EDU404 History and Philosophy of Education

Philosophical Roots of Education

Special terminology Prepared for:
Idealism Mr.Kamarol Baharen
Realism Prepared by:
Pragmatism Siti Amalina Bte Mustaffa Maarof, 2011656812
Existentialism Illya Syahida Bte Zamri, 2011429388
Noor Syamimi Bte Mohd Shukri, 2011458062
Postmodernism Izni Nabilah Bte Khairul Azhar2011860462
What are we going to learn?

By the end of this presentation..

provide a conceptual framework
a philosophical and theoretical map
construct your own philosophy of education
 What are Philosophies and theories?

Comprehensive philosophies are belief that presented

in a general world view that includes education.
Educational theories, often deprived from philosophies
specifically on education, schools, curriculum, teaching
and learning.
 Differences Between Philosophies and
Theories of Education
GENERAL
Philosophies
Wide ranging, systematic, complete, global
Components related to metaphysics,
epistemology, axiology, and logic
Insights derived from the general philosophical
system
SPECIFIC
Theories
Focused on education, no complete philosophical
system offered
Components related to specifics of education,
such as curriculum, teaching and learning
Insights derived from more general philosophies
or from school contexts
To Construct your own philosophy

Think like a
philosopher
+
Use philosophys
terminology
 metaphysics

Logic

Special
Terminology
Epistemology

Axiology
 Subdivision Related Educational
Of Philosophy Concerns

Metaphysics
The nature of ultimate reality
Knowledge of most worth:
Exploration & understanding of
The curriculum
reality
What is real..?

Epistemology
Deals with knowledge
How we teach and learn:
Study of knowledge
Methods of instructions
What is knowledge based
on..?
 Subdivision Related Educational
Of Philosophy Concerns

Axiology
Prescribes values Behaviour, character, civility
What is moral and right?(Ethics) And appreciation and
What is beautiful and expression
good?(Aesthetics)

Logic
Correct and valid thinking
Valid reference & correct reasoning How we organize and structure
Deductive thinking: general to specific courses, lessons, and units
Inductive thinking: specific to general
How can we reason?
 introduction
One of the oldest western
philosophies

Founder : Plato (428-347 BCE)

George W.F. Hegel

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry David Thoreau
Friedrich Froebel
 Universal,
eternal
truth

Macrocosm
Deductive
&
logic
microcosm

KEY
CONCEPTS

Latent
Values
knowledge

Hierarchy
of subjects
 Universal, eternal truth
Believe in spiritual, nonmaterial world
See the world as the creation of a great universal
mind, the mind of the Absolute or God
Persons spiritual essence (soul) is the permanent
element of human nature- gives individuals the power
to think & feel
This idea of spiritual world is universal & eternal
No need to change this idea; since it is perfect like its
Creator.
 Concept of macrocosm & microcosm
To explain how they perceive reality

Macrocosm Microcosm

Universal mind, the

first cause, creator or The personal mind
God. or spirit.
 Latent knowledge
Believe in latent knowledge ( hidden inside humans
mind)
Platos idea of reminiscence : We remember a priori
ideas that already lodged deep in our minds but of
which we are not conscious.
Teachers challenge : to present the ideas that
challenge students to become conscious of this latent
knowledge.
 Hierarchy of subjects
Believe that the Absolute or God has been
revealed to those who have sought the truth.
These truth-seekers have recorded their
discoveries in bodies of knowledge or
subjects
Schools have organized education into a
hierarchical curriculum of subjects- some
subjects are more important than others.
 Philosophy Theology

Top of Hierarchy

Mathematics : cultivates abstract thinking

History & literature : as sources of moral &
cultural models
 Values
Idealists prescribe values that are unchanging &
applicable to all people everywhere.

Values of
Enduring Ethical
human
knowledge behavior
nature
rich sources for transmitting
values
Philosophy
Theology
History provide content & context
Literature -students can encounter worthy
Art model
 Logic
Based on the whole-to-part relationship
between the Absolute & individual minds

Deductive logic

General Specific
principles examples
 General concept of respect
for others who are different
from us.

