Teachings Of Educational

Philosopher Friedrich Froebel

By: Mani Mehndroo, ACERT, 2012-13.

Educational
Thought
Kindergarten
Froebels
Philosophy
of life
Understanding Froebel's
Evolution of Educational Thought
PHASE 1 Birth ,
Childhood, Early
work life & General
interests
PHASE 2
Teaching &
Educational
thought
PHASE 3 -
Kindergarten,
legacy
1782-1804
1805-1836 1837-1852
Phase 1 Growing Up
Birth
Childhood
Early
working life
Born on 21
st
April 1782 in Germany. He was brought up by his father
and stepmother, who showed little affection.
Spent much time in garden playing & exploring his surroundings,
leading to deep love & respect for nature .
At the age of 10 went to live with his maternal uncle, who was kinder
and sent him to school

At 15 learnt forestry and geometry and later worked as a forester.
At 17 enrolled at the university at Jena but despite switching
courses, found little satisfaction..
In 1804, studies architecture at Frankfurt University
Later studied mineralogy and gemmology.

Froebels Philosophy of Life
Deeply spiritual man seeing Gods hand at work everywhere in
universe
Saw patterns in nature and believed that it was possible for human
beings to experience, emulate and build on these designs.

Children could experience these patterns in kindergarten..

If man is to attain his destiny, so far as earthly development will
permit this, if he is to become truly an unbroken living unit, he must
feel and know himself to be one, not only with God and humanity but
also with nature.

Phase 2 Finding His Calling
Beginning to
teach

Developing
&
Publishing
Ideas

In 1805 joined a school in Frankfurt, based on Pestalozzis teaching,
as an educator.
In 1808 studied for 2 years at a training institute run by
Pestalozzi. Though he found the approach inspiring but thought the
concept of, Spiritual Mechanism, was missing.
Vowed to create his own type of school.
1811 -14 pursued other activities, such as studies and serving for the
Prussian army against Napoleon but he kept returning to his dream.
In 1816 founded Universal German Education Institute , for training
teachers.
In 1821, publication of "Principles, Aims and Inner Life of the
Universal German Educational Institute"
In 1826 he published his first book, The Education of Man, a
philosophical work reflecting his ideas about God, man and nature.
In 1831, was invited to Switzerland to open schools and stays for five
years

Every child possessed, at birth, his
full educational potential, and that an
appropriate educational environment
was necessary to encourage the child
to grow and develop in an optimal
manner.

Learning begins when
consciousness erupts, education
must also.

He believed that women should take
a leading role in educating small
children and therefore opened an
institute for training them for ECE.
Cultural Imposition Theory Children
should be trained to become
productive members of the larger
society so that the cultural heritage
can be preserved from generation to
generation.

Children under 7 did not attend school




Women were not expected (or often
allowed) to work professionally

His Beliefs Prevalent norms
Froebel's philosophy of education rested on four basic ideas: free self-activity,
creativity, social participation, and motor expression
Froebels Philosophy of Education
Froebels Philosophy of Education
Pillars of ECE Definition Objective Tools

Environment
Free Self-Activity Development of
qualities and skills
that make it possible
to take an invisible
idea and make it a
reality
Externalizing child's
inner nature

Play

Kindergarten
Creativity Being creative Internalizing various
concept & for
externalizing the
concept existing
within their creative
minds
Gifts &
Occupation
Kindergarten

Social Participation Harmonious social
interaction skills
Provide children with
opportunities for
interacting socially
within familiar
territory in a non-
threatening manner
Providing a
family setting
within school
environment.
Kindergarten

Motor Expression Learning by doing as
opposed to following
rote instructions.
To make sense out of
both his subjective &
objective world
Trained
educator
Kindergarten

Phase 3 The Kindergarten Movement

Kindergarte
n set up

Gifts
&
Occupation
Death ,
Legacy &
Influence
In 1837 the 1
st
Play and Activity Institute was founded by him.
In 1840 he officially coined the term Kindergarten.
In 1843 published Mutter and Koselieder, series of songs for mothers
In 1847 seven Kindergartens established in Germany.
In 1948 further forty four Kindergartens opened throughout Germany.
In 1849 begins training of kindergarten teachers.

In1851 Kindergartens were banned in Prussia for political reasons.
On 21
st
June,1852 Friedrich Froebel died, dispirited by the ban.
Spread of his philosophy & its impact on ECE at large.
Influence on role of women in education & the toys market.
Froebel designed a series of instructional materials that he called
"gifts and occupations.
Froebels Kindergarten
MeantGarden of children- The layout was not limited to class rooms but
essentially also included a strip of land, interactive gardens.

