PRINCIPLES

OF EDUCATION
Introduction of Education:

Human life is the best and the most complicated creation of nature. While its social
and cultural aspect is maintained and transmitted by education, the biological aspect
is found to be common with all other forms of living beings inclusive of plant and
animal life. It is to be observed that the sociological or culture aspect is a novel
characteristic of human life alone. Only a human being possesses the cognition and
capability to be educated through edification, he constantly strives to become better,
seeking new ideas and working to get new perspectives on life. It is again education
that helps him enhance his intellect and nurture his wisdom that acts as a pathway
towards maximization of his potential. With the improved knowledge he attempts to
comprehend himself in relation to his surroundings and then pass on the knowledge
achieved to succeeding generations.
A human’s life is governed primarily by two processes- biological and social. While
the operation of the organism is the innate or biological heredity, education is his
social heredity. His biological heredity alone would make him nothing better than an
animal while his social heredity makes him a competent enough to lead this world.
Education is an essential component of our lives without which human race cannot
progress. Although physical needs are common to both animals and men, but it is
only knowledge and education that makes the human race superior. To summarize,
it is education that leads the path to progress of our civilization.

Origin of the term Education

Etymologically, the term “Education” is traced to different sources of derivation.

According to one view, education originated from the Latin word, “Educere” which
means ‘to bring up’ or ‘Nourish’. In other words, it means that the child is to be
nurtured according to certain aims and ends in view. Another derivation from the
Latin word ‘educere’ means ‘to lead out’. According to this view the main intention of
education is ‘to lead’ or ‘to draw out’ rather than ‘to put in’. Yet another view
suggests that the term ‘education’ comes from the Latin word ‘educator’ which
implies the act of teaching.

A few Synonyms of Education
A number of synonyms of the word ‘education’ may be discussed here. The word
‘Pedagogy’ is a common term used for education. This word can be disected as
‘paides’ – ‘boy’ – ‘again’ – ‘to lead’. These two Greek words together mean ‘to lead the
boy’, that is we can define pedagogy as the science of instruction for purpose of

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leading the pupils. The most common Indian word ʹShiksha’, derived from the
Sanskrit verbal root ‘shas’ which means ‘to discipline’, ‘to instruct’ or ‘to teach’.

Similarly, the word ‘Vidya’ is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ‘vid’ which means
‘to know’, thus Vidya meaning the subject matter of knowledge. This gives an idea
that the concept of education in India primarily focussed on disciplining the mind
and imparting knowledge.
Thus we find that education is a complex ideaand cannot be expressed or defined in
any single terms.

Indian Concept of Education
The meaning of education has been changing through the ages with the change in
social and political conditions. ‘Education’ as defined by educational thinkers are
given below:‐

RIG VEDA: “Education is something which makes a man self reliant, self‐less”.

UPANISHADA: “Education is that whose end‐product is salvation”.

PANINI: (The famous Grammarian): “Human education means the training which
one gets from nature”.
SHANKARACHARYA: (The famous Vedantist): “Education is the realization of the
self”.

GURU NANAK: “Education is self‐realization and service of the people. Coming to

the modern age, we find a number of Indian thinkers and exponent of the ancient
Indian concept”.

VIVEKANANDA: (A modern exponent of Vedanta Philosophy): “Education is the

manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man. According to him, the aim
of all education, of all training, should be man‐making”.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE remarks, “Education mean enabling the mind to find out
that ultimate truth which emancipate us from the bondage of the dust and gives us
the wealth, not of things but of inner light, not of power, but of love, making this
truth its own and giving expression to it”.

AUROBINDO GHOSH thinks of education as “helping the growing soul to draw out
that is in itself”.

MAHATMA GANDHI says, “By education, I mean an all‐round drawing out of the
best in child and man – body, mind and spirit”.

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Dr. S. RADHAKRISHNAN: “Education is the training of the mind and spirit. It should
develop an enquiring mind, Initial in minds the worth of human beings, should train
us to control ourselves and to exercise reasoning and judgment in out actions and
have an open mind.

Western Concept of Education:

Some of the famous Western educational thinkers interpret education as follows:‐

PLATO: “Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at AT THE RIGHT
MOMENT. It develops in the body and in the soul of the pupil all the beauty and all
the perfection which he is capable of”.

ARISTOTLE: “Education is the creation of mind in a sound body. It develops man’s

faculty especially his mind, so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of
supreme truth, goodness and beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists”.
COMENIUS: “All these who are born as human beings need education because they
are destined to be real men, not wild beasts, dull animals and stamps of wood”.
PESTALOZZI: “Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of
man’s innate powers”.
FROEBEL: “Education is enfoldment of what is already enfolded in the germ. It is the
process which the child makes internal, external”

SPENCER: “Education is complete living”.
THOMPSON: “Education is the influence of the environment on the individual with a
view to producing a permanent change in his habits, behavior of thought and of
attitude”.
HORNE: “Education is the eternal process of superior adjustment of the mentally
developed from conscious human being to God, as manifested in the intellectual,
emotional and volitional environment of man”.

