Foundation of Education

1. LESSON 4:
PIONEERS OF
MODERN TEACHING

2. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS
Born March 28, 1592 in Nivnice, Moravia,
which is now in the Czech Republic
His early education as a young man had
been in a Latin school, which was the classic
system of the day. He called his early school
setting as “the terror of boys and the
slaughter-houses of minds; places where a
hatred of literature and books is
contracted, where ten or more years are
spent in learning what might be acquired
in one, where what ought to be poured in
gently is violently forced in and beaten in.”

3. He was an education reformer and religious leader who is
now known as the Father of Modern Education.
His reform of the existing education systems called for a
revolution in methods of teaching calling for approaches that
would allow learning to be rapid, pleasant, and thorough.
Comenius advocated for an educational system that allowed
all children the opportunity to learn. In The Great Didactic, he
stated: “Not the children of the rich or of the powerful only, but
of all alike, boys and girls, both noble and ignoble, rich and
poor, in all cities and towns, villages and hamlets, should be
sent to school.”

4. Some of the many reforms he proposed
included:
The ultimate goal of education is not to make better
citizens or scholars but to make better disciples. The
ultimate goals of education are to obtain religion,
knowledge, and virtue.
Learning requires discipline, but not drudgery. While
education involves hard work on the part of the student, it
is the teacher’s responsibility to make the school
environment a place where learning is a delight.

5. Learning should be staged. Each subject should be taught
on a gradual level from the simple to the more complex.
While learning classical language is important, so are other
subjects. In addition to just teaching Latin in school, which
was the standard practice at the time, other subjects taught
in their primary language should be given to train children
to observe and to discover truths in the world around
them.
The learning of all subjects should be integrated. Rather
than the fragmentation of topics, the connection of subjects
should be shown.

6. The curriculum should focus on key principles, not trivial,
useless facts. Too much detail, which could be confusing and
cause overload, should not take the place of key concepts.
Teaching methods should appeal to the whole person. Rather
than using the common lecture format, integrating the
senses and fueling the imagination leads to successful
learning.
Competition in learning is to be encouraged. Peer pressure
challenges the students to work harder to succeed.

7. He also suggested school levels, which are universally
accepted today: nursery school up to the age of 6
(kindergarten), vernacular school from ages 6 to 12 (primary
school), Latin school for ages 12 to 18 (secondary school), and
university education based on merit and achievement.
Although most of Comenius’ educational proposals are
accepted worldwide today, his work was virtually ignored
after his death. It was rediscovered late in the nineteenth
century with the development of universal education, and he
is recognized today as one of the greatest scholars of
education in history

8. JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
”Everything is good as it comes from
the hands of the Author of Nature but
everything degenerates in the hands of
man.”
Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in
Italy on 28th June 1712 and one of the
famous philosophers of Naturalism
school of thought. His ideas on
education have been clearly
understood through his books.

9. According to him, nature is the only pure, clean and
ennobling influence on children. Human society is thoroughly
corrupt. Therefore, man should be freed from the bondage of
society and should live in the nature. Human nature is
basically good and it must be given ample opportunities for
the free development in an open atmosphere (IGNOU, 2000).
His famous book, ‘Emile’, is in the field of child education.
Here he described the process of education through
education of an imaginary child ‘Emile’ who was given
education in a natural environment away from the
society and school. In this book, psychological principles
of education were given more importance as the child
was left free to explore nature so that she could develop
physically as well as mentally in the lap of nature.

10. Concept of Education
Rousseau suggested the given practices in education:
Complete freedom to the child/learner.
No imposed physical punishment, only the child can
experience natural punishment, that can subsequently
help/teach the child to do the right and good things.
Follow the natural law(s), because neglect or violation
invariably leads to pain and suffering.
Naturally possessed fine character.

11. Aims of Education
The following aims of education were suggested by
Rousseau:
 Emphasis on natural activities of the child According to Rousseau,
“Goodness is an innate quality of the children. All that is good which
we get from nature.”
 Child as the center of education Nature and abilities of children should
be kept in mind while planning for their education. Child is not a young
adult.
 Emphasis on Nature
According to Rousseau, Nature, Human and Physical environment
are the sources of education. Learning by doing and getting experience
is the best learning. Education is gardening of children. As plants
develop through care and nutrients and human develop through
education.

12. Role of the Teacher
According to him, a teacher is not the source of
information but must act as a motivator for learning.
Children should not be directed but guided. Teacher
must understand the nature of children. So, he/she
should be tolerant and able to check his/her
emotions. He/she must not think of keeping the child
under his/her control as the child needs to be
provided with full freedom for exploring and learning.
Proper guidance should be provided by the teacher to
the child.