A transitional stage from home to school (Age group 3-7 years)

Knowledgeable and appropriately qualified early childhood professionals.

Parents and educator working in harmony and partnership.

Involved skilled and informed observation of children, to support effective
development, learning and teaching.

A holistic view on each childs development by laying emphasis on free
self-activity, creativity, social interaction & motor expression through play,
educational material (gifts/occupation), games, dance, songs, stories,
crafts and interaction with nature, peers, community .

Children are like tiny flowers; they are varied and need care, but each is
beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the community of peers."
The Basic Construct
Froebels Kindergarten Tools
Froebel's significant contributions to early childhood education was his
theory of introducing Play as a means of engaging children in free self-
activity for the purpose of externalizing their inner natures.

Play enlists all of child's imaginative powers, thoughts, and physical
movements and includes activities such as songs, stories, games, group
activities and use of educational material.

Starts at each stage starting from simplest activity progressing towards the
most diverse and complex form.

Supreme goal is realization of childs budding powers and continually
carries him from one plane of educational growth to another.

Play is the highest expression of human development of childhood for it
alone is the free expression of what is in the childs soul .
Theory of Play

He designed a series of educational materials, to provide children with
many stimulating activities to enhance their creativity.

A gift was an object provided for a child to play with--such as a sphere,
cube, or cylinder- which helped the child to understand and internalize the
concepts of shape, dimension, size, and their relationships. He developed
20 set of gifts.

The occupations were items such as paints and clay which the children
could use to make what they wished; through the occupations, children
externalized the concepts existing within their creative minds.

Gifts and occupations enable the child in understanding inner and outer
properties of things as he moves through the developmental stages of the
educational process.

I wish to find the right forms for awakening the higher senses of the child:
what symbol does my ball offer to him? That of unity. The ball connects
the child with nature as much as the universe connects man with God.
Gifts and Occupations

Froebels Kindergarten Tools
Froebel believed that parents provided the first as well as the most
consistent educational influence in a childs life.

Since a childs first educational experiences occur within the family unit, he
is already familiar with the home environment as well as with the
occupations carried on within this setting and tries to imitate them.

Froebel believed that providing a family setting within the school
environment would promote social interaction within familiar territory in a
non-threatening manner.

Focusing on the home environment occupations as the foundation for
beginning subject-matter content allowed the child to develop social
interaction skills that would prepare him for higher level subject-matter
content in later educational developmental stages.

The union of Family and School life is the indispensable requisite of
education .
Family Setting

Froebels Kindergarten Tools
Froebel believed that the child should learn by doing as opposed to following
rote instructions (motor expression) and allowed to grow at his own pace.

Responsible educators should strive to recognize each child's individual
level of development so that essential materials and activities, to stimulate
appropriate educational growth, can be provided.

Required skilled and informed observation of children, to support effective
development, learning and teaching.

The destiny of nations lie far more in the hands of women, the mothers than
in the possessors of power or those of innovators who for the most part do
not understand themselves. We must cultivate women, who are the
educators of the human race, else the new generation cannot accomplish its
tasks.

The Purpose of teaching is to bring more out of a man than to put more in
him.
Role of an Educator

Froebels Kindergarten Tools
An Environment which...


Is physically safe but intellectually challenging, promoting curiosity, enquiry,
sensory stimulation and aesthetic awareness.

Demonstrates the unity of indoors and outdoors, of the cultural and the
natural. Allows free access to a rich range of materials that promote open-
ended opportunities for play, representation and creativity.

Entails the setting being an integral part of the community it serves, working
in close partnership with parents and other skilled adults.

Is educative rather than merely amusing or occupying. Promotes
interdependence as well as independence, community as well as
individuality and responsibility as well as freedom

"Let us educate the senses, train the faculty of speech, the art of receiving,
storing, and expressing impressions, which is the natural gift of infants, and
we shall not need books to fill up the emptiness of our teaching until the
child is at least seven years old."
Froebels Kindergarten
Froebels Death, Legacy, Influence
Kindergarten were banned in Prussia
in 1851. They were very radical in
their time and the Prussian Govt.
linked them to the more fiery socialist
views of his cousin.
Froebel died in 1852, probably heart-
broken by the apparent failure of his
lifes work.
However his ideas had travelled far
and wide and his philosophies spread
to Europe, USA and Britain and to
the entire world where they have
survived to this day.
Influence of Froebels Philosophy on:
- ECE at large.
- Role of women in education &
- Toy market.
If three hundred years after my death my method of education shall be completely
established according to its idea, I shall rejoice in heaven."
Thanks