Rousseau believed that education should follow the natural development of the child. He advocated for isolating children from society and allowing them to learn through their innate tendencies and direct experiences with the natural environment. Rousseau's educational philosophy emphasized educating emotions before the intellect, learning through doing rather than books, and tailoring education to different stages of childhood, including a focus on physical development in early years and moral/religious education in adolescence. He proposed teaching methods like learning by doing, direct experience, and heuristic methods over lectures.

1. Jean Jacques Rousseau
(28 JUNE 1712- 2 JULY 1778)
BY
PINKY VARSHNEY

2. BIOGRAPHY
• He was born in Geneva, Switzerland on 28 June 1712
• His mother died shortly
• His father was a typical watch maker and dance master. Late his father also
fled Geneva hence brought by mother’s sisters.
• Rousseau left Geneva at 16 wandering from place to place finally moving
to Paris in 1742.
• In his essay “Discourse on the arts and sciences” he concluded that
material progress had actually undermined the possibility of sincere
friendship, replacing it with jealousy, fear, and suspicion.
• He minimiss the importance of book learning and recommended that
child’s emotions should be educated first.
• He emphasized upon learning by experience
• His novel Emile is a treatise on the education of whole person for
citizenship.

3. Rousseau’s Educational Philosophy
• Rousseau’s Philosophy is termed as Naturalism. It contains his
concepts of natural state natural man and natural civilization.
• According to him “Man is born free but everywhere he is in
chains.”
• He gave three fundamentals of nature
1.Isolation from society:- Student should be isolated from society
and brought up by laws of nature.
2.Innate tendencies of the child:- According to him the innate
tendencies to primitive emotions, instinctive judgment and natural
instinct are more reliable basis for action than the experience gained
from society.
3.Contact with natural environment.:- Education is to make
contact with natural environment. Accordingly he will automatically
become a rational being and act according to the voice of his
conscience.

4. Concept of Education
• For Rousseau education does not mean merely imparting information it
is development of child’s natural powers and abilities from within.
• The concept of education include
Education from nature:- it consists of development of child’s natural
tendencies and interests he gave it to top priority
Education from man:- it consists in influencing our social contacts
and various groups.
Education from things:- It consists of acquisition of knowledge and
information through contact with physical surroundings and our
experience of dealing with things.

5. Aims of Education
• Rousseau was leader of naturalistic movement. According to
Rousseau the aims of education were :-
• Development of child inner faculties:- The most important aim is
the natural development of child’s inner faculties and powers. To
live is to work , to develop and to properly utilize the various parts
of body
Different aim at different stages
• Development of well regulated freedom:- during infancy the aim
0f education is to develop well regulated freedom according to his
capacities
• Develop sufficient strength at childhood stages:- at childhood
stage the aim of education in the child sufficiently in order to have
well regulated freedom
• Intellectual development in pre adolescent period:-
Emotional, moral and religious development during adolescence.

6. CURRICULUM
• Even in framing curriculum he paid attention to four stages which are
• For infancy stage:- At this time a child’s body must be given constant
exercise, making it strong and healthy.
• For childhood stage:- At this stage neither intellect nor moral or social
education is to be imparted to the child the child should be given maximum
freedom. There should be no verbal lessons, history and geography.
physical excercises constitute core of curriculum.
• For boyhood stage:- physical sciences, languages, mathematics, manual
work, social relations , music and drawing constitute the curriculum at this
stage. The character would develop by these subjects.
• For adolescence stage:- special stress was laid out on moral and religious
education at this stage. Moral education should be given through activities
and occupations and not through lectures.

7. METHODS OF TEACHING
The following methods proposed by him were:-
• Learning by doing
• Direct experience
• Method of industrial instruction
• Heuristic method
• Example is better than precept
ROLE OF TEACHER
Rousseau did not assign high place to the teacher. The teacher should see
that the education of pupils is the free development of the interests and
motives. He should provide suitable opportunities. He should protect the
child from depression mental conflicts and mental disorders of all kinds.