ROSS: “The aim of education is the development of valuable personality and spiritual
individuality”.
JOHN DEWEY: “Education is the process by living through a continuous
reconstruction of experiences. It is the development of all those capacities in the
individual which will enable him to control his environment and fulfill his
possibilities”.

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Meaning of Education:
It is therefore very difficult to give one definite meaning to the term, “Education”. For
education has been explained in different ways by thinkers, philosophers,
educationists, statesman, politicians, merchants, artisans and priests, according to
their own outlook on life and according to the circumstances they have been facing.
Their interpretations converge into a two-fold meaning of the word education-
wider and narrower.

Education in the wider or non-specific sense means the process of development from
infancy to maturity. It includes the influences one’s vocation—home life, friendship,
marriage, travel, recreations and hobbies on one’s personality, all these forming
parts of one’s life-long process of education.
Lodge in his book ‘Philosophy and Education’, explained education in wider sense,
saying: “In wider sense, all experience is said to be educative.The bite of a mosquito,
the taste of a water-melon, being caught in a storm, the experience of falling in
love....all such experiences have a directly educative effect on us. In this wider sense,
life is education and education is life”.
In the narrower sense, the term education comes down to only a few specific
influences which have a bearing on the development of the child. These influences
are deliberately planned, selected and employed by the society for the welfare of the
younger generation with the purpose of modifying the behaviour of the child
making him different from what he would have been without education and to help
him make better adjustment of human nature in relation to his surrounding
environment and at the same time transform and adjust his surroundings so as to
harmonize with human nature.

The narrower meaning, as John Stuart Mill described in his famous inaugural speech
at St. Andrews is , “Culture which each generation purposely gives to those who are
to be its successors, in order to qualify them for at least keeping up, and if possible,
for raising the level of improvement which has been attained.

Education therefore is an abstract entity with a dynamic concept. It is a continuous

process, passed through many ages and stages in the process of evolution and at
every stage it has had a different meaning according to the prevailing conditions. The
concept of education is still in a process of evolution and this process will never
come to an end.
There are three schools of philosophy which can help in framing a general definition
of education.
According to the “Naturalist”, education moulds one’s self to suit environment. So the
purpose of education is to guide the instincts of a child in order to reach the desired

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goal of life and that education helps the educated to change his surroundings by
developing his own faculties.

The ‘Idealists’ define education as a process by which a man attains his goodness.
Swami Vivekananda describes education as the development of mental and
philosophical powers with a view to attaining self realization.
The “Pragmatists” hold a practical perspective. They view education as an
experience of life, as a developing life itself through the sum total of life’s experience.
Red den’s definition of education is considered to be most precise and most widely
accepted interpretation, according to modern conception of the term – both Eastern
and Western.

He says, “Education is the deliberate and systematic influence, exerted by the nature
person upon the immature through instruction, discipline and harmonious
development of physical, intellectual, aesthetic, social and spiritual powers of the
human being, according to individual and social needs and directed towards the
union of the educand with the creator as the final end”.
According to this definition, the human child is quite immature and undeveloped at
birth who is then exposed to systematic course of instructional and disciplinary
influence by a wise and experienced person, called the ‘educator’. The child, after
undergoing this course of planned training, becomes fit for fulfilling the needs of
society and of his own life in a manner that the higher goal of life i.e. union with the
almighty father after death is also achieved ultimately.

The planned and systematic influence as mentioned in the definition means the
exercise of a systematic control over the actions of the educand. It involves utmost
care and guidance in the form of:
• inculcating good habits,

• training senses and memory,

• holistic development of imagination and powers of mind and
• strengthening of the will
Mature person should influence the immature, means that a child, who is
immature, need to be influenced by the parents, the elders and the teachers who are
more experienced.
Harmonious development means that the physical, the intellectual, the
aesthetic, the moral, the social and the spiritual elements of a man’s nature must be
developed in a balanced manner.
Power means all the abilities and interests in the child viz. the cognitive, the
reflective, the affective and the co‐native.

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The ultimate aim is the union of the individual self with the absolute. This
idea is similar to the Indian idealistic aim of education which preaches that the
ultimate aim of education is the same as the ultimate aim of life; the ultimate goal of
life is the unification of the individual self with the universal self termed as liberation,
self‐realization and attainment of supreme bliss. This is the spiritual aim of
education.

