Foundations of Education

Content
Sr.no. Topics Pg.no.
1 Foundations of curriculum 2
2 Educational Philosophy 4
3 Perennialism 5
4 Progressivism 7
5 Essentialism 10
6 Reconstructionism 11
7 Conclusion 14
8 References 15
Foundations of curriculum:

Foundations are the forces that influence the minds of curriculum developers.

In this way they affect the content and structure of the curriculum.

The curriculum reflects the society and culture of a country and this is the desire of a society that
their children should learn the habits, ideas, attitudes and skills of the adult society and culture
and educational institutional are the proper way to impart these skill. This duty of teacher and
school to discipline the young of the society and provide them the set of experiences in the form
of curriculum. The needs, knowledge and information of the society provide foundation in the
formation of curriculum. Five major Foundations of curriculum are:

 Historical foundation of curriculum

 Philosophical foundation of curriculum
 Psychological foundation of curriculum
 Socio-cultural foundation of curriculum
 Economic foundation of curriculum

Here we discuss about the Philosophical foundation of education.

Educational philosophy:

Educational philosophy refers to the person’s beliefs and values about education and serves as
the foundation for his/her practice of his/her profession

Philosophical/ ideological foundation

It is concerned with beliefs.

What is real --- ONTOLOGY

What is true --- EPISTEMOLOGY

What is good – AXIOLOGY

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 The word philosophy comes from the Greek roots “Philo” mean love and “sophis” means
wisdom. In this way Philosophy means the love of wisdom, it search for truth, not simple truth,
it search for eternal truth, reality and general principles of life. Curriculum help in the practical
use of knowledge in real life situations and understanding realities and ideas of life and this
world that why curriculum is called the dynamic side of philosophy.

“The study of ideas about Knowledge, Truth, Nature and meaning of life etc.”

A study of the philosophy of education in terms of Curriculum development is essential.

In essence, a philosophy of education influences, and to a large extent determines, our
educational decisions and alternatives. Those who are responsible for curricular decisions,
therefore, should be clear about what they believe. If we are unclear or confused about our own
beliefs, then our curricular plans are bound to be unclear and confusing. One important step in
developing a personal philosophy of education is to understand the various alternatives that
others have developed over the years. Here we shall look into the following four major
philosophical positions that have, hitherto, influenced curriculum development.
i)Idealism
ii)Realism
iii)Pragmatism
iv) Existentialism

Curriculum is used for the modification of the behavior of the students and philosophy help in
the process of finding new ways and basis for teachers and curriculum planner to modify their
behavior. Philosophy also helps in the exploring new methods of teaching and how to apply in
the classroom situation for better achievement of the teaching learning process. It also provides
new ways and methods for the evaluation of student’s achievement and evaluation of curriculum.

Philosophers of the past have made major influence in clarifying the association in the nature of
knowledge and curriculum development process and also provide a foundation for curriculum;
Plato presented a curriculum in his book “republic” at that times and it is still the core of the
curriculum of today. Knowledge is given the high role in human life.

The world emphasis on finding new ways through which man develops new concepts of reality
and knowledge and to form a new structure of knowledge in this dynamic and changing time

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therefore a high value is given to discovery, invention and restructuring of knowledge and
curriculum in new patterns. Now the new curriculum is open to new experiences, logical and
critical thinking, and to bring about the concept of knowledge out of interpreted experience.

Philosophy and ideology of education provide rules and principles which lead the in decision-
making regarding educational practices and polices planning. It Guides the curriculum planner
on the basses of the philosophical and ideological belief of the society in the constructing of
subject matter keeping in view the future demands and needs of the schools and help in the
promoting of human life through social change in the behavior of the students. In Pakistan the
ideological beliefs of the society is based on

Islam…

Therefore they are looking for curriculum planner to introduce such curriculum in education
system, which inculcate true knowledge of Islam and preserve the culture of Muslim society in
new generation that why they believe that Islamic curricula should be based on the ideology of
Islamic laws and principles.