13. Rousseau’s Contribution to Education
 He discovered and recognized the childhood traits.
 He advocated basis of child psychology
 He was the forerunner of modern educational psychology.
 He laid the foundation of free and positive discipline. He said, “Let
the child move freely in nature and learn from his/her own personal
experience and through actual participation in day to day life
activities.”

14. He emphasized on negative education as compared to positive
education as formal and rigid education tries to prepare the child for
adult roles before time by providing lot of information and
instructions in an artificial environment. Negative education is
without any ties and control mechanism. In this the child learns
according to his/her nature and at his/her own pace. In this type
his/her all faculties develop naturally. Advocating negative education,
Rousseau emphasized on the following:
 No learning through books rather learning through direct
experiences from the nature
 No time saving (provide enough time to the child to live in nature)
 No habit formation

15. No social education for the children (as the upper class
society was corrupt at that time)
No direct moral education
No strict and formal discipline
No traditional education method

16. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi,
Swiss social reformer and
educator, is known as the
Father of Modern Education.
The modern era of education
started with him and his spirit
and ideas led to the great
educational reforms in Europe
in the nineteenth century.
The father of pedagogy

17. He believed in the ability of every individual human being to
learn and in the right of every individual to education.
He believed that it was the duty of society to put this right
into practice.
He believed that education should develop the powers of
‘Head’, ‘Heart’ and ‘Hands’.
He believed that this would help create individuals who are
capable of knowing what is right and what is wrong and of
acting according to this knowledge.

18. What is the contribution of Johann
Heinrich Pestalozzi to education?
The interests and needs of the child.
A child-centered rather than teacher-centered approach to
teaching.
Active rather than passive participation in the learning
experience.
The freedom of the child based on his or her natural
development balanced with the self-discipline to function
well as an individual and in society.
The child having direct experience of the world and the use
of natural objects in teaching.

19. • The use of the senses in training pupils in observation and
judgement.
• Cooperation between the school and the home and between
parents and teachers.
• The importance of an all-round education – an education of
the head, the heart and the hands, but which is led by the
heart.
• The use of systemized subjects of instruction, which are also
carefully graduated and illustrated.

20. • Learning which is cross-curricular and includes a varied
school life
• Education which puts emphasis on how things are taught
as well as what is taught
• Authority based on love, not fear
• Teacher training

21. Johann Herbart (1776–1841)
Johann Friedrich Herbart (May
4, 1776 - August 11, 1841) was
a German philosopher, psychologis
t, and founder of pedagogy as an
academic discipline. His work
found little favor during his
lifetime, but after his death it had
profound influence on teaching
practices.

22. The building of character as the essential goal of education,
rather than simply the accumulation of knowledge, is not
itself a new idea.
In Herbart's day, psychology did not exist as a separate
discipline, and while education as a practice had existed for
centuries again there was no discipline separate from
philosophy that addressed its goals and methods. Herbart,
then, was a philosopher, whose work advanced the
establishment of the scientific discipline of psychology. But
his most significant impact lay in the field of education and
the creation of the "art and science of teaching"—pedagogy.

23. Although Herbart was a contemporary of Fröbel , and they
were both enthusiastic about the work of Pestalozzi and the
opportunities it offered in the development
of educational theory, they followed very different directions
in their work. Herbart not only made significant
contributions to the reform of teaching practices he also
revolutionized pedagogical thinking (Hilgenheger 1993).
His philosophical view, based on realism, that all mental
phenomena result from the interaction of elementary ideas,
led Herbart to believe that a science of education was
possible. Herbart's work led to the establishment and
acceptance of pedagogy as an academic discipline.

24. Herbart distinguished between education shaping the
development of character with a view to improving the
person and teaching developing existing aptitudes,
imparting useful skills, and conveying new information. For
Herbart, these two are linked hierarchically, with teaching
being the "central activity of education" (Hilgenheger
1993).
He believed that educational methods must be founded in
psychology, to provide understanding of the mind, and
ethics to determine the goals of education (Clark 2000).
Herbart’s pedagogy emphasized the connection between
individual development and the resulting societal
contribution.

25. According to Herbart, abilities were not innate but could be
instilled. Only formalized, rigorous education, Herbart
believed, could provide the framework for moral and
intellectual development. In order to appeal to learners’
interests, Herbart advocated using classical literature
and historical stories instead of the drier readers and
predictable, moralistic tales that were popular at the time
(Smith 2002: 111).

26. In his work Universal Pedagogy (1906), Herbart advocated
five formal steps in teaching, which were translated into a
practical teaching methodology:
Preparation- prepare students to be ready for the new
lesson
Presentation- present the new lesson
Association -associate the new lesson with ideas studied
earlier
Generalization- use examples to illustrate the lesson's major
points
Application- test students to ensure they learned the new
lesson

27. Herbart believed that such an educational paradigm
would provide an intellectual base that would lead to a
consciousness of social responsibility:
Using this structure a teacher prepared a topic of interest to
the children, presented that topic, and questioned them
inductively, so that they reached new knowledge based on
what they had already known, looked back, and deductively
summed up the lesson’s achievements, then related them to
moral precepts for daily living (Miller 2003: 114).