Education as a Process:

The contemporary trend is to regard education as a process which is bi‐polar in

nature, involving the inter‐play of the educator and the student. In this process, the
personality of the educator acts on that of the learner in order to modify the latter’
s development.
On the educator’s side, the process is a conscious and planned one. He knows and
realizes that his aim is to bring about the development of the educated along definite
lines through the alteration of his behavior. This modification takes place either by
the direct application of the educator’s personality to that of the learner or indirectly
through the use of knowledge in its various forms as communicated by the educator.
According to Dewey who also believes that education is a process, it has a
psychological and a sociological side. The psychological side of the process, which
includes the study of the child’s urges and powers, forms the foundation of this
process. The knowledge of child’s nature and activities will prevent the educative
process from becoming ‘haphazard and arbitrary’. However, Dewey gives more
stress on the sociological side of this purpose. “All education proceeds by the
participation of the individual in this social consciousness of the race”. This
consciousness consciously begins at birth and continually shapes and affects the
individual’s ability and personality. As the child is to live in the society to which he
belong, therefore true education comes through “the stimulation of the child’s
powers by the demands of the social situation in which he finds himself”

The emphasis on the sociological aspect is symptomatic of the influence of sociology

on the meaning, content and methods of education. Considering this and the bi‐
polar perception of education together we can safely assume that education as a
process is actually a tri‐polar miniature involving the interplay of the educator, the
learner and the social forces.

Education and Instruction:

It is important to understand the distinction between education and instruction.

Education is much higher and advanced than mere instruction. Instruction is a
narrow term confined to the communication of knowledge or to the acquiring of
useful skills. In a broader sense as viewed by Herbart, instruction is arranging the

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environment of the child in a way that the process of imparting knowledge and skills
is facilitated. Education is much more and complicated than this.

Functions of Education

Education carries out its social function through the school, a special environment. It
is through this environment that the development within the young, of the necessary
attitudes and dispositions for a continuous and successful life in society takes place.
Education shows direction, guides and controls. A child is born with a large number
of innate impulses and urges that are nor socially healthy or acceptable. These urges
and innate propensities of the mind are given right direction and socially acceptable
channel by education. This direction of control is not to be imposed on the child
rather should be through pupil’s participation in social activities within healthy
environment.
Education helps considerably in the process of growth or development. Education is
growth itself and is continuous like life. It helps the learner to grow through
formation of habits and sentiments which give control to the educant over his
environment and own innate impulses. The growth is therefore not just storage of
ideas but internal, a growth and development of one’s innate powers.
Education prepares the learner for the responsibilities and priviledges of adult life. It
equips one with the ability to cope better with the difficulties of life.
Social agencies of Education:
Education has three important functions in terms of society. It has to perpetuate the
social and cultural heritage which one generation has inherited from the other that
comprises of experiences, customs and values of the people --- the conservation
function. Besides this, education has to develop new social patterns and thus play a
creative and constructive role.

Types of Agencies

Society has also developed a number of specialized institutions to carry out these
functions of education. Some of them are ‘formal’, set up more or less deliberately by
society, specially created with the precise objective of carrying out the various
functions of education. The school, libraries, organized recreation centers are some
of the ‘formal’ agencies of these, the school is the most important. Informal agencies
include institutions which transmit culture and knowledge from one generation to
another in an informal disorganized manner. The family, the playground and the
community are some of the informal agencies.

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The Family.
Family is a significant informal but active agency of education. It was the original
social institution from which all other institutions developed, according to Ballard
who says, “Originally the family was the all inclusive social institute. All human
activity centered in the blood bound groups, hence all human relationship were
comprehended by it. It is only within comparatively recent times that the social
order expanded beyond the control of the familial group”. By all human relations is
implied economic activity, play activity, education, religious activity and others.

The family is the institution to which every individual is born and hence is important
as a primary group and an agency of education of socialization. Family is the smallest
unit of social groups in human race. According to Frank, “it is the only institution
which is an essential agency for child rearing, socialization and for introducing the
child to the culture of the society, thereby shaping the basic character structure of
our culture and forming the child’s personality”.

However, a family to be an effective agency of education should be well integrated.
This entails harmonious relationship between parents, absence of dissention,
affection and acceptance of relationships between parents and children, impartial
and healthy sibling inter-relationship.

Functions of the Family

The family maintains a proper and useful sex relation culminating into the
procreation of a new generation. However, the function of the family does not cease
with procreation, rather commences with procreation and continues to nurture the
child helping to develop its personality.
The family guides and inculcates basic education into the children to enable
them to become the future citizens of the society.

It is the family that provides the heredity and desirable environment to the
child for its all round development. The family teaches a child to acquire qualities
and values which are considered as essential elements of education.
Happiness and stability of a family depend much on the mutual
understanding, maturity and other finer sentiments of the partners. The
understanding between the two partners act as an unified force in a family.

The economic function of the family is no less important as without a sound

economic foundation the proper development of the children cannot be achieved.

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The varied educational functions of a family have changed over the years with
changing technological advancements, changing economic conditions and social
crisis.
Family was once the centre of moral education in India. The family imparted certain
types of religious and moral teachings through religious ceremonies in which every
member participated. The family determined the type of social relationships that its
members could have outside and decided the role and status of every member.
Professions were passed on from fathers to sons.