Henry Davis Thoreau, who

took his own path to civil
disobedient at Walden Pond
 Create schools-
intellectual centers of
Intellectual learning & teaching
development
Rejecting consumerism &
vocationalism

Need to be guided by the

paramount purpose of
education
Internet use
The content that matters,
not the technical
apparatus that transmit it
 Introduction
Reality is outside of our
Founder :
minds, not latent to our
Aristotle
minds

Other proponent : -Thomas Aquinas

Aristotles
Christian
natural Thomism
doctrine
realism
 INTRODUCTION
Scientific method is the best way to gain
knowledge

Realists assert that:

(i) there is a world of real existence, of objects,
not made by human beings;
(ii) the human mind can know about the real
world;
(iii) such knowledge is the most reliable guide
to individual & social behavior.
 Material
world

Knowledge
Deductive &
as sensation,
Inductive
then
logic
abstraction
KEY
CONCEPTS

Organized
Rational
subject in
behaviour
curriculum
 Material world
Realists believe in a material world.
All objects are composed of matter
Identify an object
Record sensory data about it in the
Sensation mind (colour, five senses)

Abstracts a concept of the object

Classify the object into groups (e.g.
Abstraction shapes or sweet food)
 Curriculum of organized subjects
Believe that a curriculum of organized
subjects is the most accurate way to learn
about reality.
Examples :
Past human
History
experiences

Political organizations
(nations, judicial Political
system etc..) science
 Rational behavior
Certain rules should govern intelligent
rational behavior.
Aristotle define human : rational animals
People are most human when they act in a
rational way ( to make decisions based on
knowledge)
 LOGIC

Deductive Inductive
 Implications for todays
classroom teachers
Classroom for learning

Teachers priority : to bring students ideas about the

world into correspondence with reality
Focus on cognitive learning and subject-matter mastery.
Oppose the intrusion of nonacademic activities

Teachers as Subject-matter Experts

Subject-matter knowledge is given high priority

Example : the history teacher should be a historian with
an academic major in history
Realist teachers should :
(i) general education in the liberal arts & sciences
(ii) Use wide repertoire of methods
 Implications for todays
classroom teachers
Standardized Tests

Realists would favor setting standards- specify

student academic achievement goals.
Provide hard, comparable data.
Standards help keep schools & teachers
accountable.
However, the results of it are only a first rung in
the ladder of academic achievement.

Use of Technology

Technology : as an aid in developing & testing

skills & subject-matter competencies.
 (Experimentalism)

Pragmatism
Experience is the best teacher..

For pragmatists, only those

things that are experienced or
observed are real.

Pragmatists believe that reality is

constantly changing and that we
learn best through applying our
experiences and thoughts to
problems, as they arise.
 William James
(1842-1910)
Charles Sanders Pierce
(1839-1914)

Founders
John Dewey
(1859-1952)

George Herbart Mead

(1863-1931)
Founders of Pragmatism
Charles S. Pierce: using the scientific
method to validate idea
empirically-subtitued probability

William James: applied pragmatic

philosophy into psychology,
religion, and education

George Herbert Mead: children

develop and learn through their
experiences in the environment

John Dewey: his

version=Experimentalism, to
education
 Pragmatism
Focuses on Deweys view
Rejects Idealist and Realist
 Organism and Environment
Dewey- influenced by Charles Darwins theory
(evolutionary change)

Dewey applied organism and environment in

education.
Construct a usable
Every organism People interact Resulting: network of
lives in a habitat with their
Experiences experiential
or environment environment
episode

Purpose of education for Dewey:

Promoting experiences for optimum
human growth
 PROBLEM SOLVING
Thinking & learning
Problem Solving

The learner- uses the scientific method

to test experience by solving
personal or social problem

Problem solving: process method of

general intelligence that can transfer to a
wide range of situations
 experiences

Test of experience

Reconstruction
of person and
environment
Key Concept
Relativity of values

Inductive logic
 Experience
Defined as- interaction of the person with the
environment, is a key pragmatist concept

environment
person Key
interaction

Metaphysics and Epistemology

Why? Epistemology- Constructing our knowledge, in a constant changing world
Interaction of the
What we went
Experience people with Learning
through
environment
Test of experience
Dewey rejects idealist & realist
concept
More concern- How human beings
interact with the environment and
construct conceptions about a
changing reality.

The need to test educational

Cannot rely on programs whether they really have
tradition in education the result we want
 Ideas
Need to be validate

Test of experience
BY

Acting on them
Determine

The consequences
 Reconstruction of person and
environment

Do more research

We and the Our decision

Environment are making can be
constantly guided only
changing. by experience.

