Every teacher has a different idea of how and what their students should learn. Therefore, every teacher has a different philosophy of education, and what purpose education serves in a child’s life. The five philosophies of education that we recognize are: Essentialism, Perennialism, Progressivism, Social Reconstructionism, and Existentialism. I would most recognize my philosophy of education as Essentialism. Essentialism has been a dominant influence in American education since World War II. It focuses on core curriculum of traditional academic topics. I believe that the purpose of education is teaching students the essential topics to help them in our world. Math, science, history, and language arts would be my main subjects that I would want my students to understand. Of course, adding in foreign language and other electives can also help students with future careers and making their way through life. My philosophy represents the basic knowledge that one knows and will actually contribute to their everyday life. I would want most of the focus to be on the material I am teaching and less on group work. As an elementary education major, I plan to teach younger children who can be easily distracted. I want to teach my students in a way that will keep their attention such as interesting lesson plans, all while teaching basic subjects like writing, reading, and math. In our growing world, we are becoming more and more diverse. Since diversity is relatively new to us, we
In the book Pearson Custom Education, five educational philosophies are discussed and what each one represents what a teaching and learning is distinctive to each other and some of them is easily observable in nowadays moment when in contrast, some of them are rarely to be seen. The first among the five philosophies is essentialism. It is a teacher centered philosophy which “puts little stock in what students want in terms of what and how they learn” (Powell, 2015, p.71). There are requirements for students such as: “[their] interests not important, [they] must be discipline; [and their] hard work emphasized” (Powell, 2015, p.71). The mainly used method for teaching would be “direct instruction, memorization, and proven methods” and such
There are five main philosophies that describe education: Essentialism (the back-to-basics approach which strives to teach students the essentials), Progressivism (which stresses individuality), Perennialism (which is the teaching of philosophies that have been around for hundreds of years), Existentialism (which give the students the choice of when to study and when not to), and Behaviorism (which lets teachers use reinforcement to achieve the desired behaviors which need to be used in the class room). Essentialism was the main philosophy used in earlier classrooms, and should be adopted back into the classrooms of today.
Educational philosophies influence curriculum from the establishment of the American school systems. The five major philosophies that have influence American education are: 1) Idealism, 2) Essentialism, 3) Perennialism, 4) Progressivism, and 5) Experimentalism. Idealism, Essentialism, and Perennialism are all teacher-based philosophies putting the teacher at the core of the educational experience, with students being passive members of the classroom. In contrast, Progressivism and Experimentalism are student-centered philosophies that focus on the child and their contribution and participation in the formation of classroom experiences, using teachers as guides to help students in their educational development. Although the philosophies differ, many of them define curriculum as a encompassing unit of goals, methods, materials and assessment.
Throughout education there are six main philosophies to take into consideration, and they are as followed. From a teacher centered classroom approach they include Essentialism, Behaviorism, and lastly Positivism. In a student centered classroom approach they are Progressivism, Humanism, and Constructivism. What do these terms mean? Essentialism is and educational philosophy that there is a common core of information and skills that an educated person must have. Behaviorism is a psychological theory and educational philosophy that asserts that behaviors represent the essence of a person and that all behaviors can be explained. A person acts the way they do for a reason. Finally positivism is a social theory and educational philosophy that limits truth and knowledge to what is observed and measured. These are all important for a teacher to take into consideration. Progressivism is an educational philosophy that emphasizes that ideas should be tested by experiments and that learning is better developed in questions developed by the learner. Humanism is an
My personal philosophy of education is a combination of at least four of the seven theories represented in the textbook, and my personal learning experience. I believe students need to learn specific information to be able to function in society (Perennialism), such as critical and rational thinking. Students can learn today by extracting lessons attained from the past (Essentialism), such as reading writing and arithmetic. Students can learn from doing (Progressivism), this could take the form of possible service learning projects. Students need to take responsibility for choices they make (Existentialism), by understanding the consequences that follow every choice. My personal experiences come from several classes in high school. These
There are two educational philosophies that influence the way I want to teach in my own classroom. Essentialism and progressivism correspond to my beliefs. They both represent the values that I hold important when coming to running my future class. These philosophies interconnect to form the view of the best educational philosophy for me.