The family today has altered roles. It is in the process of disintegration. It is no

longer a centre for social activities or recreation with joint families also disappearing.
Religion has become a personal affair now. With the increasing options,
specializations and varied opportunities for vocational activities today, the family
has become inadequate in preparing its members for vocations that were once
followed by the elders
. In spite of all these, one cannot deny that the family is still one of the most
fundamental informal agencies for education in as much as it causes the
development of attitudes and habits. It continues to be a major source of affections,
security and ‘belongingness’ to children – a feeling whose importance in learning
and teaching cannot be overlooked.

Therefore, it can be assumed that family gives a man his social entity. Not only is the
family responsible for the education and development of the child, but also its
functions does cease, but not completely with the child entering into the school.

School
As civilization advanced, the idea of formal education emerged as a felt need of the
society and so the school became an indispensable unit of the society.

Function

It covers the entire educational technology from kindergarten to the post‐graduate

university course. The utility and method of training in school is expertised,
intellectual and organized to an extend that people are no longer satisfied with the
home education, preferring school education for their children as early as possible. A
school is a place where one gets the opportunity to realize and maximize one’s
talents under optimum and ideal ambience as created by the teacher. A school helps
provide for individual attention to the student, catering to their special needs for
growth and development. However, being a social agency, the school should aim at
coordinated and integrated development of an individual in order to raise him to the

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desired social standard. Again, the moral development of a child is an important role
of the school. The school guides a child’s development, controls and instructs so that
children may become moral human beings.
The school is a stepping stone of an individual from family to the society. Therefore
one of the important functions of the school is to explore individual capacities for the
promotion of social good. The school helps prepare an individual for a complete life,
builds insight and helps one to become a good citizen. The society is dynamic and
living, hence the school should incorporate essential changes in its curriculum so as
to enable its students to keep peace with the developing society.

It could be said that the function of the school is not much different from that of the
family. The school aims at an integrated development of the child to the desired
social standard and in this respect; the school provides a much wider field than that
of the family. It acts as a suitable platform where the practical training of the
children is possible according to the individual and social requirement, giving the
child a wider exposure. The child being the single learner in the family or at best one
of a few, there is little scope of its evaluation, but in school this is always possible
through mutual comparison of activities and performance. Hence, the school is an
essential field of education particularly in the modern set up of the society. The
school is therefore a miniature society where a child learns not only through books
and activities but also through daily interaction with his teachers and peers,
imbibing the social manners and customs by exchange of ideas.

In conclusion, it may be said that the school is a place to furnish a social environment
in which the real and meaningful activities of the race are simplified and balanced so
as to help children live in co‐operation and as mutually supportive people.

Educational Methodologies: The educative process or methodology implies the

process of educating a child. While American pragmatists leave more to the
children’s own will and do not interfere with their work or play, the Russian realists
on the other hand feel that it is not desirable to leave such an important decision to
the children’s whim since they are highly inexperienced and are guided mostly by
momentary impulses. In ancient days man’s life was simple and the children could
afford to lose time in only observing and making trials but in modern times life has
become very complex and a man has to depend on many others for his daily needs
and they too, get his help in one form or another. It has also become imperative for
children to know all the details of modern life as soon as possible and hence proper
methods have to be used in educating them without wasting time.

A realist educator recognizes children’s intrinsic tendencies and presents such

situation to them that they readily and intelligently start on to co‐operate with him.
(i) By using concrete aid for teachings, gives the right stimulus to their minds (ii),
(iii) makes them observe things critically, (iv) encourage them to experiment and
reach inferences and conclusions. Independent thinking, critical reasoning, good
habits, power of analysis and correctly evaluation are trained in the schools. This

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method discards the ‘trial and error’ method citing that by making errors children
will learn to make more errors without the correct critical insight of introspection.
The teacher therefore must inspire them to work hard and become competent and
sharp workers.
While in old fashioned schools, the method of teaching is teacher centric with the
teacher being the active one and the educant being the passive observer during the
whole process, the naturalist and pragmatist teacher follow the child centric method
of teaching with the child gathering the necessary objects and aids, conducts
experiments, arrives at results independently with the teacher playing a passive role
and only interfering when the educant faces difficulty.
Realists however do not follow both these extremes; following middle course with a
new method of teaching based solely on the co‐operation of the teacher and the
educant, here the partnership is central to ascertain the success of education. Here
they both have to talk freely about the subject at hand, discuss the problem and solve
it in a co‐operative spirit with the teacher assigning the topic to the pupils with
whatever information they can collect, supervising their work so that no mistake can
creep in it and supplies whatever is required to complete the undertaking. He also
supervises the experiments conducted by the pupils of the different groups and
ensures full co‐operation among the members. Then the results are recorded and
conclusions are drawn, compared and discussed and their application to practical
life is also elicited, so that the educant receives a scientific perspective. Education
therefore can be called a bi‐polar process‐ because the teacher and the pupil have
to come together under a common understanding which produces some good results
from their combined efforts. Hence the method based on co‐operation in the
realistic schools seems an ideal one.

