My Concrete Experience

This activity will enable you to ask yourself about the different future practices or
actions that you will do in teaching. You ma not have done it yet, but if you become a teacher
what do would be your response to each item? Your ansers will identify what your philosophy
of education is all about.
Answer each item in the Survery Questionnaire very honestly. There is no right nor
wrong anser for each item. After you have answered each item, record your answers and
look at the interpretation at the back of this work text.
After you have answered the questionnaire yourself, you are to ask two teachers to do
the same activity.
WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION?
(based on Sadker & Sadker, 1998 Teachers, Schools and Society , 2
nd
Ed)
Each of us has a philosophy of education or a set of fundamental beliefs regarding how
we thinks schools must be run. What is your philosophy of education? To find out, read each
of the following statements about the nature of education. Decide whether you agree or
disagree with each statement. Use the following numbers to express your response:
4 Agree strongly 2 Disagree
3 Agree 1 Disagree strongly
______1. The student learning should be centered around basic subject such as reading,
writing, history, math and science.
______2. The school subjects should focus on the great thinkers of the past.
______3. Many students learn best by engaging in real world activites rather than reading.
______4. The students should be permitted to determine their own curriculum.
______5. Subject matter is taught effectively when it is broken down into small parts.
______6. The school subjects should be determined by information that is essential for all
students to know.
______7. Schools, above all, should develop students abilities to think deeply, analytically, and
creatively; than develop their social skills or provide them with a useful body of
knowledge about the ever-changing world.
______8. Teaching should prepare students for analyzing and solving the types of problems
they will face outside the classroom.
______9. Reality is determined by each individuals perceptions. There is no objective and
universal reality.
______10. People are shaped much more by their environment than by their genetic
dispositions or the exercise of their free will.
______11. Students should not be promoted from one grade to the next until they have read
and mastered certain key material.
______12. An effective education is not aimed at the immediate needs of the students or
society.
______13. The curriculum of a school should be built around the personal experiences and
needs of the students.
______14. Students who do not want to study much should not be required to do so.
______15. Programmed learning is an effective method of teaching information.
______16. Academic rigor is an essential component of education.
______17. All students, regardless of ability, should study more or less the same curriculum.
______18. Art classes should focus primarily on individual expression and creativity.
______19. Effective learning is unstructured and informal.
______20. Students learn best through reinforcement.
______21. Effective schools assign a substantial amount of homework.
______22. Education should focus on the discussion of timeless question such as What is
beauty? or What is truth?
______23. Since students learn effectively through social interaction, schools should plan for
substantial social interaction in their curricula.
______24. The purpose of school is to help students understand themselves and find the
meaning of their existence.
______25. Frequent objective testing is the best way to determine what students know.
______26. Countries must become more competitive economically with other countries hence
schools must bolster their academic requirements to facilitate such competition.
______27. Students must be taught to appreciate learning primarily for its own sake, because it
will help them in their careers.
______28. Schools must place more emphasis on teaching about the concerns of minorities and
women.
______29. Each person has free will to develop as he or she sees fit.
______30. Reward students well for learning and they will remember and be able to apply what
they learned, even if they do not understand why the information is worth knowing.
______31. Philippine schools should attempt to instill traditional Filipino values in students.
______32. Teacher-guided discovery of profound truths is a key method of teaching students.
______33. Students should be active participants in the learning process.
______34. There are no external standard of beauty. Beauty is what an individual decides it to
be.
______35. We can place a lot of faith in our schools and teachers to determine which student
behaviors are acceptable and which are not.
______36. Schools must provide students with a firm grasp of basic facts regarding the books,
people, and events that have shaped the Filipino heritage.
______37. Philosophy is ulitimately at least as practical a subject to study as is computer
science.
______38. Teachers must stress for students the relevance of what they are learning for their
lives outside, as well as inside, the classroom.
______39. It is more important for a student to develop a positive self-concept than to learn
specific concept.
______40. Learning is more effective when students are given frequent tests to determine,
what they have learned.


Note: Photocopy two copies of this instrument. Request two teachers to answer the
remaining questionnaire. Tabulate all the answers in the matrix provided.
Now that you have responded to all 40 items, write the number of the response to each
statement in the matrix below. Add the numbers in each column to determine your
attitude and those of the two teachers toward key educational philosophies.
My Philosophy of Education

Item S T1 T2 Item S T1 T2 Item S T1 T2 Item S T1 T2 Item S T1 T2
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30
31 32 33 34 35
36 37 38 39 40
Total Total Total Total Total
Legend: S-self; T1- Teacher 1; T2- Teacher 2
Among the three of you, who is more inclined to be an essentialist, perennialist,
progressivist, essentialist or behaviorist?

My Observations
Visit a teacher in a school and observe what school/clasroom activities reflect his/her
philosophy of education while she is teaching. Identify and describe teahers action or
behavior and match each with the identified educational philosophy.
1. Observed actions of a teacher who is a progressivist:





2. Observed actions of a teacher who is a behaviorist:

Essentialism Perennialism Progressivism Existentialism Behaviorism
My Reflections
Based on your concrete experience and the actions of the teacher you have observed,
how important is your philosophy of education to your future career as a teacher? How would
your experiences and observations contribute to your becoming a teacher?






My Affirmed Concepts
Identify at least three concepts learned in your previous subject like the Teaching Profession
which are related to the Experiential Learning Episode 3 (Teaching Belief/Philosophy) that are
confirmed or affirmed in this activity? Enumerate.
1. Affirmed Concept 1 _______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. Affirmed Concept 2 _______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. Affirmed Concept _________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________






My Future Application
Using the first hand experiences in this activity, how will I use these when I become
a teacher in the Future?

a. In teaching and learning_________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
b. In addressing diversity of learners _________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
c. In creating a conducive learning environment _______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________