Part-III-Philosophical-Foundations-of-Education (1).docx

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Chapter III. PHILOSOPHICAL
FOUNDATIONS
Subject Matter Content
A. Special Terminology and a Summary Table
presenting the relation of the terms
B. Overview of Philosophies of Education
MAJOR PHILOSOPHIES
● Realism
● Idealism
● Pragmatism
● Existentialism
Traditional & Modern Educational Philosophies
● Essentialism
● Perennialism
● Progressivism
● Reconstructionism
C. Overview of Theories of Education

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A. Special Terminology and a Summary Table presenting the relation of
the terms
Philosophy is at the heart of curriculum development. It helps educators in
formulating beliefs, arguments, and assumptions and in making value
judgments. Philosophy develops a broad outlook, and it also helps in answering
what schools are for, what subjects are important, how students should learn,
and what materials and methods should be used. Philosophy provides the
starting point . . . in decision making about education in its totality (Ogwara, et.
al, 2013).
Educational philosophies originate from general philosophical systems and are
comprehensive and in-depth, while educational theories are specific and
formulated to serve the educational needs in the curriculum, teaching and
learning.
Main Branches of Philosophy
● Axiology
● Epistemology
● Logic
● Ontology or Metaphysics
According to Doll (1992: 28), philosophy has the multifaceted effect of
helping us to:
● indicate in general what we mean,
● make what we mean more specific and definite, and
● develop what we mean into a useful construct

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 MAJOR PHILOSOPHIES
IDEALISM
Idealism is considered one of the oldest philosophical systems, whose main
proponent was the Greek philosopher, Plato. Idealism advocates that ideas
constitute what is real and permanent, i.e. ideas are the only true reality.
Idealism also emphasizes the spiritual component of man, i.e., man is a spiritual
being.
REALISM
The following principles are therefore upheld:
● the principle of independence of matter,
● the principle of orderliness of the world behind its organization, this means that
law and order prevail in the universe,
● the principle of the world as real as discovered by the scientist.The realist’s
school of thought is traced back to Aristotle, another main, Greek philosopher.
According to this philosophy, matter or objects that we see exist by themselves,
i.e., they exist absolutely with or without man. In other words, matter is not a
construct of the human mind.
● The ultimate educational aim is achievement of knowledge of nature and inner
workings of the universe.
● Education is essentially transmission of inherited culture from one generation
to another.
● Disciplines of curriculum should contain certain elements of culture.
● Students should learn disciplines to develop intellectual skills to discover
important principles and theoretical insights.

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PRAGMATISM
The main proponent of pragmatism was John Dewey (1859 -1952).
● Traditional curriculum content included a lot of meaningless and needless
content.
● Traditional curriculum did not give a “utility education.”
● The curriculum was rigid and did not cater to individual needs of particular
learners.
Pragmatists, therefore, advocated for reality being considered as instrumental,
i.e., used as an instrument to solve problems. Philosophy is therefore built on
practical usefulness, i.e., “cash value of ideas.” Hence, truth is what works, what
turns out all night. Truth also should be the idea that has been tested, verified,
and found effective in solving problems.
Learning from Experience
If experience is the source of knowledge, it is also a source of education. We learn
by doing. However, not every experience is educative; experience must be
productive.
Educational Aim: Develop Learners’ Ability to Deal with Future Problems
That is, to develop intelligence to solve problems. According to Dewey, the process
involves:
 identifying the problem,
 formatting a hypothesis(es),
 gathering or collecting data and tools to solve the problem,
 testing each hypothesis, and
 storing the unity of knowledge for use in some similar situations.
Pragmatists propose a curriculum based on problems that arise out of daily
living. School is therefore an extension of home and community. For
pragmatists, all subjects are vital. However, sciences are favored because the
child is able to explore new knowledge.

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According to Akinpelu (1981), existentialism is defined as “the philosophy
of existence.” Sartre (1957) also states that “man is nothing else but what he
makes of himself.” A person is therefore free to choose the type of life to live
and is in control of his/her destiny. An individual is thus free to make choices
and be responsible for them.
Implications of Existentialism on Education and Curriculum
Curriculum should have a broad range of subject matter from which learners
can choose, i.e., electives, and an inclusion of subjects that involve:
 human emotions,
 aesthetics, and also,
 philosophical subjects.
What is a philosophy of education, and why should it be important to you?
A philosophy of education represents answers to questions about the purpose of
schooling, a teacher's role, and what should be taught and by what methods.
How do teacher-centered philosophies of education differ from student-
centered philosophies of education?
Teacher-centered philosophies tend to be more authoritarian and
conservative, and emphasize the values and knowledge that have survived
through time. The major teacher-centered philosophies of education are
essentialism and perennialism.
Progressivism and social reconstructionism, place the learner at the center of the
educational process: Students and teachers work together on determining what
should be learned and how best to learn it.
How are these philosophies reflected in school practices?
Essentialism and perennialism give teachers the power to choose the
curriculum, organize the school day, and construct classroomactivities. The
Existentialism