Play & Play way in Education

The play way makes a difficult and uninteresting task delightful and pleasurable to
the doer without shrinking from real work; it only introduces an element of
happiness and satisfaction to a dull and irksome task. Associated with freedom and
delight, which act spontaneously in the development of a child, play is therefore now
regarded as an effective medium of child centered education.
The term ‘play way’ was introduced by Caldwell Cook, was promoted the teaching of
English language through a spirit of play in the form of discourse, debate,
dramatization etc. He believed that knowledge and learning came not from listening
and reading but from actions and experience.

The idea of the play way is to place everything before the child in the form of
interesting activities and objects and kits spirit pervades the whole structure of
modern education and signify the essence of all educational reforms of to‐day.

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The fundamental idea of play way is to remove the sharp distinction between
study/work and play. Indeed both work and play exhibit some characteristics which
are definitely contradictory in nature.

• Work carries with it a sense of compulsion which is not present in play. A

child plays when and as he likes.
• Work is stimulated by some extraneous feeling while in play the child is
driven by his spontaneous urge for growth.
• Material gains like money or other valuable incentives plays an important
role in inducing a person to work but play is never influenced by any such
sense of material gain.
• Work is bound to become mechanical and artificial in nature as it is prompted
by outward forces while play being the outcome of an innate urge of child is
always a natural process.
• Being a mechanical process, work produces both physical and mental fatigue
after a point but play never produces mental fatigue although sometimes
physical fatigue may appear.
• The greatest difference between work and play lies in the fact that in work
satisfaction lies outside the work, which is satisfaction from completion of the
work while in play satisfaction lies within the play.

Therefore, it is quite clear that a clear line of demarcation cannot be drawn between
work and play and that the same activity can either be used as work or play
depending on the motive behind the act.

The spirit of play can be utilized in actual teaching in many ways like dramatization,
mock assembly and mock trial can be conveniently used in the field of teaching
history and literature. Debates and discussions cover a wider field of general
knowledge.

Creative activities like arts and crafts, geographical exploration, collection of

biological specimens are also instances of play way. In this way, the play‐spirit can
be successfully directed to attain knowledge in diverse field like history, geography,
arithmetic, literature and so on. Moreover, play also has certain function in the
development of a child’s personality.

• Play satisfies the basic urge for activity which is inherent in every living being.
• Play satisfies the creative urge of the individual – his basic need of expressing
himself.
• The child’s basic need for novelty and change is also satisfied.
• A medium for acquiring initial experiences of life.
• A vital instrument for bringing about emotional integration of the child.
• An important instrument for satisfying many repressed wishes of the child.
• A critical medium of socialization.

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• An important medium of physical and motor development.
• It has high creative value.
These functions confirm the impact of play in the life of the child as a form of an
essential behaviour, deeply embedded in the personality structure of the individual
that exert influence on almost all stages of life. The following are the special
characteristics of play.

• Spontaneity – no pressure or curriculum is needed.

• Activity – an active expression of innate urges or potential of the human being.
• Creativity– the innate creative urge of human beings are expressed through
play.
• Novelty – all play is new and innovative.
• Satisfaction – play brings some form of satisfaction to the child.
• Self Discipline– Play represents disciplined behaviour in which he happily
submits himself to the rules, not forced and imposed.
• Freedom ‐it is meaningful organization and satisfying form of behavior.
• Essential ‐play is always rich with new knowledge and experience.
• Growth – a child grows physically, emotionally, socially, that is holistically
through play.
• Catharsis – directly or indirectly it acts as a vital instrument of emotional
satisfaction for the individual.

So, if we can transform education from work to the category of play, the whole face
of education would be changed. This transformation of education from unpleasant
and imposed work activity to the category of self‐satisfaction and spontaneous play
activity is signified by the term play way, in education.
The utility and effect of play way method in education can be summarized as follows:
‐

• Being a free and spontaneous method, it renders teaching easy and delightful.
• It eliminates the elements of coercion and constraint and increases the
interest of the pupil in learning.
• The effect of learning is more stabilized due to direct exposure and first hand
experiences.
• Helps in the spontaneous development of the child’s personality according to
his nature and inclination.
Application of Play way principle in other educational methods: The play way
characterizes all progressive educational systems. Froebel’s kindergarten method is
entirely based on the play tendency in children – play activity and the principles of
learning by doing, play, song and movements are its chief characteristics.
Of all the methods based on play way the Montessori system has been greatly
acclaimed. It is a method of self‐education. The children learn movements, sensory
discrimination and judgment and also reading, writing and arithmetic. Thus he
learns and acquires some of the most fundamental skills in an atmosphere of

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unrestricted freedom surrounds him where he is free to move about and can choose
his own occupation at any particular time.

John Dewey’s experimental schools which adopted a complete activity curriculum is

also an excellent example of play way approach to education.

