Philosophy of Education
Introduction
Philosophy is a belief that is used to guide someone’s behavior and normally used for academic discipline. Philosophy of education is a statement used to identify the beliefs and values of a person in matters concerning education.
According to Rhalmi (2018), philosophy is obtained from two words that mean love and wisdom meaning that it is the love for wisdom to find the truth. Philosophy of education is the study of ideas that affect education. It describes different approaches used in teaching and learning. Philosophy of education originated from ideas and values that do not change and from a person’s experience in the world. There are six schools of philosophy and the major philosophies of education are derived from these schools.
Perennialism is a philosophy that is used to teach whatever truth that already exists. This focuses on the things that have lasted for longer times. Rhalmi (2018), states that essentialism philosophy should be used to teach the basics. It focuses on the teaching of basic knowledge and developing characters. Training of traditional moral values and knowledge is focused on this philosophy. Progressivism philosophy focuses on progress. This philosophy does not focus on the traditional values but progressivists believe in change and moving forward. Students are evaluated by the progress they make in solving problems. Social Reconstructionism focuses on social changes. Students are empowered to focus on social issues such as poverty, discrimination, and environmental issues. This philosophy aims to create a better living society. Existentialism also referred to as critical theory is a philosophy that focuses on a person and the capability of them to determine what they want. This philosophy perceives learners as active people who can change society.
Out of the five philosophies, I will be using progressivism for my students. This is because everything is changing in our day to day lives. I want my students to know the changes that are happening in our world and how to cope with them. According to Rhalmi (2018), progressivism will help my students learn about the new technologies and the impacts they have on society. This will help them to keep up with the new trends and not feel out of place. This will differentiate them from students using perennialism and essentialism who will not know what exists in the changing world. I believe in change and how it makes things different and exciting. I will help my students to explore the progress in society and the country as a whole. We will use experiments, interviews, and projects to get results and discover how to solve problems. Each student will be required to come up with new ideas, imaginations, and thoughts in my class. My role as a teacher will be to make sure that my students can understand the importance of change and can put into practice whatever they learn. Contrary to social reconstruction that only focuses so much on society, my students will have the advantage of learning about the economic, social, technology and science developments. We will conduct surveys to ensure we have the correct information about these developments.
Conclusion
Education philosophies are used to enlighten and shape students. Some of the philosophies change with the change of generations and technologies but some remain the same. My take will be students to be taught according to the changes being experienced so that they can learn how to adjust accordingly.
References
Rhalmi M. (2018). Philosophy of education and teaching: www.myenglishpages.com