Educational philosophies:

Educational philosophy can be derived from the roots of idealism, realism, pragmatism and
existentialism, a common approach is to provide a pattern of educational philosophies which
derives from the major schools of philosophy. Here, we shall be looking into the following four
educational philosophies for their implications in the area of curriculum development.

1. Perennialism

2. Essentialism

3. Progressivism

4. Reconstructionism

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 1. Perennialism:

The most conservative, Traditional or flexible philosophy. A philosophy of education that

focuses on teaching learners things considered to be lasting or enduring. Perennialism means
that one should teach the things that one deems to be of “everlasting” importance to all people
everywhere. The most that topics develop a person, it says that one should teach principles not
facts. Perennialism philosophy of education says since people are human, one should teach first
about humans, not machines or techniques. Modern Perennialism is a strategy that teaches
scientific reasoning, not facts; this gives the students a human side to the science, and shows the
reasoning in action Perennialism philosophy of education focuses first.

For Perennialists, the aim of education is to ensure that students acquire understandings about
the great ideas of Western civilization. These ideas have the potential for solving problems in
any era. The focus is to teach ideas that are everlasting, to seek enduring truths which are
constant, not changing, as the natural and human worlds at their most essential level, do not
change. Teaching these unchanging principles is critical. Humans are rational beings, and their
minds need to be developed. Thus, cultivation of the intellect is the highest priority in a
worthwhile education. The demanding curriculum focuses on attaining cultural literacy, stressing
students' growth in enduring disciplines. The loftiest accomplishments of humankind are
emphasized– the great works of literature and art, the laws or principles of science. Advocates of
this educational philosophy are Robert Maynard Hutchins who developed a Great Books
program in 1963 and Mortimer Adler, who further developed this curriculum based on 100 great
books of western civilization.

Perennialists believe that the focus of education should be the ideas that have lasted over
centuries. They recommend that students learn from reading and analyzing the works by
history’s finest thinkers and writers. Essentialists believe that when student study these works
and ideas, they will appreciate learning. Perennials classrooms are also centered on teachers in
order to accomplish these goals. The teachers are not concerned about the students’ interests or
experiences.

There are two kinds of Perennialism in education are:

 Secular Perennialism
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  Religious Perennialism

Secular Perennialism-the word perennial suggests something that lasts for an indefinite long
time, recurs again and again, or is self-renewing. Secular Perennialism education comprises the
humanist and scientific traditions. The important thing in secular Perennialism is learning to
reason. Secular Perennialism also advocates using original work in education. Formulated in 20th
century by Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler.

Religious Perennialism is focused on the personal development of the students, and says that all
learning does not come from within, because it always had to be provided as sensed signs that
the students must perceive. Religious Perennialism continues to shape the nature of Catholic
schools throughout the world. First developed by Thomas Aquinas.

General Principle of Perennialism:

 Permanence is more real than change.

 Human nature remains essentially the same no matter the culture.
 The good life –the life that is fit for man/woman to live-remains essentially the
same.
 Moral principles remain essentially the same.
 Education that men/woman receive should remain essentially the same.

PERENNIALISM AND CURRICULUM

Perennialism is a specific educational philosophy and is derived from ancient Greek philosophies
such as idealism and realism. One of the major tenets of perennialism is that knowledge that has
withstood the test of time is what is needed to be taught. The goals of education have been the
same throughout time. Human nature is constant and mankind has the ability to understand the
truths of nature.

A common characteristic of a perennialist curriculum is a subject centered lessons, organized

body of knowledge, and a focuses on developing the thinking skills of students. Lecture,
question and answer, are common instructional methods. There is no difference among students

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and everyone learns the same thing at the same speed. The “three R’s” are one form of this type
of curriculum.

