EDF211/5

LECTURE FOUR:MARCH 26^TH, 2019

Aspects of Education: Aims, Curriculum, Role of Teacher, Role of Learner, Assessment, Learning Environment, Pedagogy, Educational issues

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Definition

1.      Philosophy of Education is the application  of Philosophical  Principles, theories,  language of philosophy and methods to analyze, evaluate or solve  educational issues.

2.      It is both the  process and the outcome of philosophical thinking about education.

3.      Philosophy of education is first of all an educational discipline and it belongs to the mind of educationist. It is classified together with other educational disciplines such as history of education, sociology of education, comparative education etc.

4.      Education is the main focus in all these disciplines. However, what makes them different is the way they approach the study because each one of them follows its own distinct approach in terms of content, methods and language.

5.      Philosophy of education is also an integral part of technical philosophy because it’s an area of specialization in the area of philosophy just like philosophy of science, philosophy of law etc.

6.      Therefore, we can say the application of philosophy of education can be seen as the application of philosophy to the field of education where philosophy is the abstract (Theory) and education is practice.

Technical vs General Philosophy

General Philosophy of Education

1.      This refers to the common sense notion of what education ought to be.

2.      It refers to the personal view or attitude concerning the ideal education.

3.      It refers also to the preferred slogans concerning education such as ‘education for self reliance, education for gender equity’ etc.

4.      In a school setting, it refers to the school motto. In most cases, these philosophies are varied, vague and are not based on systematic thought of what type of man they want to produce.

5.      Education commission reports contain general philosophical perspectives about education.

Technical Philosophy of Education

1.      Technical or professional philosophy of education refers to the thorough and in-depth reflection on education.

2.      This is done using philosophical methods, tools and techniques in investigating problems of formal schooling.

3.      In this case, the process as well as the product amounts to philosophy of education. This means that the process of asking questions and criticizing issues in education as well as development of a clear statement of a positive and more rational alternative in education comprises of philosophy of education.

4.      Technical philosophy of education is an integral part of formal philosophy. It is the exclusive domain of professional philosophers and of academic scholars concerned with the study of education.

5.      It is basically/largely Western in orientation attributed to Western Thinkers and educationists such as Comenius, Locke, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Dewey etc.

Development/Establishment of Philosophy of Education

The origin of educational philosophy dates back to the beginning of the last century and to the time and work of John Dewey. However, we cannot ignore the contributions which had been made by earlier philosophers to the study of philosophy of education.

a.)General Remarks on Plato  and Confucius

1.      Plato

2.      Confucius

b. J.S. Herbert and J. Dewey

1.      J.S. Herbert (1771-1834)

1.      He was a Germany philosopher and his work was greatly influenced by contribution of other scholars like Kant and his area of specialization was ethics. According to Herbert, the purpose of education is to develop the moral character of the learner i.e. good moral behavior. He proposed in his book entitled The Science of Education five main methods of education as

Ø  Preparation

Ø  Presentation

Ø  Association

Ø  Systematization

Ø  Application

2.      He also laid emphasis the importance of authority. To him, the teacher was the authority during the process of learning. He controlled learners and little freedom by learners. Europe accepted bur American questioned the idea of the teacher being the sole authority.

2. John Dewey (1859-1952)

1.      He laidemphasisfreedom and democracy and was the first American to adopt a critical stand according to European educational theory which had been extended earlier by Herbert. He come up with philosophy of education which was systematic in design with American orientation emphasizing progress, change and democracy.

2.      Dewey reacted strongly against authoritarian approach in education which regarded the teacher as the sole authority in the classroom. The implication was that he was against the idea of learners adhering to rigid system of education and against the idea of education developing moral behavior in the learner.

3.      He suggested an approach of teaching learning that was not teacher centered but child centered. This approach was seen as not content centered by method centered. He believed that experience was the best teacher for the learner. He perceived education as growth and an avenue of creativity. Education came to be understood in terms of progressive movement thus meant to make the learners change from one stage to another.

4.      Dewey’s philosophy was built on American thinking of pragmatism. This philosophy is derived from a Greek concept pragma- to act, to do, achieve. He believed that good education should make learners realize their potential. Education should be based on needs, interest and abilities of the learners.

5.      He argued that knowledge can only be found through experience when the learner interacts with the environment. Education is life in itself and not a preparation for life. This can only happen if learning is directly linked to the needs, interests and abilities of learners. The contributions of Dewey are the ones that lead to great debate in the philosophy of education and he is regarded as the father of philosophy of education.