Rabindranath Tagore’s dream school in the midst of nature (Shanti Niketan) was
where according to him the child’s need of freedom and urge for self expression
could attain their unhindered manifestation, this again is a method that recognized
the importance of play way.

All these educational systems rightly deserve the name of play way through their
success in this respect is of varying degree. The play way in education has however
also been devalue by a section of educationists who argue that this method does not
take into account the reality that the students will envisage after their school life,
things which are not interesting and this method further tends to take the students
away from the grim realities of the outer world. The criticism however does not hold
good. Play way not only lays stress upon light play, but it teaches to master hard
things in a spirit of play.
To conclude, the play way is the most effective medium of child education, having a
positive effect on the school atmosphere where the elements of coercion and
restraint are eliminated helping in the holistic development of child’s personality.
The Kindergarten
‘Kindergarten’ is a German word meaning “the children’s garden, i.e., a place where
young human plants are cultivated. As Forebel advocated spontaneous development
of the child, he regarded this school as a garden and the educator as a gardener who
carefully nurtures the little human plants and helps them grow into beauty and
perfection.
The underlying principle of this system is to help the child develop himself by giving
expression to the impulses which are hidden within him. For this to be successful,
the teacher should know and be aware of the innate potentials, interests and
aptitude of the children. To develop spontaneously, self activity is imperative and the
chief quality of the mind which is expressed best through play. According to Forebel,
playing exhibits freedom and creativity, thus this is the most beautiful and spiritual
activity of a human at an initial stage. Through play, the child is taught everything
and during which the child gives expression to many of his instincts and innate
impulses. The teacher must encourage those elements in children’s play which are
good and useful while discouraging those elements which are injurious or improper,
and see that the play activity develops moral qualities such as justice wisdom, self
control, truth, loyalty, freedom, consideration for others, perseverance and co‐
operation.
The ambience of the kindergarten needs to be that of freedom, play and joy, fostering
self‐expression. To achieve this, training in expression is given in three ways –
through song, movement and construction that are to go together with no use of

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books or fixed intellectual tasks. Though the means for the three ways are separate,
yet the process is connected as a whole. The teacher works to select the songs,
games and pictures. It is through these three mediums, that is by singing of songs,
playing of games, seeing and drawing the pictures constructing of objects and figures
that the child begins to use language.

The Songs: The mother play and nursery songs help in exercising the child’s senses,
limbs and muscles and to make him familiar with the common objects around him.
The fifty play songs are each connected with some nursery games such as ‘Hide and
seek and are expected to fulfill some physical, mental or moral need of the child and
the order of these songs are therefore selected by the teacher in accordance with the
development of the child. There are three parts in each song:‐

A motto for the guidance of mother or teacher.

A verse with complementary music.

A picture demonstrating the songs.

FROEBEL’s Gift: ‐ Froebel devised a series of gifts for the comprehensive and
holistic education of children. The gifts comprise of graduated series of materials

that possess all the innovations of playthings, based on educational method. They
are to train all the senses including that of sight and touch, to give the child an idea of
size and surface. These gifts are to be presented to the child in a certain order and
the activities suggested for these gifts are called ‘occupations’. The order of gifts is
determined by the principles of development. The gifts altogether are twenty in
numbers however only the first seven are now usually called by this name.

Gift‐I consists of six colored woolen balls – three in primary colors, red, yellow and
blue and three in secondary colours, orange, green and purple. The occupation
consists of rolling them about in play and this activity helps to develop in children
the idea of color and material, form, motion, direction and muscular activity.

Gift‐II is composed of a sphere, cube and cylinder made of hard wood. In playing
with these the child notices the difference between the stability of the cube and the
mobility of sphere, both these qualities are harmonized in the cylinder.

Gift‐III is a large cube divided into eight smaller equal cubes; from these the child
can build up a number of useful artistic forms such as benches, steps, doors, bridges
etc., and therefore the third gift is often called the first building box. The child can
also gain elementary ideas of addition and subtraction through these objects.

Gift‐ IV consists of the large cube divided into eight oblong prisms in each of which
the length is twice the breadth and the breadth is twice the thickness. These help the
child to construct different kinds of buildings and patterns when combined with the
third gift.

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Gift‐ V It consists of a large cube divided into twenty‐seven small cubes three of
which are again divided diagonally into halves and three into halve and three into
quarter. Form and number can very well be taught by the use of these gifts. This is
similar to the third gift.

Gift‐ VI is very much like gift IV. In it is a large cube divided into eighteen whole
and nine small oblong blocks. Still further with the design it forms, it is useful in
teaching numbers.

Gift‐ VII is a set of square and triangular tablets made of very fine wood into two
colours and provides material for many exercises in geometrical forms and mosaic
work.