2. Progressivism

Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content
or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active
experimentation. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing
the world. It is active, not passive. The learner is a problem solver and thinker who makes
meaning through his or her individual experience in the physical and cultural context. Effective
teachers provide experiences so that students can learn by doing. Curriculum content is derived
from student interests and questions. The scientific method is used by progressivist educators so
that students can study matter and events systematically and first hand. The emphasis is on
process-how one comes to know. The Progressive education philosophy was established in
America from the mid-1920s through the mid-1950s. John Dewey was its foremost proponent.
One of his tenets was that the school should improve the way of life of our citizens through
experiencing freedom and democracy in schools. Shared decision making, planning of teachers
with students, student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority.

John Dewey (1859–1952) was one of the United States’ best known academics, philosophers and
public intellectuals, a professor at the University of Chicago. Dewey was the American founder
of ‘progressive education’, a direct counterpoint to the ‘traditional’ or didactic education of the
schools of the early 20th century.

The term progressive was engaged to distinguish this education from the traditional Euro-
American curricula of the 19th century, which was rooted in classical preparation for the
university and strongly differentiated by social class. By contrast, progressive education finds its
roots in present experience. Most progressive education programs have these qualities in
common:

Emphasis on learning by doing – hands-on projects, expeditionary learning, experiential

learning.

 Collaborative and cooperative learning projects

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  Education for social responsibility and democracy.
 Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units.
 Assessment by evaluation of child's projects and productions.

Beginning in 1897 John Dewey published a summary of his theory on progressive education in
School Journal. His theoretical standpoints are divided into five sections outlined below.

What education is?

Education according to Dewey is the "participation of the individual in the social consciousness
of the race" (Dewey, 1897, Para. 1). As such, education should take into account that the student
is a social being. The process begins at birth with the child unconsciously gaining knowledge and
gradually developing their knowledge to share and partake in society.

What the school is?

Education fails because it neglects this fundamental principle of the school as a form of
community life. It conceives the school as a place where certain information is to be given,
where certain lessons are to be learned, or where certain habits are to be formed" (Dewey, 1897,
Para. 17). Dewey felt that as education is a social construct, it is therefore a part of society and
should reflect the community.

The subject matter of education:

According to Dewey, the curriculum in the schools should reflect that of society. The center of
the school curriculum should reflect the development of humans in society.

Curriculum is a very important theory. The curriculum of progressivism is known to integrate

several subjects but not reflect universal truths, a particular body of knowledge, or a set of
prescribed core courses. Lerner described the curriculum as child centered, peer centered, growth
centered, growth centered, and also community centered. This would make the student learn in a
different way and they would experience science by exploring their immediate physical world.
(Ivy Vinson)

The nature of method

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Method is focused on the child's powers and interests. If the child is thrown into a passive role as
a student, absorbing information, the result is a waste of the child's education. (Dewey, 1897).

The teachers who use the philology progressivism should teach and plan lessons that deal with
group activities. These activities that the teacher plans should be able to help the student use their
mind through problem solving, that they work together and use each other’s minds. The
progressivism curriculum is a very energetic. (Brandon Hunter)

The school and social progress

Education is the most fundamental method of social reconstruction for progress and reform.
Dewey believes that "education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social
consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social
consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction" (Dewey, 1897, para. 60).

Purpose of Schooling

Progressivists believe the purpose of schooling should be not about competition, but about being
able to cooperate. Being able to develop problem-solving and decision-making skills is a major
part of progressivism and what progressivists believe. (Taylor Manderfield)

Classroom Management

In a progressivist class the class room is a very active classroom. The class is more self-directed,
the teachers have to focus on the students as an individual, and that makes it better to see the
student develop. The classroom would also focus on a democracy environment and show case
citizenship. (Brandon Hunter)

Assessment

The approach that Progressive has to evaluation differs from the traditional approaches because
of all the supporting group process, cooperative learning and democratic participation.
According to the text, Foundations of American Education, 6th edition, assessment deals with
monitoring what the students are doing and appraising what skills the students still need to learn.

The Progressivist Teacher

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This is the kind of teacher that serves more as a guide and they facilitate learning by assisting
students to sample direct experience. The progressivist teacher works beyond the individual in
the classroom.