Being a school teacher is something I have wanted to do since I was a very young child. I believe education should be a part of everyone’s life because it helps students to develop a sense of creativity, a sense of reasoning, and a sense of respect. There are many different philosophies used in the classroom ranging from social reconstructionism to essentialism. My philosophy on education is a combination of my ideas and beliefs. I have an eclectic view of the philosophies and will not apply just one philosophy in my teaching. I believe an effective teacher uses a variety of educational philosophies in the classroom.
My Philosophy of Education is closely related to what the Essentialists and Perennialists believe. Like the Essentialists, I believe there should be a back to the basics approach to teaching. The curriculum should focus on subjects such as writing, reading, history, science, and math. These are essentials that all students should know. There should be mastery of material of the essential subjects before the students move on to the next grade level. The curriculum should be rigorous and the standards should be set high. The high standards that are set for the students should strengthen the student’s intellect and enhance their moral qualities.
After reviewing these teaching philosophies and educational theories, many of them reflect my own personal educational philosophy and my instructional practices and choice of classroom curriculum. The four that I found the most appealing are: Realism, Pragmatism, existentialism and progressivism. I find the combination of the three very complementary.
There are five philosophies of education that make up my personal philosophy. I believe in certain aspects of every philosophy. Perennialism strives above all to develop our capacity to reason. The things of everlasting importance should be taught to people everywhere. I believe that there should be an authority figure to guide the students. The aspects of perennialism that I agree with are critical thinking, problem solving, coaching, discussion, prayer in the classroom, contemplation, and orderliness. I believe that the children should be led to use strategic thinking skills to solve problems. Moral development is included in the curriculum of perennialism. I believe children today need to be taught
When understanding education there are many different ways which the purpose of education may be applied and defined. My personal philosophy of education is, 'educators must nurture/guide students within the academic field, to that the aims, goals and results during this task of educating or being educated are achieved '. This philosophy is used to understand that both teachers and students play an integral role in education. Academic performance, classroom methods/practices and also meeting the requirements of both the senior secondary Australian Curriculum Framework and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Framework are examples of these roles. This essay will discuss in detail how my personal philosophy of education, reflects on the role of teachers and learners, the aim of education and the methods and practices used in the classroom. Jean Jacques Rousseau, Paulo Freire, Locke, and Plato/Socrates are the four theorists that shall be used within this essay, to support claims and justify statements regarding this philosophy. John Dewey and A.S Neil are two non-supporting theorists that shall be used in contrast to justify this philosophy.
A person’s philosophy of education is important because it affects the way that their classroom will be run. To be a good teacher, a person should genuinely like the students and want to make a difference in their lives, giving them the confidence to succeed. There are many things that go into developing an educational philosophy: The nature of the students, the nature of knowledge, the purpose of education, the method of education, and the curriculum.
There are five different philosophies of education that educators can choose from. The philosophies of education are essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstructionism, and existentialism. A teachers’ philosophy of education defines how they run their classroom, maintain classroom management, and expect their students to learn. For me, I have chosen the philosophy of progressivism. Progressivism is a student centered philosophy. According to Moore (2000), progressivism is a child-centered approach that sees education as a ‘drawing-out’ rather than a putting in of knowledge. Progressives generally run a truly child centered classroom, as compared to an essentialist, who believe in the teacher being the center of the classroom. By teachers adopting the philosophy of progressivism in the classroom; they encourage their students to become intelligent individual problem solvers, hands on learners and collaborators, and prepare them to be responsible and knowledgeable citizens.
Education is the most important valuable idea for children, because it will help to shape their beliefs, their knowledge, and their future. Students however, can only be as successful as their teachers allow them to be. Teachers open up a wide variety of doors for children to be able to explore and understand the world around them. The impact a teacher can have on a student in the classroom, and outside of the classroom is one of the main reasons why I want to be a teacher. Students should have a balance of teacher to student interaction, and student to student interaction to get different ideas, and different ways of learning and understanding new material. This is why essentialism is important in the beginning of learning and then using progressivism. Both are the ideas that I believe should the framework to successful teaching.
If I had to choose any of the six educational philosophies I would choose Essentialism. I believe that all individuals should be taught the same curriculum starting from early education in order to success in our society. According to (Gutek 2013), genuine education involves learning basic skills, that are needed to function effectively in civilized society.