on philosophy

1. John Dewey 1859-1952
Coursework#: 1
Group members: Nicola McPherson, Nordia Williams and Gervent Gayle
Course: Philosophy of Education
Lecturer: Mr. Garth Anderson
Date: April 18, 2018

2. John Dewey's definition of Education
According to Dewey’s philosophy of education, learning should be an experience filled
with activities, and educational journeys should not be lengthy and restrictive (Dewey, 1977;
University of Chicago. 2018). To be specific, Dewey held the view that children attend school to
become active learners (Smith, 2001; University of Chicago. 2018). For example, Dewey
believed that students should be involved in real-life tasks and challenges therefore; mathematics
could be learnt via learning proportions in cooking or figuring out how long it would take to get
from one place to another by mule. History could also be learnt by experiencing how people live
and Geography- what is the climate’s present condition.
Dewey had a gift for suggesting activities that captured the center of what his classes
were studying. Dewey's education philosophy helped forward the "progressive education"
movement, and spawned the development of "experiential education" programs and experiments.
Dewey’s purpose of education
In Dewey’s philosophy of education, he believed education enables us to see a close link
between a child’s life and his experiences as a continuous process, which he regards as the
purpose of education. In this way, education has the scope of equipping a child with social
competence. Unless this link is made, education is useless.
Dewey saw a strong correlation between interaction and continuity of experiences. He
believed it is through interaction that a child brings in experiences from society. In other words,
the child should experience what the outside world is like in the classroom. This will allow him
or her to be equipped with the necessary skills before they venture into society.

3. Describe the ideal teaching and learning process according to John Dewy philosophy.
According to John Dewey, education must be pragmatic, that is, it should prepare
students for their real-world adult lives. Education should also be experiential, that is, students
should be engaged in experiences in their learning, by “doing,” not just by reading and listening.
This describes John Dewey’s ideal teaching and learning process. He believes in “hands on”
learning where students have authentic experience in their learning.
Dewey also believed educators should engage students in experiential learning because
they can reflect on their own learning by sharing experiences and it offers students a hands-on,
collaborative learning experience, which helps them to “fully learn new skills and knowledge”
Haynes, Sakai, Rees, Gilbert, Frith & Passingham,( 2007). The process of learning is as
important as the learning itself.
Dewey also argues that children should be given the opportunity to link present content to
previous experience and knowledge. His philosophy relies on experience in education to be the
ideal teaching and learning process for children. According to his philosophy, educational
growth does not consist of automatically adding information, skills, or even educative
experiences to students. Rather, educational growth consists of combining past experiences with
present experiences in order to receive and understand future experiences.
To grow, Dewey believed the individual must continually reorganize and reformulate
past experiences in the light of new experiences in an organized approach. Dewey’s demand was
not imposed upon the students, rather it had the capacity to allow individual differences among
the students and value their experiences. Dewey’s curriculum theory is based on anthropological,

4. psychological, and social-philosophical (political) perspectives that hold a child to be like an
organism and this organism is searching for stimuli in order to grow, Berding, (1992)
Describe one role of the teacher and one role of the students according to their philosophy
According to John Dewey the teacher’s role must first guide the young learner through
life complexities and give them opportunities to learn in the natural way by means of solving
relevant problems.
The teachers should plan lesson that will push students to a higher level of knowledge,
thus encourage them to learn by doing and interact with one another. According to Wells (2006),
the progressivist teacher believes that in “hands-on” approach, children will learn better.
However, John Dewey believed students should be able to think for themselves to become active
citizens who could help to shape a better society.
From Dewey’s educational point of view, student’s role entails interacting with their
environment in order to adapt and learn. Dewey stressed the sensitivity of educationists towards
learners’ guide and mentor. It is therefore the responsibility of the teacher to plan positive and
constructive environment for the students so as to create positive educative experiences for them.
Such environments are built in the joint partnership of teachers and students, where together they
try out effective techniques of teaching and learning. The objective is to make students more
self-reliant. In this way, Dewey considered his school a community where the students become
active members.