28. Herbart’s pedagogy continued to influence the field by
raising important questions about the role of critical
thinking, and literary appreciation in education. The building
of character, rather than simply the accumulation of
knowledge, which he viewed as a method to achieve that
goal, is a cornerstone to his theory. It can be said that
without it, the whole enterprise of education is weakened if
not fatally undermined.

29. FRIEDRICH FROEBEL (1782-1852)
Born on 21 April 1782 Friedrich
Froebel was a German educator
who invented the kindergarten.
He believed that “play is the
highest expression of human
development in childhood for it
alone is the free expression of
what is in the child’s soul.”

30. Froebel considered the whole child’s, health, physical
development, the environment, emotional well-being,
mental ability, social relationships and spiritual aspects of
development as important.
Froebel believed that it was important for practitioners to
understand the principles of observation including
professional practice, the multiple lenses through which
they see children- and that children see their worlds, as well
as offering children freedom with guidance and considering
the children’s environments including people and materials
as a key element of how they behave.

31. Froebelian principles as articulated by Professor Tina
Bruce (1987, 1st edition and 2015, 5th edition).
Childhood is seen as valid in it self, as part of life and not
simply as preparation for adulthood.
The whole child is considered to be important
Learning is not compartmentalized, for everything links.
Intrinsic motivation, resulting in child-initiated, self directed
activity, is valued.
Self- discipline is emphasized.
There are specially receptive periods of learning at different
stages of development.

32. What children can do (rather than what they cannot do) is
the starting point in the child’s education.
There is an inner life in the child, which emerges especially
under favorable conditions.
The people (both adults and children) with whom the child
interacts are of central importance.
Quality education is about three things: the child, the
context in which learning takes place, and the knowledge
and understanding which the child develops and learns.

33. A Froebelian principled approach to early childhood
education in practice:
It is important that practitioners offer children what they
need now.
The practitioner must nurture the ideas, feelings,
relationships and physical development and embodiment of
children.
Children are self-motivated when they are encouraged to be
so and their intrinsic motivation to learn is not crushed, but
nurtured by practitioners that have an understanding of
them.

34. Children are encouraged to develop self-discipline.
Children need to be given choices, allowed to make
errors, decisions and offered sensitive help as and
when it is needed.
Practitioners need to place emphasis on what the
children can do, rather than what they can’t do. The
tone and atmosphere should be encouraging and not
judgmental or critical.
Children need to be given personal space to
construct, build and model.

35. Practitioners create warm affectionate
atmospheres, which open children up to
learning and help children to know themselves,
respect themselves, like themselves, and engage
with their learning very positively.
Froebel believed that practitioners also create
the physical environment both indoors and
outdoors.

36. Herbert Spencer (1820—1903)
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
was an English philosopher,
sociologist, and advocate of the
theory of evolution. He also had
significant views on education,
which he integrated into his
broader philosophy.

37. Here are some key aspects of his
philosophy of education:
Individualism
Naturalism
Self-Education
Practical Knowledge
Utilitarianism
Gradual Progression
Non-Interference

38. Herbert Spencer was the naturalist who enunciated
several principles of teaching such as:
 Proceeding from easy to difficult situations and experiences.
 Proceeding from indefinite(vague) to definite (clear) meaning;
thereby that the teacher should make child’s Knowledge which is
vague, clear and definite.
 Proceeding from known to unknown which means the new
experience to be given should follow the one which the child has
already undergone.
 Conforming to the stages of development which means that the
method of teaching should be suitable from the point of view of the
characteristics of child’s development.

39. Proceeding from concrete to abstract which means concrete
things and experiences should be presented first and
abstract ones after them.
 Proceeding from experimental to rational knowledge. It
means that the child should, first, be allowed to experiment
with things around. This will prepare him to acquire and
retain rational knowledge given in books.
 Create interest in learning by using audio-visual aids, charts,
diagrams etc., in order to concretize knowledge.

40. Education today continues to be influenced by Spencer's Social
Darwinist theories. In fact, his curriculum activities based on human
needs are still being implemented in one form or another. His
influences are still felt as education continues to discuss voucher
systems for private schools, the smaller role of government in
education, and in the stressing of teaching skills that will assist
students in becoming individuals who contribute to the good of
society.

41. Thank you

42. References
https://www.pgpedia.com/c/john-amos-comenius
https://www.scribd.com/document/83628224/Rousseau-and-
Educational-Philosophy
https://jhpestalozzi.org/
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Johann_Friedrich_Herb
art#Education
https://early-education.org.uk/friedrich-froebel/