Other gifts consists of equipments for many occupations such as stick‐laying,

perforating, paper ‐ cutting, threading of breads, mat ‐ making, embroidery,
basket‐making, wire work, drawing and modelling. The role of the teacher is to
present the children with an idea of the different occupations by demonstrating to
them the different activities instead of remaining passive.
Boyhood: For the second stage of development, Froebel says that play is not the
most important thing. Just as play is the characteristic activity of childhood, the
prominent characteristic of boy‐hood is work. Great importance is given to manual
work and hand work. Manual work helps in the development of skill, creative power
and exercise of the muscles which he thinks to be an important medium of
expression of ideas and character formation.

He equally considers spiritually important, hand work. gardening, carpentry,

woodwork and other subjects which have been included in his curriculum. To bring
about a holistic development within the child, his curriculum also includes religious
instruction, natural science, mathematics, drawing, art and language.
Froebel attached great importance to nature study. Nature study would result in
moral improvement, religious uplift and spiritual insight.
Influence of Froebel’s method on Modern Education:

• The innovative concept of ‘the child’s garden’ or Kindergarten that creates a

strong educational foundation for a child through play, activities and sense of
freedom and joy was first propounded by Froebel.
• He gave great importance to the concept of school as a social institution
where he believed the child discovers his own potentials and individuality as
well as learns to take responsibilities and carry out activities through mutual
cooperation as a social entity.
• Countries and educators around the world are realising the importance of
Froebel’s Kindergarten as a place that help bring out the best in the children
and build a strong foundation and character for them. Large amount of
resources are being utilized just to get an all equipped Kindergarten
operational in every nook and corner around the world.

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Much importance was given to the impulses and instincts of the child by Froebel
which he believed direct the behaviour of the child. He therefore emphasised the
need to study the nature of the child and teach him according to it. The older
methods of dogmatism have been replaced by new ideas of teaching as put forward
by him- children are now taught through songs, movements, gestures,

• dramatization, handwork and other activities. His playway method has

become an important part of the modern educational practices.
• The system of sense training through his carefully graded gifts or playthings
has also been a significant innovation. As he realised that much of the
knowledge is gained by the child through the external world, he believed that
these gifts will enable the child to have an idea of shapes, forms, sizes, surface,
numbers, etc and also will be able to learn about their qualities, compare one
with another as well as design and construct various things out of them, all
this through play. The idea of sense of training by this means, from concrete
to abstract has been an important one and although the formal use of gifts
have been discarded by the schools today, yet they do make use of apparatus
very similar to these gifts.
• Possibly, the most significant contribution by Froebel in education is the
introduction of many different occupations in his Kindergarten which are
taught through practical manual activities, exercising hands and fingers in the
process of learning with the motto ‘ Learning by doing’. He introduced
activities like paper cutting, paper-folding, stick-laying, bead threading, mat-
making, clay-modelling and colour work. Special instructions were given to
the teachers on how they would introduce these activities to the children
according to a carefully graded order.
• Although previously considered non-essential, Froebel attached great
importance to nature study and gardening which he believed will bring a
child much closer to god and give him a better sense of understanding of the
world around him and at the same time will help foster desirable habit of
observation, careful thought and reasoning. This idea has taken a strong hold
in educational institutions today and no school is considered a good one
which does not have a good garden for children and nature study as an
important part of the curriculum.

Project Method
The project method is an important milestone in the history of the methodology of
education. It owes its origin to the American philosophers belonging to the
pragmatic school of philosophy with W. H. Kilpatrick as the chief proponent of this
method. He was influenced by John Dewey’s Pragmatism principle and mainly
focuses on the purposeful activity and problem solving capacity of the students
based on their needs, interest, attitudes and abilities. As defined by W.H. Kilpatrick,
“A project is a whole-hearted purposeful activity proceeding in a social
environment”.

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According to Kilpatrick there are four types of projects. They are:
1. Constructive project: Practical or physical tasks such as construction of
article, making a model, digging the well and playing drama are done in
this type of projects.

2. Aesthetic project: Appreciation powers of the students are developed in
this type of project through the musical programs, beautification of
something, appreciation of poems and so on.

3. Problematic project: This type of project develops the problem solving

capacity of the students through their experiences and is based on the
cognitive domain. For instance, how to operate a bank account, etc.

4. Drill project: It is for the mastery of the skill and knowledge of the
students which helps increase work efficacy and capacity of the students.
For example, this type of project may be taken up to give training in
singing or swimming.
Other types of projects are also present and include:

• Individual projects where every student solves the problem in their own
according to their interest, capacity, attitude and needs that develop their
individual potentials. In Group projects, the problem is solved by the group of
pupils in the class and here the social, qualities and synergism are developed.
• Simple and Complex project: The simple projects make the students complete
only one work at a time and focus is on one subject or one area only. It gives
in depth information about the project in one angle. In the complex projects,
the students carry out more than one work at a time and the focus remains on
the work in various subject and angles. Here the students get the knowledge
about the work in various activities and dimensions.