5. Evaluate the relevance of the philosophy using current evidence from the Jamaica context
Dewey contributed to many groundbreaking and significant ideas about the state of education
in the Jamaican school’s system. He was a great advocate of progressive education, and his
philosophy of education is still relevant in the classrooms. Dewey believed learning should be
experiential and students are the focus of the classroom.
Dewey believed that students should feel connected to classroom materials, in order to retain
information and adapt it for personal use. This is evident in the course Home Economics where a lot
of hands on activities are done with students for an example, to prepare a dish or to sew a garment.
Students are taught how to be creative and actually engage in the teaching and learning process rather
than just listening to their teacher talk about concepts.
Dewey also believed experiential learning can be incorporated in a lot of subject areas if lesson
plans are written with students being the focus of the lesson. He also believed experiential learning
can boost student’s motivation by highlighting the way in which they can use subject matter in the
real world. His philosophy is relevant as it gives students the opportunity to share and learn about
real life situation therefore this will help them to be lifelong learners.
In our Jamaican schools, most of our students are uninterested in a number subject area,
teaching from a real life practical approach will boost and motivate them to be more interested in
the teaching and learning experience. This will also help our students to see the relevance of the
theoretical and practical aspect of the lesson. The students will relate more to the information
they are given, if they experience it from a hands-on approach.
Dewey’s philosophy of education is evident in the Jamaican school system. This is so
because the relevant government officials are now moving toward a constructivist classroom

6. environment where students are actively engaged in the teaching and learning process. To
elaborate further, the government officials in Jamaica have transformed the education sector with
the implementation of the National Standard Curriculum (NSC) for grades one to nine.
According to Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen “under the new
system, emphasis will be placed on project-based and problem-solving learning, with Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics/Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and
Mathematics (STEM/STEAM) integrated at all levels.” He further lamented that the approaches
will allow the learners to have hands-on experiences that are similar to real-world situations,
making the learning experience less abstract and more concrete. As discussed in Dewey’s
philosophy of education, it is evident that in the 21st century, his mantra of education is
recognized and relevant in the Jamaican school system.
Additionally, the ministry of education has also made it mandatory for all students to be
engaged in a ‘skilled’ subject otherwise called ‘vocation’ subject. Therefore, in all public high
schools across Jamaica, students are time-tabled for vocation sessions where they have the option
to choose their subject of interest. This is to help them exit high school with a skill that promotes
entrepreneurship and be more rounded when they leave the school and go into the world of work.
This is also in line with John Dewey’s philosophy of education because students are given the
tool that will enable them to contribute positively to society. For example, students are taught
computer skills at school that is fundamental in almost every work place.
NCTVET is now introducing numerous ‘skilled’ area subjects to a number of high schools
across Jamaica. This allows the schools to work cohesively with Heart Trust NTA and teach
students skills that will prepare them for the 21st century. For example, at X High School, the
students are taught the subject ‘Housekeeping’. The school gathered the necessary resources to

7. enable students to prepare a room for guest’s that coincides with hotel standards. Students are
also given the opportunity to do researches and share ideas with the class. For example, learn
techniques for folding a towel and demonstrate how the techniques should be carried out.
Last, the Caribbean Examinations Council stipulates that students do School Based
Assessment (SBA) for all subject areas. This gives students the opportunity to explore the
practical aspects of the syllabus. For example, students that do the subject Biology have to
complete a total of twenty-five (25) laboratory exercises for their SBA project. To elaborate
further, this gives students the opportunity to be engaged in the practical aspects of the subject
while gaining experience that prepares them for the world of work.

8. References
Berding, J.W.A. (1992). The curriculum theory of John Dewey: A paradigm in education? In B.
Levering et al. (Eds), Reflections on pedagogy and method (pp. 17-37). Montfoort, The
Netherlands: Uriah Heep.
Dewey, R. E. (1977). The philosophy of John Dewey. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-4740-0
Education Development Center. (2013). What is positive school discipline? Retrieved
from http://positiveschooldiscipline.promoteprevent.org.what-positive-school-
discipline
Haynes, J. D., Sakai, K., Rees, G., Gilbert, S., Frith, C., & Passingham, R. E. (2007). Reading
hidden intentions in the human brain. Current Biology, 17(4), 323-328.
Smith, M.K. (2001). John Dewey on education, experience, and community. Retrieved from
http://infed.org/mobi/john-dewey-on-education-experience-and-community/
University of Chicago. (2018). John Dewey’s philosophy of education. Retrieved from https://
www.lib.uchicago.edu/projects/centcat/fac/facch08_01.html