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curriculum reinforces a predominantly Western heritage while viewing the
students as vessels to be filled and disciplined in the proven strategies of the
past. Essentialists focus on cultural literacy, while perennialists work from the
Great Books.
Progressivism, social reconstructionism, view the learner as the central
focus of classroom activities.
Working with student interests and needs, teachers serve as guides and
facilitators in assisting students to reach their goals. The emphasis is on the
future, and on preparing students to be independent-thinking adults.
Progressivists strive for relevant, hands-on learning. Social reconstructionists
want students to actively work to improve society. Existentialists give students
complete freedom, and complete responsibility, with regard to their education.
Broad Categories of Educational Philosophies:
Traditional Philosophies and
Modern Philosophies
Traditional educational philosophies include perennialism and essentialism;
while modern educational philosophies include progressivism and
reconstructionism.
PERENNIALISM
Perennialism asserts that education, like the truth on which it rests, is
universal and authentic at every period of history and in every place and culture.
Neither truth, nor education, is relative to time, place, or circumstances.
Education’s primary purpose is to bring each new generation in contact with
truth by exercising and cultivating the rationality each person possesses as a
human being.
Perennialist epistemology contends that human beings, by their very
nature, possess a potentiality to know and a desire to find the truth. This
potentiality is activated when students come in contact with the highest
achievements of the human race, especially the Great Books and the classic
works in art, music, and literature. Truth exists in and is portrayed in the classic,
or enduring, works of art, literature, philosophy, science, and history created in
each generation and passed on as a cultural inheritance to the next generation.

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Perennial curriculum
Since truth is universal and unchanging, the curriculum should consist of
permanent, or perennial, studies that emphasize the recurrent themes of human life. It
should contain cognitive subjects that cultivate rationality and the study of moral,
aesthetic, and religious principles to develop ethical behavior and civility. Like
idealists, realists, and essentialists, perennialists want a subject-matter curriculum that
includes history, language, mathematics, logic, literature, the humanities, and science.
Education develops the mind
Robert Hutchins, a former president of the University of Chicago, described
the ideal education as “one that develops intellectual power” and not “directed to
immediate needs; it is not a specialized education, or a pre professional education; it is
not a utilitarian education. It is an education calculated to develop the mind.”
A general education of Perennialism
Perennialists assert that in a democratic society all students have the right to
a high quality intellectual education. They oppose grouping students into “tracks” that
deprive some of acquiring the general education to which they are entitled. To track
some students into an academic curriculum and others into vocational curricula denies
genuine equality of educational opportunity.

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Standards & Assessment
Perennialists endorse high academic standards but want them based on intellectual
content, especially knowledge of the classics. If the tests reflect knowledge of the
enduring subjects, perennial issues, and great books, they would favor them. Electronic
versions of the Great Books and other classics are an effective way of transmitting them
to a larger audience.
ESSENTIALISM
Essentialism establishes the school’s primary function as maintaining the basic
elements of human culture by transmitting them to students as skills and subjects in a
well-organized curriculum. William C. Bagley (1872–1946), a leading essentialist
professor of education, stated that schools should provide all students with the
knowledge they need to function in a democratic society.34 Failure to transmit these
necessary skills and subjects puts civilization in peril. This essential knowledge
includes the skills of literacy (reading and writing) and computation (arithmetic) and
the subjects of history, mathematics, science, languages, and literature.
Bagley crafted a finely tuned program of teacher education that moved
teachers forward from preservice to professional classroom practice. Teachers need
preparation that provides a knowledge base in the liberal arts and sciences and a
repertoire of professional education experiences and methods that enables them to
transmit skills and subjects efficiently and effectively to students. The successful
passage from preservice to practice means that teachers can competently organize skills
and subjects into units that are appropriate to students’ age and ability levels.
Essentialists argue that some new and sometimes experimental methods that
neglect systematic teacher-directed instruction in basic skills of reading, writing, and
computation and in the essential subjects have caused a decline in students’ academic
performance and civility.
Standards & Assessment
The criticisms voiced in A Nation at Risk generated the “standards
movement,” which argues that American education will be improved by creating high
academic standards, or benchmarks, for students’ academic achievement and by
measuring progress toward achievement of those benchmarks via standardized tests.
The standards movement affected schools throughout the United States as states
enacted legislation requiring standardized testing to measure student academic
achievement and teacher competency.
No Child Left Behind
The enactment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001,
the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), gave a federal endorsement to standards. The
Act carries the essentialist premise that there are key basic skills, such as reading and