Implications of Project Method:

• The first implication of the Project method is, carrying on the activity in the
natural background of real life. The activities should be essentially connected
with the child’s daily life.
• The second implication of the project method is that the project is an act and
not a mere theory. The child’s instincts of manipulation, construction,
collection and self assertion are brought into play in the project method.
Through the method the present bookish schools can be transformed into

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activity schools and they can become authentic centre of education for the
holistic personality development of the child.
• The third implication of the project method is that it is not an ordinary act but
a problematic act, which calls forth all the abilities of the performer, both
mental and physical including that of reasoning, assessing, calculating and
judging which are brought into play for completing the project.
• The fourth implication of the project method is that the activity involved in
the project must be purposeful and must be undertaken and affected whole
heartedly.
• The fifth implication of the project method is that the background in which
the activity is to be carried on is a natural setting or environment. Any life
situation is real but an imaginary situation cannot provide inspiring and
evoking stimuli to the educant.
• Lastly, the project method must be carried to completion. A work in actual life
to be worth‐while must be a complete job bringing about a concrete result
which is useful and satisfying.

On the basis of the implication, the following characteristics of this method can be
deciphered: spontaneity, purposefulness, worth fullness, interest, completeness and
social significance to the individual participant as well as the group.

PARADIGM OF PROJECT METHOD

Project method has the following steps:
1. Creating Situation
In the first step teacher creates a proper situation to the students in the class. He
shares the knowledge about the project method procedure, steps, and uses with the
students. After that he provides proper motivation through conversation about the
day to day life problems to the students.

2. Selection of the problem

In the second step, the teacher helps the students to select the problem and guide
them. Here the students have the liberty to choose the topic or problem based on
their interest and ability and takes into account the principles before choosing the
topic.
3. Planning
The teacher discusses the problem with the students through various peerspectives
and points. He must create the situation of the discussion with the students and they
are allowed to talk freely and openly about the problem, the teacher writes down the
whole program of action stepwise on the blackboard. The grouping is made by the
teacher based on the interest and ability of the students.
4. Execution

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The students start their work in this step. They collect the relevant information/data
and materials at first. The teacher should give time to the students according to their
own speed, interest and ability. If need arises, he may provide the necessary help
and guidelines to the students. He demands the groups to complete the project in the
particular time.

5. Evaluation
Here the students evaluate their task. They determine whether the objectives have
been achieved or not. After that they criticize and express their feeling about the task
freely. The planning, selecting the task, and execution are discussed in the class. All
these things are collectively reported to the teacher.
6. Reporting and Recording
It is the last step of the project method in which each and every step of the work are
reported. The reported things are recorded in a certain order in a book form. The
record is useful for the further use and future reference about the project. It reveals
many ideas about the concerned project. The book formatted report is submitted to
the teacher at the end.
ADVANTAGES OF PROJECT METHOD
1. It is students centered, activity based method.

2. Students involves whole-heartedly in the learning process according to their

needs, attitude, interest and ability.
3. This method is related to the life situation of the students.

4. This method develops the problem solving ability of the students.

5. It makes the students independent and confident.
6. It gives the real work experience to the students.

7. It develops the social qualities among the students.

8. It develops the sense of responsibility among the students.
LIMITATIONS OF PROJECT METHOD
1. It is a time consuming method.

2. It is difficult to complete the prescribed syllabus within a particular time.

3. It is a very costly method.
4. It is not applicable for the lower classes.

5. All topics cannot be taught through this method.

6. It is not applicable for the all schools.

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7. It needs a lot of materials for the execution.

The Teacher’s Role:

For an educant to receive the best and holistic education, the role of the teacher is
absolutely imperative and manifold. She is expected to guide and direct the learning
process and also help the learner maximize his/her potential to become productive
citizens. The relationship between the teacher and the pupil is also an important
factor that determines a successful education. To become a good teacher, she must:

• Select the most appropriate method of teaching, keeping in mind- (a) The
subject matter and the level to be taught; (b) The level of capacity and the
stage of development of the pupil, that is consider the individual differences
among the students.
• Expertise on the subject matter and appropriate selection and distribution of
the topics to be taught, keeping in mind the amount that can be taught a
certain time.
• Use of suitable text, equipments, materials and visual aids for a
comprehensive lesson.
• Guiding and encouraging attitude, discipline, pleasant manner; also
understanding and gaining insight into the learner’s reactions to what is
being taught.
• Modification of the teaching methods and subject matter to suit the learners,
keeping in mind and helping the intelligent as well as the slower pupils so
that everybody gets equal opportunity to learn.
• A good teacher must never stop learning. She should have the continuous
quest to learn new updated information, techniques, methods and skills and
not just consider a teachers training, B.Ed and M.Ed to be the pinnacle of
teaching proficiency but a beginning to a teacher’s journey. She must go on
improving upon her subject matter through reading, observation, adaptation
and modifications.
• Prepare oneself in a way that has a positive influence on the learner and
inspire willingness, a desire within the educant to learn and grow into good
and productive citizens.

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