Philosophies of

Education
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Why teach. Constructivists sees to develop intrinsically motivated
and independent learners adequately equipped with learning skills
for them to be able to construct knowledge and make meaning of
them.
What to teach. The learners are taught how to learn. They are
taught learning processes and skills such as searching, critiquing
and evaluating information, relating these pieces of information,
reflecting on the same, making meaning out of them, drawing
insights, posing questions, searching and constructing new
knowledge out of these bits of information learned.
How to teach. In the constructivist classroom, the teacher provides
students with data or experiences that allow them to hypothesize,
predict, manipulate objects, pose questions, research, investigative,
imagine, and invent. The constructivist classroom is interactive. It
promotes dialogical exchange of ideas among learners and between
teacher and learners. The teacher’s role is to facilitate this process.
ESSENTIALISM
Why teach. This philosophy contends that teachers teach for learners
to acquire basic knowledge, skills and values. Teachers teach “not to
radically reshape society but rather to transmit the traditional moral
values and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model
citizen.”
What to teach. Essentialist programs are academically rigorous.
The emphasis is on academic content for students to learn the
basic skills or the fundamental r’s – reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic,
right conduct – as these are essential to the acquisition of higher
or more complex skills needed in preparation for adult life. The
essentialist curriculum includes the traditional disciplines such as
math, natural science, history, foreign language, and literature.
Essentialists frown upon vocational courses”… or other courses
with watered down academic content …. The teachers and
administrators decide what is most important for the students to
learn and place little emphasis on student interests, particularly
when they divert time and attention from the academic
curriculum.
How to teach. Essentialist teachers emphasize mastery of subject
matter. They are expected to be intellectual and moral models of
their students. They are seen as “fountain” of information and as
“paragon of virtue,” if ever there is such a person. To gain mastery
of basic skills, teachers have to observe “core requirements,
longer school day, a longer academic year..”
With mastery of academic content as primary focus, teachers
rely heavily on the use of prescribed textbooks, the drill method
and other methods that will enable them to cover as much
academic content as possible like the lecture method. There is a
heavy stress on memorization and discipline.
PROGRESSIVISM
Why teach. Progressivist teachers teach to develop learners into
becoming enlightened and intelligent citizens of the democratic
society. This group of teachers teaches learners so they may live
life fully now not to prepare them for adult child.
What to teach. The progressivists are identified with need-based
and relevant curriculum. This is a curriculum that “responds to
students’ needs and that relates to students’ personal lives and
experiences.”
Progressivist accept the impermanence of life and the
inevitability of change. For the progressivists, everything else
changes.
Change is the only thing that does not change. Hence,
progressivist teachers are more concerned with teaching the
learners the skills to cope with change. Instead of occupying
themselves with teaching facts or bits of information that are true
today but become obsolete tomorrow, they would rather focus
their teaching on the skills or processes in gathering and
evaluating information and in problem-solving.
The subjects that are given emphasis in progressivist schools
are the “natural and social sciences.” teachers expose students to
many new scientific, technological, and social developments,
reflecting the progressivist notions that progress and change are
fundamental.
How to teach. Progressivist teachers employ experiential
methods. They believe that one learns by doing. For John Dewey,
the most popular advocate of progressivism, book learning is no
substitute for actual experience. One experiential teaching
method that progressivist teachers heavily rely on is the problem-
solving method.
Other “hands –on – minds – on” teaching methodology use are
field trips during which students interact with nature or society.
Teachers also stimulate students through thought provoking
games and puzzles.
PERENNIALISM
Why teach. We are all rational animals. Schools should,
therefore, develop the students’ rational and moral powers.
According to Aristotle, if we neglect the students’ reasoning skills,
we deprive them of the ability to use their higher faculties to
control their passions and appetites.
