience was already been tackled on the latter part, yet maturation is only the
newly introduced concept among these three. Maturation is greatly involved in Piagets theory
since this is comprised of stages deeply connected on the age of a growing child.

Schema
Another important word to understand Piagets Developmental Theory is the term
schema (pl. schemata). Schema is defined as a mental codification of experience that includes a
particular organized way of perceiving cognitively and responding to a complex situation or a set
of stimuli (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). This concept of schema involves structuring and
ordering concepts and skills that may be innate, which is present upon birth, or brought about by
maturation. Hergenhahn (1988) highlighted that it is known to Piaget that there are such innate
characteristics that infants have sucking, grasping, looking, and reaching and these are
referred to as reflexes. However, instead of focusing on individual manifestations of these
characteristics, he rather studied each collectively, where for example, in grasping. He did not

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consider that an action of grasping a single thing could be referred under the grasping schema.
What he considered as a grasping schema was when an infant can generally have a grasp of
everything possible and along its capability. This also entails that the area of the mind of the
concerned in doing this act is structuring and ordering in order for it to be repeatable. Schema is
thus highly involved in the theory of Piaget for the reason that every stage that he mentioned
requires a skill that should be developed.

Accommodation and Assimilation

Both accommodation and assimilation are equally important concepts in understanding
Piagets Cognitive Development Theory because it is involved in all the stages of development.
These two, because of it involvement, are said to be functional invariants (Hergenhahn, 1988).
However, despite of being involved in the whole life span of an individual, its level of
association to every stage varies. As further explained by Hergenhahn (1988), accommodation is
more evident during the early years and as an individual matures, it becomes less employed.

Formally defining the terms, assimilation is the process of responding to the

environment in accordance with ones cognitive structures while accommodation is also a
process by which cognitive structures are modified (Hergenhahn, 1988, p. 275. para. 3, 4).
For clearer presentation of the relationship of these two concepts, Ginsburg and Opper (1979, as
cited in Hergenhahn, 1988) mentioned an illustration:
Suppose an infant if 4 months is presented with a rattle. He has never before had the
opportunity to play with rattles or similar toys. The rattle, then, is a feature of the
environment to which he needs to adapt. His subsequent behaviour reveals the tendencies
of assimilation and accommodation. The infant tries to grasp the rattle. In order to do this
successfully he must accommodate in more ways that are immediate apparent. First, he
must accommodate his visual activities to perceive the rattle correctly, for example by
locating it in space. Then he must reach out, adjusting his arm movements to the distance
between himself and the rattle. In grasping the rattle, he must mold his fingers to its
shape; in lifting the rattle he must accommodate his mascular exertion to its weight. In
sum, the grasping of the rattle involves a series of acts of accommodation, or
modification of the infants behavioural structures to suit the demands of the
environment.
At the same time, grasping the rattle also involves assimilation. In the past the
infant has already grasped things; for him, grasping is a well-formed structure of
behaviour. When he sees the rattle for the first time, he tries to deal with the novel object
by incorporating it into a habitual pattern of behaviour. In a sense, he tries to transform
the novel object to something that he is familiar with namely, a thing to be grasped. We
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 can say, therefore, that he assimilates the objects into his framework and thereby assigns
the object a meaning (p.19).

Another example, yet turns to be a simpler one, is when a child is given a red apple. The child
learns that what is shown to him is an apple using his sighting schema. This is assimilation.
After knowing it as a red apple, he applies this newly learned concept to other existing objects
and this time, all the red things he sees is apple for him since he incorporated the color with the
apple. Here, accommodation enters. The existing cognitive structures involving the latter
information are being modified in order to accommodate new ones. After accommodation, the
child is expected to know that not all the red objects are apple.

The Four Developmental Stages

This theory of Piaget, as narrated by Hergenhahn (1988), came from his observations in
children while he was making standardized tests in the Binet Laboratory. There, he observed that
the more significant thing to study was the wrong answers of the students rather the correct ones.
He was able to deduce that there are certain group of children belonging to the same age failed
on a specific test item and this also lead to an implication that every group age differs on which
item they commonly mistake.