3. Essentialism:

Essentialism is the view that for any specific entity there is a set of attributes which are necessary
to its identity and function. In Western thought the concept is found in the work of Plato and
Aristotle. Platonic idealism is the earliest known theory of how all things and concepts have an
essential reality behind them (an "Idea" or "Form"), an essence that makes those things and
concepts what they are. Aristotle's Categories proposes that all objects are the objects they are by
virtue of their substance, that the substance makes the object what it is. The essential qualities of
an object, so George Lake off summarizes Aristotle's highly influential view, are "those
properties that make the thing what it is, and without which it would be not that kind of thing”.
This view is contrasted with non-essentialism, which states that, for any given kind of entity,
there are no specific traits which entities of that kind must possess.

Essentialism has been controversial from its beginning. Plato's Socrates already problematizes
the concept of the Idea by positing in the Parmenides that if we accept Ideas of such things as
Beauty and Justice (every beautiful thing or just action would partake of that Idea in some sense
in order to be beautiful or just), we must also accept the "existence of separate forms for hair,
mud, and dirt". In biology and other natural sciences, essentialism provided the basis for and
rationale of taxonomy at least until the time of Charles Darwin the precise role and importance of
essentialism in biology is still a matter of debate.

The aim of essentialist tenets to the transmission of cultural heritage. Essentialist unlike the
Reconstructionist, who would change the society, the essentialists seek to preserve it.
Essentialists also unlike again Reconstructionist, who would seek to adjust society to its
populace, but the essentialists seek to adjust men and women in society.

In philosophy

An essence characterizes a substance or a form, in the sense of the Forms or Ideas in Platonic
idealism. It is permanent, unalterable, and eternal; and present in every possible world. Classical

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humanism has an essentialist conception of the human being, which means that it believes in an
eternal and unchangeable human nature. The idea of an unchangeable human nature has been
criticized by Kierkegaard, Marx, Heidegger, Sartre, and many other existential thinkers.

Aristotle was the first to use the terms hyle and morphe. According to Aristotle, all entities have
two aspects, "matter" and "form". It is the particular form imposed that gives some matter its
identity, its quiddity or "whatness" (i.e., its "what it is").

Plato was one of the first essentialists, believing in the concept of ideal forms, an abstract entity
of which individual objects are mere facsimiles. To give an example; the ideal form of a circle is
a perfect circle, something that is physically impossible to make manifest, yet the circles that we
draw and observe clearly have some idea in common this idea is the ideal form. Plato believed
that these ideas are eternal and vastly superior to their manifestations in the world, and that we
understand these manifestations in the material world by comparing and relating them to their
respective ideal form. Plato's forms are regarded as patriarchs to essentialist dogma simply
because they are a case of what is intrinsic and a-contextual of objects the abstract properties that
makes them what they are.

The goals of essentialist are the cognitive and intellectual. Organized courses for the transmitting
the culture, and emphasis is placed on mental discipline. The three R’s and the hard (i.e.
academic) subject form the core of the essentialist curriculum. Current and continuing emphasis
on the basic skills and the academic disciplines derives from the essentialists. Thus the
educational programs and practices maintain a strong essentialistic orientation

4. What are reconstructions?

Social Reconstructionism is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing of social questions and
a quest to create a better society and worldwide democracy. Reconstructionist educators focus on
a curriculum that highlights social reform as the aim of education. Theodore Brameld (1904-
1987) was the founder of social reconstructionism, in reaction against the realities of World War
II. He recognized the potential for either human annihilation through technology and human
cruelty or the capacity to create a beneficent society using technology and human compassion.
George Counts (1889-1974) recognized that education was the means of preparing people for
creating this new social order.
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Critical theorists, like social reconstructionists’, believe that systems must be changed to
overcome oppression and improve human conditions. Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was a Brazilian
whose experiences living in poverty led him to champion education and literacy as the vehicle
for social change. In his view, humans must learn to resist oppression and not become its
victims, nor oppress others. To do so requires dialog and critical consciousness, the development
of awareness to overcome domination and oppression. Rather than "teaching as banking," in
which the educator deposits information into students' heads, Freire saw teaching and learning as
a process of inquiry in which the child must invent and reinvent the world.(1999LeoNora M.
Cohen)