Relevance of Philosophy of Education to Teacher Trainees

1.      It provides room for a vision beyond the empirical data of education i.e. seeks to explain what education is.

2.      It tries to liberate those being educated and their educators from their shortsightedness. It helps us to enlarge our perception of education as well as for teaching.

3.      It helps the student to think logically, systematically, consistently and clearly about educational problems as well as life. The teacher will learn the essence of clarifying meanings and justifying statements.

4.      It equips teachers with insight into the whole purpose of teaching. Thus, it goes beyond knowledge of subject matter and competence in teaching skills. Teachers ought to know what they are doing and why they are doing it.

EDUCATION AND HUMAN KNOWLEDGE/COGNITIVE DIMENSION OF EDUCATION

Human knowledge falls within epistemology. Epistemology deals with philosophical reflection of knowledge. It studies the nature, sources and validity of the knowledge. It attempts to answer questions about knowledge such as:

(a)    What is knowledge?

(b)   What is the nature of knowledge?

(c)    What are the principles of knowledge?

(d)   What is truth?

(e)    How do we come to know?

(f)    How can we verify knowledge?

(g)   How do we know that we know?

(h)   What can we really know?

(a)   What is Knowledge

The concept of knowledge ‘to know’ can be sub-divided into three aspects:

         Knowing that – facts, information or details about something.

         Knowing how – having the ability to demonstrate, possession of a skill or technique.

         General familiarity – lack of sufficient details.

(b)The Conditions of Knowledge

According to I. Scheffer (1965), there are three conditions of knowledge:

1                  Belief Condition

Belief is a construction that something is as it is stated. Anyone who makes a claim to knowledge must believe that it is so. He must personally accent to the truthfulness of the claim. This involves the conviction of the claimant. It is different from opinion (I think) which implies doubt. Believing indicates certainty. To believe is however not to know: it is just the beginning, more isi required than mere belief. Believing is more of a psychological state of mind and knowing is more than a strong conviction. This is necessary for communication/teaching as it helps one to demonstrate an element of originality.

     2                Truth Condition

It refers to the actual truth of what one asserts. Knowing thus points to something independent of the individual claiming to know – points to the truth of the matter. What one ‘believes’ may not be necessarily the truth as it is universally known. To know is thus more than believing: it implies that there is actually truth: a matter of true belief. To establish the truthfulness of a proposition/statement, it must be subjected to the following theories:

i.            Correspondence theories of truth: whatever is claimed to be true must correspond with reality i.e. must agree with what can be empirically verified, measured, observed. The major impediment to this theory is that our verification tools/observation are at times faulty. It is possible to perceive reality wrongly.

ii.            Coherence theory of truth: whatever is claimed must cohere/agree with what is already accepted/admitted as truth. Any new knowledge is validated on the basis of the existing knowledge. However, this theory has limitations. Whatever is known may be untrue or false, one could possibly be mistaken e.g. the Galileo’s case with the Roman Catholic Church.

iii.            Pragmatic theory: whatever is of utility/value works  and is useful or beneficial or true

iv.            Semantic Theory: Truth is based on language use and manipulation

      3          Justification/grounds condition

The claimant must be able to cite evidence and evidence of the right kind to support/justify his claim. Absolute certainty is difficult to attain because human knowledge tends to be limited. Certainty thus remains uncertain or hypothetical. One must always be prepared to review/reconsider their knowledge in the light of new evidence though adequacy of evidence is many times a serious problem. Although every claim to knowledge must be based on some grounds, there are statements which do not necessarily require evidence. E.g. analytic propositions that are self explanatory statements; statements based on existential and consciousness i.e. I feel frustrated. While we insist on evidence, we should exempt analytic proportions based on existential realities.

c. Sources of Knowledge

i. Authority as a Source of Knowledge

 It refers to people or individuals who occupy superior positions in relation to the claimant. Knowledge is here based on what those in authority have said i.e. I know it because so and so says so. People in authority include parents, teachers, preachers, authors and journalists. Authority is simply believed. Individuals rely on authority because they lack time to verify for themselves. Also, there tends to be lack of commitment to question issues and search for clear knowledge. In a classroom situation, students tend to believe wholesale whatever the teacher says. There is therefore a need for care and concern for truth on the part of the teacher.

Precautions when dealing with authority:

         The person whose statement we believe must be a relevant authority in the field.