Sensorimotor Stage
The sensorimotor stage is the first among the four periods in Piagets Developmental
Theory. This takes over from birth until two years of age. During this stage, children do not
speak too much or at least form highly distinguishable words. As an implication of their absence
of decent verbal ability, things, even they see it once or numerous times, for them, do not exist if
omitted on their sight out of sight, of mind (Eggen & Kauchak, 1999). However, despite the
absence of their ability of speaking or as described by Ornstein and Levine (2008), non-display
of verbal intelligence, other processes intervene on the childs personality and mind. In this
stage, children are mostly fond of discovering and knowing their environment through looking,
holding, and tasting objects. The sensorimotor stage may be a good explanation for the question
why kids under this age bracket tend to put on their mouth most of the things they see. Staring in
a particular object or person for a long time is also evident among infants.
Preoperational Stage

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 The preoperational stage of Piagets ladder of development comes on from two to seven
years of age of a child. Having the sensorimotor stage as a predecessor, during the preoperational
stage, it is expected that the child already knows how to speak and can use images as
representations. Since a child in this stage has the ability to talk, s/he often raises questions and
pretends to know everything even their reasoning in certain thing is illogical (Eggen & Kauchak,
1999). The stage of preoperations is generally related to some remarkable concepts
egocentrisms, centration, reversibility, and animism.

Egocentrism is the failure to interpret an event from someone else point of view
(Acebuche, 2016). In this concept, the child only has the capability to interpret what s/he directly
sees from his/her perspective. Its famous illustration is an experiment from Piaget himself and
this is termed as 3 mountains egocentrism test.

During the preoperational stage, if the child were asked to draw the view of the mountain based
on how the doll sees it, s/he would fail the task.

Centration means focusing on one perceptual aspect of an object or event to the

exclusion of all others (Eggen & Kauchak, 1999). This implies that other features of a thing are
ignored by the child. To illustrate this clearly, ten coins divided into two equal groups were
shown to the child. The child was asked to compare the two groups aligned separately and
concluded that the group had equal quantity. After that, one group of coins were set apart,
appearing to be longer than the other group. The child was questioned again and the child
concluded that the latter group had more number of coins. In this example, it can be seen that
child was only able to look onto the length of the two groups of coins and failed to account the
number of coins in each of the group. For more elaboration, a figure is shown.

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 Irreversibility is simply the inability to reverse action. Using the same example that was
given on centration, the child would not be able to deduce that the five coins were just set far
apart.

Conservation, according to Eggen and Kauchak (1999), is the idea that the amount of
some substance stays the same regardless of its shape or the number of pieces into which it is
divided. At the end of the preoperational stage, the child is expected to develop the concept of
conservation. In its absence, a child fails to conserve things and still fails to look unto other
features. For example, a child is shown two containers filled with liquid to samel level. The child
sees the water content as equal at this phase, but when the water on one of the containers is
transferred to a narrower container making the water appear taller, the child will conclude that
there is more water in the narrower container.

Lastly, animism happens during the preoperational stage where children classify the
world into two categories moving objects are alive while non-motile matters are non-living.
With this, they see the electric fan as a living object. In addition to this, children at this stage are
often observable to play with stuffed toys, assuming they are living matters.

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Concrete Operational Stage
If during the preoperational stage, children assumes that they know everything even
without proper logic, in the concrete operational stage, they are already equipped with logical
reasoning and also capable in dealing non-abstract mathematical problems. With the
preoperational stage as its prerequisite, the child already acquired reversibility, organized
operations that allow them to conserve, classify and take alternate perspectives. They also
manage to interact properly on the clock and calendar. They are also able to interpret maps and
geographical space, and experimental cause and effect (Eggen and Kauchak, 1999). In addition
to these, they are more capable of distinguishing patterns. This stage is from seven to eleven
years of age.

Formal Operational Stage

As formal operational stage succeeds the concrete operational stage, in this phase, the
children has already developed the ability of catering more abstract problems and formulating
generalizations. Eggen and Kauchak (1999) said that they can use scientific method to explain
reality and can learn complex mathematical, linguistic, and mechanical process. During the
early stage, the adolescents are prone in developing egocentrism (which appeared first in the
preoperational stage) where they feel that everything revolves around them. Formulating
personal fables are also evident among adolescence where they spend much of their time in
minding their thoughts and feelings (Acebuche, 2016). Happening from eleven years old until
adulthood, the individual continuously mature as time passes.

Criticisms on Piagets Theory

Eggen and Kauchak (1999) presented three criticism arose on the developmental theory
formulated by Piaget. According to them, Piaget may have failed to account that children may
develop abilities at earlier age, in contrast to his time-bound stages with accompanying abilities.
Second, the development of the children may be intervened by any other factors like the
environment where the children are growing. Also, the lifestyle and status may affect the time
when those abilities will be discovered or learned. Lastly, researchers argue that the culture
dominating on a childs personality also affects the way the s/he will develop.