What we need?
- A socially and scientifically
intelligent method that
gives us more direction
in a constantly
changing reality
 Relativity of values
Axiology
Highly situational and culturally relative
Values too are constantly changing and relative to
time, place and circumstances.
Whatever that contributes to personal and
social growth is valuable; what restrict or
limits it is unworthy.

Donation to
the poor Donation to the Rich
UNWORTHY VALUE
WORTHY VALUE
 Inductive Logic
Experimentalist logic is inductive rather than
deduced.

SPECIFIC GENERAL

Lesson learn
Stealing an
Got caught from experience:
apple
Do not steal
 An
experimental
process
Interdisciplinary
approach Knowledge is
tentative

School as
Basic Questions
microcosm of
society

Transmitting Cultural
cultural Heritage diversity , but
shared
learning
processes
Knowledge is tentative(not definite)
Pragmatists are more concern with the
process of constructing, using and testing
ideas than transmitting subject matter.

Constructing
ideas

Testing Using the

ideas ideas
 An experimental process

Education

An experimental process
[method of solving problem-challenges
people as they interact with their world]

Best way of solving problems-

Scientific Method
 Interdisciplinary approach

interdisciplinary education
Usage of many source

departmentalized education
Usage of only one source

A pragmatically-
educated person knows how to research and apply
information from multiple sources to the problem

In contrast with idealist and realists-

they believe students must first acquire a knowledge base
by studying organized subject before they can use
interdisciplinary approach.
School as microcosm
of society

Dewey sees school as

local community of
learners and teachers
intimately connected
to
a large society.
 Transmitting cultural heritage
Teachers select the elements and reduce their
complexity to their students readiness,
Simplify interest and prior experience

Select valuable elements

Eliminate those that limit human interaction
Purify and growth

School integrates the selected and purified

Balance
experience to into a harmony
Cultural Diversity, but shared learning
processes

Multicultural culture

But pragmatists
wants all the Cultural encourages the widest
possible learning
learners to learn Diversiy resources among people
the use of scientific of all culture.
method

Learn from each

other
 Implications for Todays Classroom
Teacher

Subject Applying the

Classroom as
matter as scientific
community
instrumental method

Teachers as A pragmatic
risk takers lesson
Subject matter as instrumental
Teachers facilitate student on doing research and
activities, suggesting resources that are useful for
problem solving.

Applying the scientific method

They could learn to apply the problem solving
from in and out of school thus connecting the
school to society
 Classroom as community
Share experience and interest with others.
Recognize every culture have their value to
share.

Teachers as risk takers

Teachers see education as an
open-ended and uncertain process
 A pragmatic lesson
Establish the issues context

Define the problems key terms

Conduct research using different sources

Conjecture possible solutions

Resolve the issue by reaching agreement

among a group of people and act upon it
 Existentialism

a philosophical theory that encourages deep

personal reflection on ones identity,
commitments and choices
 Existence precedes Essence.
Jean Paul Sartre(1905-1980)

the role of
human we are born into a We posses personal
imagination as a world that we did power, the will to
way of knowing not choose to be make choices and
and feeling in and that we to create our own
didnt make purposes for
We choose what
we want to be Human freedom is existence
our
responsibilities
for choices.
 Each person must make
meaningful choices about
freedom or subordination,
peace or war and etc

the anxiety of Ask yourself what

the possibly does your choice
meaninglessne can make any
ss of existence Existential different to you
angst
 Choosing self-
determination

Each person choose to be a

We must cope with constant
self-determined person or
threat that others pose to our
content to let others define
choice making freedom
one selves
 Metaphysics Epistemology
-Discount metaphysics, -Our knowing comes
arguing that reality is from making personal
subjective with existence choices
preceding essence.

Axiology
-Values are to be freely
chosen by the person
 teachers and
students should
have the chance
to engaged in
dialogue

encourage students
An existentialist to participate in
curriculum are Existentialist dialogue about the
subjects that Teachers at meaning of their
portray individuals hopes, fears,
in the act of making
School
desires, living, loving
choices and dying

Students are free

to create their
own modes of self-
expression
Implications for Todays
Classroom Teacher
Teachers cannot specify goals and objectives in
advance since students choose their own
educational purposes

- Teachers seeks to create open classrooms to

maximize freedom of choices. Within these open
learning environments, instruction is self-directed.