         Authorities sometimes disagree. There is need to be careful: sometimes judgment needs to be suspended before arriving at a conclusion.

         Verify information. Whenever we accept the other people’s statements, we should establish whether they are actually true.

No matter how reliable an authority is, it cannot be the primary source of knowledge.

ii. Revelation

This is a source of knowledge from which various religions derive their basic dogma. Although the truths recorded in sacred books are considered eternal, the language in which they are written is not hence religious scholars spend much time arguing over the precise meaning of words and expressions in the sacred textual interpretation. The purpose this is to bring to light the external truths that are locked in these words.

iii. Sense experience

Common sense tells as that sense experience is the starting point of knowledge for we begin to be conscious at all when we begin to exercise our senses.

If we merely looked at what occurs in our own lives, and reflect on our own experience, we realize that our minds, at the onset, are no more than “white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas” (Locke’s famous Tabula rasa, that is blank tablet) all we know or think about is ideas which come from experience.

iv.Intuition

The immediate knowledge of truth, without the aid of any reasoning and without appeal to experience is called intuition. It is sub-conscious activity, which instantly reveals into consciousness that which the mind has been at grips for a period of time.

v.Human reason

The view that reason is the sole source of knowledge is known as rationalism and the proponents of this doctrine are called rationalists. The human mind has innate structure that is responsible for a variety of intellectual competence.

The mind, by its reasoning power has instinctive capacity to discover knowledge within itself; knowledge is therefore a product of man’s power of thought and explanation.

Plato claimed that man’s knowledge is basically a recollection of the ideas which the soul had known in the perfect world of ideas before it was buried in the human body.

Education therefore, is to focus on the soul with the view to helping it recollect as much of that knowledge as possible.

Rationalists claim that it is dangerous to rely solely on our senses as they are prone to being highly insensitive and unreliable. Senses are capable of establishing conflicting results about the same phenomenon depending on our location, health condition and even attitude.

Knowledge and Curriculum

Generally, curriculum refers  to knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and skills which are considered desirable for transmission to others. Knowledge is classified or categorized within the curriculum based on certain criteria:

1.  Language: each subject tends to have a particular language e.g. maths -matrix, integral,  numbers; religion – sin, grace, soul etc.

2.   Methods of verification or testing: e.g. sciences depend on empirical observation and tests on experiments while mathematics uses deductive reasoning.

           3.Area of specialization or subject matter: physical sciences deals with natural world while social sciences concentrates on the world of culture. Philosophy, religion and mathematics also deals with distinct areas such as the world of numbers.

 Based on the above criteria, the following classifications of knowledge have been enunciated:

a.  Logic and mathematics.

b.  Physical sciences.

c.  Human sciences.

d.  Aesthetics (e.g. fine arts)

e.  Morality or ethics.

f.  Philosophy.

4.Theories of Assessment of Curriculum

(a)    The utilitarian curriculum: This means the curriculum that is useful to the learner and one conducive to human happiness i.e. promotes the greatest amount of happiness for the largest possible number of people. Such a curriculum includes survival skills, social skills, and politics.

(b)   A curriculum for rationality (thinking systematically): It has to produce a rational mind. In order to cultivate  this certain subjects need to be incorporated i.e. logic, mathematics, philosophy.

(c)    A heritage curriculum: The chief point of education is to bring children into what exists as a public tradition of shared knowledge i.e. culture which refers to the intellectual aesthetic, moral and material achievements of mankind.

5. Role of the learner

a. Epistemology considers the learner as a knowing being and so an educable being(Homo Educandus)

b. Epistemology anticipates that a learner be active  both intrinsically and extrinsically in the pursuit of knowledge

c. Recognition of authority as a source of knowledge demands an appreciable but open degree of respect towards the authority of the teacher and learning resource materials.

d. Intuition is valid source of creativity in Education

6. Learning Environment

Different epistemological systems call for various learning environments:

 A realist epistemology with its emphasis on sense experience as a primary source  of knowing  advocates for a classroom environment with adequate teaching aids  that appeal to the senses like  photos, audio visuals, Tactile objects.... By extension it envisions equipments for practicals as in the case of laboratories and workshops

VIDEOS

1.PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

2. PHILOSOPHERS OF EDUCATION

3.EPISTEMOLOGY

4. EPISTEMOLOGY AND EDUCATION

5. EPISTEMOLOGY AND EDUCATION