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 Freires Liberation Pedagogy

Knowing the Proponent: Paolo Freire (Freire Institute, 2016)

The author of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed where the Liberation Pedagogy was first
introduced, Paolo Freire, was a Brazilian born in Recife. His life was more directed on
educational movements regarding illiteracy, which started on 1960s.In 1962, he conducted
numerous experiments using his methods and also with the goal of reducing the illiteracy rate.
Because of the way he teachers, he was imprisoned by the ruling government in 1964,f ollowing
the coup d etat that happened on the year. He was then exiled in Chile, but the movement did not
stop the UN School of Political Sciences conducted seminars discussing his work. From 1969
until 1970, he was a Visiting Professor at the Centre for the Study of Development and Social
Change at Harvard University. In 1970, he joined the World Council of Churches in Geneva as a
consultant of the Office of Education. He lasted on the council for about nine years.

Upon his return to Brazil on 1979, he participated the Workers Party in Sao Paolo and as
what he had started, he continued working on adult literacy project for six years. By 1988, Freire
was appointed as the Sao Paolos Secretary of Education after the party, which he belonged, took
over the governance.

Liberation Pedagogy and Conscientization.

According to Ornstein and Levine (2008) liberation pedagogy is an educational theory
designed to empower people to resist and overcome the forces that oppressed them. Freire first
introduced this concept upon publishing his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In this
educational theory, Freire asserts that the education is a powerful instrument in order to combat
to oppressing factors imposed unto many.

In line with this, Freire also introduced the concept of conscientizaao (Port.) or
conscientization that means being conscious and critically aware of the social, political, and
economic conditions and contradictions that affect a persons life (Ornstein & Levine, 2008).
With this definition, it is implied that conscientization is a state of being critical in the
environment and society where an individual belongs, keeping vigilant on the violations that are

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being made by different factors. According to the Freire Institute (2016), conscientization can
only be achieved upon self-reflection that is succeeded by action. They further added that
individuals must observe the false beliefs that the society induces in which by time, conceals the
problems and truths needed to be solved and addressed immediately.

Methods of Instruction Proposed by Piaget and Freire (Ornstein & Levine, 2008)

Piaget encourages schools to set the learning environment informally, accounting that
learners should learn in school like how they are learning outside the classroom or in other
words, in out-of-school lives. With this setting, children are not being hurried and their learning
is aligned according to their stage. There are three ways on how to promote informal learning: (a)
introduce activities that involves experimentation and exploration; (b) avoid generalizing the
method of instruction for all the group of students; and (c) equip the learning place, which is the
classroom, with objects that they can use on their exploration.

Meanwhile, Freires view in educating children is aligned to his liberation pedagogy. He

sees the curriculum instruction in a two-way manner where it can indoctrinate the learners and
passively accept information or it can challenge them to seek for self-liberation. Freire leans
more on the latter mentioned for to his view, real learning takes place as teachers and students
engage in an open and ongoing dialogue. His theory disagrees on the concept where the
students only sit and listen to teacher for this does not promote critical thinking; rather, the
students are only being prepared into taking examinations.

Synthesis and Conclusion

No theory can suffice all the learning needs of the students, especially in this 21st century,
where the learners are more diverse. Both Piaget and Freire contributed in making schools a
place that caters all the necessary needs of learners.

From the theory of Piaget, the schools where set to be more informal and relatable to
children (Ornstein & Levine, 2008). With this informality, the students specific needs in order to
achieve optimal learning are being achieved and this makes his theory related to Freires whose

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view is also treating the students as active learners ; rather than passive acceptors of information.
In addition to this, he also worked for teaching to become an instrument promoting equality.
With his theory, schools are influenced to expose the two-way reality of the society the good
and the bad, where the bad exposes the oppressions currently happening.

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 REFERENCES

Acebuche, M.A. (2016). PSY 1: Exploring the Self: Thoughts, Feelings and Actions. Theories on
Development. [Powerpoint Presentation]

Eggen, P. & D. Kauchak(1999). Educational psychology: Windows on classrooms.4th edition.

United States of America: Merill.

Hergennhahn, B.R.(1988).An introduction to theories of learning.3rd edition. United States of

America: Prentice-Hall.

Ornstein, A.C. & D.U. Levine(2008).Foundations of education.10th edition. United States of

America:Houghton Miffin.

Paolo Freire Institute (2016). Paolo Freire Biography.University of Central Lancashire.

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