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mathematics, and that students’ academic achievement can be measured objectively by
standardized tests. Further, the Act implies that students’ scores on standardized tests
indicate how well schools and teachers are doing to meet stated outcomes.
Role of school to teach basic
Essentialists argue that schools and teachers must be committed to their
primary academic mission and not be diverted into non-academic areas. Although
social, economic, and political issues may be examined in relevant subjects such as
history and social studies, this examination should be objective and not politicized to
promote a particular ideological agenda.
Subject-matter
Essentialists favour a subject-matter curriculum that differentiates and
organizes subjects according to their internal logical or chronological principles. The
curriculum’s skills and subjects should be well defined as to scope and have a sequence
that is cumulative and prepares students for future learning.
Implications for Today’s Classroom Teacher
Transmitting essential skills
The essentialist goal of education is to transmit and maintain the necessary
fundamentals of human culture. Schools have the specific and well-defined mission of
transmitting essential human skills and subjects to the young to preserve and pass on to
future generations.
PROGRESSIVISM
Progressivism originated in the general reform movement in American
society and politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Opposed to
traditional schooling, progressive educators designed a variety of strategies to reform
education. Although it is often associated with John Dewey’s experimentalism, the
progressive education movement wove together diverse strands, while child centred
progressives wanted to liberate children from authoritarian schools, social
Reconstructionists wanted to use schools to reform society. Whereas some progressives
sought to use education for social reform, other progressives, especially administrators,
concentrated on making schools more efficient and cost effective.
Like pragmatism, progressivism believes that reality is constantly changing, so
nothing is ever static.

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Students are encouraged to ask "How?" and "Why?" rather than just accepting
facts for what they are.
Students are encouraged to problem-solve and be active in the construction of
their answers.
According to the explanation by Ornstein and Hunkins (2009), progressive
"schools should nurture cooperation and self-discipline and transmit society's culture.
Because reality is constantly changing" "little need to focus on a fixed body of
knowledge". Traditional education values structure and repetition, whereas progressive
education values interdisciplinary work and guidance.
Readiness, Interests, and Needs
Progressives, children’s readiness and interests rather than predetermined
subjects shape curriculum and instruction. They would resist the imposition of
standards from outside of the school as another form of authoritarian control that can
block open-ended problem-based inquiry. Instructionally flexible, progressive teachers
use a repertoire of learning activities such as problem solving, field trips, creative
artistic expression, and projects.
PROGRESSIVISM
Reconstructionists hold on to an anthropological–sociological philosophy that
would put schools at the forefront of remaking society. Reconstructionism evolved
from a critical perspective of the work of the progressivists who put much emphasis on
the needs of the child, sometimes at the expense of societal needs.
The critical social problems might be national or global including such issues
as oppression, poverty, hunger, racial/ethnic strife, war, and health issues such as
HIV/Aids.
Table 3.1 Overview of Educational Philosophies
Educational
Philosophy
Philosophical
Base
Education
Aims
Knowledge
Focus
Educational
Roles
Curriculum
Focus
Perennialism
Idealism
Realism
Educate the
rational
person.
Cultivate
the intellect.
Focus on past
and
permanent
studies,
mastery of
facts, and
timeless
knowledge.
Teacher
helps
students
think
rationally.
Explicit
teaching of
traditional
values.
Classical
subjects
Constant
curriculum

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Essentialism
Idealism
Realism
Promote the
intellectual
growth of
the
individual.
Educate the
competent
person.
Essential
skills and
academic
subjects
Mastery of
concepts and
principles of
subject matter
Teacher is an
authority in
his or her
subject field.
Explicit
teaching of
traditional
values.
Essential skills
(three Rs –
reading, writing,
and arithmetic)
Essential
subjects
(English,
science, history,
math)
Progressivism Pragmatism
Promote
democratic,
social
living.
Knowledge
leads to
growth and
development.
Focus on
active and
relevant
learning.
Teacher is a
guide for
problem-
solving and
scientific
inquiry.
Based on
students’
interests.
Involves the
application of
human problems
and affairs.
Interdisciplinary
subject matter;
activities and
projects.
Reconstructivism Pragmatism
Improve
and
reconstruct
society.
Education
is for
change and
social
reform.
Skills and
subjects
needed to
identify and
solve
problems of
society.
Teacher
serves as an
agent of
change and
reform.
Helps
students
become
aware of
problems
confronting
humankind.
Emphasis on
social sciences
and social
research
methods.
Examination of
social,
economic, and
political
problems.

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