- Existentialist oppose the standard movement,

especially standardize testing to measure academic
success, as an obstruction to personal choice and
freedom.
 An Existentialist School: Summerhill
Summerhill: an example of freedom

Alexander Sutherland Neill (1883-1973), the

educational philosophy of the British educator.
Summerhill School: emphasized childrens
personal freedom to make important choices
about their own education.
 Students are free to choose what and
when they wanted to learn
Students were free from externally
authorized requirements and restrictions.
Neil found his students actually wanted
to learn and eagerly pursued their own
learning agendas.
 An existentialist lesson
Literature, drama, and film are powerful in
existentialist teaching.
A class is studying the Holocaust, the genocide of
six million Jews in Europe during World War 2 by the
Nazis. The class views Steven Spielbergs movie,
Schindlers List, in which an industrialist, Oscar
Schindler who initially profits from the forced labor of
Jewish inmates, makes a conscious decision to save his
workers from death in the Nazi gas chambers. The
class then probes the moral situation of one man,
Schindler, and the choice that he made in a senseless
and cruel world.
Believe that we make, or construct our
beliefs about knowledge from our
experiences of interacting with our
environment
 INTRODUCTION
Originated from two German Philosophers
Martin Heidegger
Friedrich Nietzsche
We construct our own subjective
Rejected metaphysical claims about truths about reality
Our knowledge is always TENTATIVE,
universal truths

CONJECTURAL & ONGOING REVISION

Thats why our statements/texts can be
deconstructed/ taken apart.
 KEY CONCEPT
Based on two French Philosopher

Michel Foucault Jacques Derrida

(1926-1984) (1930- 2004)
 Claims that he is a Nietzschean (reject metaphysics as a
universal truth)
Scientist
Attacks modern expert
Educators Social Scientist

Theyre a disguised rationale for the elites to hold power; take

control over the people:

Poor Minorities Women

Subordination Elites control the experts

POSTMODERNIST
USE THE
CONCEPT: Process of pushing powerless groups
Marginalization to the edge of society
 JACQUES DERRIDA
Developed deconstruction to trace the origin
and the meaning of texts or canons

Text are not merely to reflect

metaphysical truth
Purpose? Involved in political power relationship
that are biased in history and culture
construction

Who is the author?

What are theyre motives in writing
How? such text?
Are they endorse in a particular
ideology?
 Postmodernist ask:
What people, events and a situations at a particular time gave
prominence to canons?
Who gives a canon a privileged status in a culture/ society and who
benefits from its acceptance as an authority?
Does the canon exclude underrepresented and marginalized
individuals and groups?

Raise questions about who sets the purpose of

education and determines how curriculum is
constructed
 Basic Questions:-

Postmodernist focus on the consciousness about social inequalities by

DECONSTRUCTING the traditional assumptions about KNOWLEDGE,
EDUCATION, SCHOOLING, INTRUCTION.
They dispute/rejected the US educational policy:
a. fairly and equitably educate all children
b. facilitate upward social and economic mobility
c. necessary for the continuance of a democratic
society
 Patriarchal

Favors men over women

Eurocentric

Theyre so-called knowledge is largely construction

of white people of European ancestry

Capitalist

Private property & the corporate mentality are

glorified in the free market ideology
 Proponents of official knowledge wants:
Standard cultural core curriculum;
traditional canons of Western
culture

Postmodernists challenge these canons:

European- centered
Represent a male-dominated
culture
Western and capitalist culture

*Demand/ argue about the contribution of underrepresented groups

should be included in the curriculum.

* Believe that a culturally diverse curriculum would reach all children

especially those whos been marginalized.

STRUGGLE OVER CURRICULUM

 Urge teachers to become conscious of their powerful roles and
to critically examine the nature of their representation to
students.
DONT : Transmit only knowledge (give and take)
DO : Present a wider and inclusive range of human experience

Include a similarity with Pragmatism (experience) but Postmodernism

does not emphasize on SCIENTIFIC METHOD; WHY????
#Because to postmodernist it is one method for the elites to exploit the
people and resources (marginalized)
Responsible for
determining own future &
encouraging student to
determine theirs

Empower people &

transform society;
challenge special economic
& political interest &
privileges

Who mandates the testing,

develops the test, interprets
the results & determines
how test scores will be used
 Questions
1. What is the differences between idealism & realism?
2. What is macrocosm and microcosm?
3. Is idealism theory relevant to be used in todays
education? Why?
4. How can you apply Pragmatism in teaching?
5. Why are the Existentialist oppose to external standards
depersonalize education? Briefly explain.
6. What does postmodernist argue about in the US
educational policy?