Social Reconstructionism:

Social Reconstruction is a philosophy that heavily emphasizes social questions and questions
about society itself in a better effort to create a more successful society in the future. At the
center of the curriculum for a Social Reconstructionist is a focus on social reform. The creator of
social reconstructionism was Theodore Brameld. He originally came up with this theory as a
reaction against World War II. He correctly recognized the potential for either human
annihilation through technology and human cruelty or the capacity to create a society that was
better through the use of technology and pure human compassion. Additionally, George Counts
also recognized this as a valid theory in preparing people for creating the new social order. (Greg
De Mare)

The Purpose of Schooling

Critically examine all cultural and educational institutions and recommended change and reform
as needed.

o To teach students and the public not to settle for "what is" but rather to dream about what
might be.
o Prepare Students to become agents for change.(Foundations of American Education
Josh Wilson)

Nature of the Learner

Students are a critical element in bringing social change

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Students are capable of initiating and adapting to change especially if they are influenced by
appropriate adult role models

Curriculum

Reflect democratic ideals and emphasize civic education

Opportunity for students to gain first-hand experience in studying real social problems and
controversial issues.

Instructional Methods

Cooperative learning, problem solving, critical thinking

Focus on active learning and activities outside of school

Students spend time in the community to learn its problems

Would analyze research and link issues to place in the community and larger society

Take action or responsibility in planning for change

Foundation of American Education (Josh Wilson)

Assessment

Students have the ability to think in critical terms and expose their assumptions and practices
Oppose standardized test of both students and teachers. Should only if mandated by local, state,
or federal authorities. Foundations of American Education (Josh Wilson)

As a Teacher

Must be willing to engage in ongoing renewal of their person and professional lives

Criticize and evaluate work conditions and extend educational role outside of hte classroom

Must be comfortable with constant change

Dislikes the status quo and views school as a particular culture in evolution.

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Contributions of Philosophy towards Education

 From various Philosophies, guidelines for education are derived. Each Philosophy
suggests objective that need to be adjusted in education and curriculum.
 Teaching them to the new generation should preserve values, customs and knowledge
acquired in the past.
 Intellectual abilities need to be catered along side the utilitarian knowledge by including
relevant subject matter.
 Student must learn how to accept and adapt changes as they occur.
 Students require techniques and skills in experimentation so that knowledge can be
advanced.
 Schools should be the leader in directing change.
 Education should facilitate all students to their highest potentialities.

Conclusion:

Education aims to promote a set of believes, ideas, values, customs and norms. These are
furnished by the Philosophy. Philosophy is a set of values that act as a guide in decision making
concerning education. Educational Philosophy has four major types’ perennialiam,
progressivism, essentialism, Reconstructionism. Only two of these philosophies appear to have
large following in today’s schools. These four schools of thought can listed as most liberal and
the most conservative. Reconstructionism and progressivism are liberal educational philosophies,
and perennialism and essentialism are conservative philosophies of education. Essentialism and
Progressivism have been and remain potent contenders for public and professional support.
Philosophy help to determine the purposes of subject matter, the extent to which changes in the
society will be addressed and the extent school should promote social change. Philosophies view
that all cultural groups should improve, make progress and advance. In order to achieve this it is
advocate that in education there should be a desire to explore, to experiment, to investigate, to
advance learning and to improve living conditions.

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References:

Hayes, William (2006). The progressive education movement: Is it still a factor in today's
schools?. Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Butts, R Freeman; Cremin, Lawrence (1958). A History of Education in American Culture.

Blyth, A. (1981). "From individuality to character: the Herbartian sociology applied to

education". British Journal of Educational Studies. 29 (1): 69–79.

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