What to teach. The perennialist curriculum is a universal one on
the view that all humans beings posses the same essential
nature. It is heavy on the humanities, on general education. It is
not a specialist curriculum but rather a general one. There is less
emphasis on vocational and technical education. Philosopher
Mortimer Adler claims that the Great Books of ancient and
medieval as well as modern times are a repository of knowledge
and wisdom, a tradition of culture which must initiate each
generation.
How to teach. The perennialist classrooms are centered around
teachers. The teachers do not allow the students’ interests or
experiences to substantially dictate what they teach. They apply
whatever creative techniques and other tried and true methods
which are believed to be most conducive to disciplining the
students’ minds. Students engage in Socratic dialogues, or mutual
inquiry sessions to develop an understanding of history’s most
timeless concepts.
EXISTENTIALISM
Why teach. The main concern of the existentialists is to help
students understand and appreciate themselves as unique
individuals who accept complete responsibility for their thoughts,
feelings and actions. Since existence precedes essence’, the
existentialist teacher’s role is to help students define their own
essence by exposing them to various paths they take in life and
by creating an environment in which they freely choose their own
preferred way. Since feeling is not divorced from reason in
decision making, the existentialist demands the education of the
whole person, “ not just the mind.”
What to teach. In an existentialist curriculum, students are given
a wide variety of options from which to choose. Students are
afforded great latitude in their choice of their subject matter. The
humanities, however, are given tremendous emphasis to provide
students with vicarious experiences that will help unleash their
own creativity and self-expression.
Moreover, vocational education is regarded more as a means of
teaching students about themselves and their potential than of
earning a livelihood. In teaching art, existentialism encourages
individual creativity and imagination more than copying and
imitating established models.
How to teach. Existentialist methods focus on the individual.
Learning is self-paced, self –directed. It includes a great deal of
individual contact with the teacher, who relates to each student
openly and honestly. To help students know themselves and their
place in society, teachers employ values clarification strategy. In
the use of such strategy, teachers remain non-judgmental and take
care not to impose their values on their students since values are
personal.
BEHAVIORISM
Why teach. Behaviorist schools are concerned with the
modification and shaping of students’ behavior by providing for a
favorable environment, since they believe that they are a product
 of their own environment. They are after students who exhibit
desirable behavior in society.
What to teach. Because behaviorist look at people and other
animals… as complex combinations of matter that act only in
response to internally or extremely generated physical stimuli,
behaviorist teachers teach students to respond favorably to
various stimuli in the environment.
How to teach. Behaviorist teachers ought to arrange
environmental conditions so that students can make the
responses to stimuli. Physical variables like light, temperature,
arrangement of furniture, size and quantity of visual aids have to
be controlled to get the desired responses from the learners.
Teachers ought to make the stimuli clear and interesting to
capture and hold the learners’ attention. They ought to provide
appropriate incentives to reinforce positive responses and
weakens or eliminate negative ones.
Linguistic philosophy
Why teach. To develop the communication skills of the learner
because the ability to articulate, to voice out the meaning and
values of things that one obtains from his/her experience of life
and the world is the very essence of man. It through his/her
ability to express himself/herself clearly, to get his/her ideas
across, to make known to others the values that he/she has
imbibed,
 the beauty that she/he has seen, the ugliness that he/she rejects
and the truth that she/he has discovered. Teachers teach to develop
in the learner the skill to send messages and receive messages
correctly.
What to teach. Learners should be taught to communicate clearly –
how to send clear, concise messages and how to receive and
correctly understand messages sent. Communication takes place in
three ways.
Verbal component refers to the content of our message, the choice
and arrangement of our words. This can be oral or written.
Nonverbal component refers to the message send through our
body language.
Paraverbal component refers to how we say what we say – the
tone, pacing and volume of our voice.
How to teach. The most effective way to teach language and
communication is the experiential way. Make them experience
sending and receiving messages through verbal, non-verbal and
para-verbal manner. Teacher should make the classroom a place
for the interplay of minds and hearts. The teacher facilitates
dialogue among learners and between him/her and his his/her
students because in the exchange of words there is also an
exchange of ideas.