Analyze at least three of Dewey’s philosophies and their influence on education.

A historical perspective of how education developed leads us to understand that as a society in the medieval

period the ownership of land and the working class had become the definition of success. In many

documented records it can be seen that children and play were considered uncalled for. Children as young

individuals also started becoming a part of the labor force, helping and looking after the younger siblings or

helping in the farming of the land, whereby it became a norm to employ children as young as 7-8 years to

be trained to work in the fields, if they were did not comply they could be punished (Orme, 2001). The

advent of the industrial revolution made matters worse and now children were moved from the farms into

factories. Many thousands died from disease and exhaustion and it was not until the mid 1800’s that laws

were passed in England limiting child labor (Mulhern, 1959). From the 16 th century onward till the 19th

century another idea was being planted that the work of the children has to be to learn, with different groups

having different agendas about education and its purpose. Some like the Reformation movement had

religious leaders took it upon themselves that all peoples should be able to read the scriptures (Mulhern,

1959). Each segment of society saw education as its means of achieving their objectives, industry- for

better workers, sitting long hours and being able to read and write to some extent; the nations for getting

soldiers, and people who had patriotic feelings for their motherland. In the mix were added, who looked at

schools as a safe place, where kids were raised to have the moral grounding and the purpose of education

was providing this moral grounding but under the guidance of adults and not left to their own devices. With

this background, children were beaten up to remove the playfulness from them so that they could learn; they

were given breaks to spend the excess energy, but otherwise grilled in an authoritarian setup by an adult.

The eighteenth-century attitude can be seen as the premise of the Wesleyan schools where there were no

play days, and children were not allowed to play, as it would lead to men being playful too (Mullhern 1959,

p 383). In the late 1800’s there was a push from educational reformers who were looking at the ways in

which the education could be more child centered. Education became mandatory and curriculum that
 needed to be covered by students increased, although the methods and the approach became for humane. On

the other end of the spectrum were schools, which were “progressive” and had moved to having active,

experiential learning, with teachers hesitating to impose any ideas or restrictions on the children. With this

as the background, John Dewey in 1890’s was challenging the norms that had been in place in many parts of

the western world, norms accepted and implemented.

 Experience and growth

With the background as the democratic thinking he emphasized on the focus was on experiences that

the child would face to be reconstructed such that growth happens. He was of the opinion that child

should face these types of situations where he would develop skills that he would use in later life as

well. Thus is meant that the teachers had to understand the abilities, capabilities and interest of the

child such that this could be nurtured. This way the ‘democratic school” was focused on providing

opportunities for the child to grow and not based on affixed curriculum 1. The activities stem from

the child’s interest and each step leads to the refinement of the thinking, knowledge and skills of an

individual. The activities are complex and would allow for different responses.
The thinking lead to the development of present day Project based learning, where the students are

involved resolving or proposing solutions to problems in a social setting. The main idea that he

propounded was the socially engaging views on learning and learning experiences that were

developmentally appropriate. According to Dewey, education was a “process of living and not a

preparation for future living” (Flinders & Thornton,2013, p.35; Gutek, 2014).
Many school do try and take up this approach, but it is tempered with the covering of the vast

amount of knowledge that the children are expected to cover in the present day. Thus this is in direct

contradiction to Dewey’s approach in the present day context, as school was to reflect the social

construct and represent real life. If we look at the present day standards of education that are found

all over the world, many aspects of the industrial revolution are still evident: a prescribed syllabus, a

1
Sullivan, P. (1966). John Dewey's Philosophy of Education. The High School Journal, 49(8), 391-397. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40366240
 fixed time schedule, block teaching periods, breaks and rest times, etc. be it national curricula of

countries like Indonesia, India, or the west like United Kingdom with the IGCSE, GCSE or the

Common Core that the American schools are to follow, as much as the curriculum is up to date, it

still has deviated from the original thought that Dewey had on making it experiential. It would be

difficult to see evidence of the original thoughts on education that Dewey had if we analyze the

present day scenario in schools with these prescribed curricula (Theobald, 2009).
 School’s Role- The school is a reflection of the social construct and the Dewey looked at the school

providing the same form of community that they would experience in adult life. The children would

thus develop means to be able to help and contribute to society and the principle of democratic

living. The spirit of social cooperation in learning was the keystone for the child to be a self-directed

learner and to develop self-discipline that is needed for learning. This was seen as an extension of

the home and the social construct made it easy for the students to be self-directed requiring less of

the corporal punishment that was seen in traditional schools. In today’ s context the learner- centered

class where the learning is looked at as a community endeavor, where all contribute to solve

problems is till date widely accepted and schools tend to keep this philosophy intact in many cases.

The present day schools In these classrooms children are viewed as unique individuals; students can

be found busy at work constructing their own knowledge through personal meaning, rather than

teacher-imposed knowledge and teacher-directed activities (Schiro, 2013). In many of the school

curriculum this aspect has been used widely and is representative of the 21 st century learning model.

Collaborative working spaces is a norm in schools which no longer have military fashion rows or

working tables, but more of open spaces built into the school setting itself. Thus his philosophy that

the school is not just for acquiring content knowledge but is also for acquiring social skills is still

relevant in the schools seen today. Democracy in expressing ideas, identities and respecting

differences or opinions is now seen as the hallmark of a modern school and the type of education it
 provides. The use of corporal punishment for changing behavior is banned in schools and learning

institutions in majority of the schools all over the world.

 Role of curriculum- he set for a balance between the curriculum and the needs and interests of the

child. This was not a curriculum-centered place of learning, but a student centered view of leaning.

The child’s interest and experiences were to be given importance. This was not a huge load of

knowledge to be dumped at the student, but a series of experiences designed for the child. This was

active and could be flexible, changing as per the needs of the child, engaging and relevant to the

social reality of the child. This was focused on presenting experiences that stimulate news ways of

looking and learning, observing and judging, developing skills that they may have or learning new

skills as the need arises to solve these problems. The school curriculum may not be divided into

subjects but may have the subjects been learned as part of a whole experience. According to Brewer,

this model rejected the idea of memorization and focused more on engaging and relevant

experiences for learning, which go beyond memorization, recitation and repetition (Brewer, 513).

In the present day context this is school is seen as a place where the curriculum focuses on the

educational experience encompasses the intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual growth

of the whole child, not just academic growth (Schiro, 2013).

The conclusion that we can draw from the above is that Dewey has been instrumental in many of the reforms

that have happened in education especially in the cases of the style of teaching, the curriculum and the

school, but the present day teaching and learning is still content driven based on results that the students are

achieving in mass exams conducted by nations to check if the students comply with the standardized norms

of success and failure.

Explain what Dewey considered to be the purpose(s) of education?

Dewey was a thinker of education who valued the student centered model of learning but looked at

classroom participation and moving away from rote memorization. His focus was on designing a model that

took away from the teacher the role of authority and paced the responsibility of learning on the individual as

well. Thus the investment in learning was from the students, He saw leaning as learning by doing, and the

development of skills that the leaner would need in adult life to be a socially productive human beings who

would be able to live in a community and work for the betterment of that community or society. He saw that

the skills of reading, numeracy and other such pursuits would come as the students would need them to

problem solve and gain the skills needed as they went along the way. Thus according to Dewey the central

purpose of education was democracy. In his work The School and Society, he wrote, every school must

reflect "an embryonic community life, active with types of occupations that reflect the life of the larger

society and permeated throughout with the spirit of art, history and science. When the school introduces and

trains each child of society into membership within such a little community, saturating him with the spirit of

service, and providing him with instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best

guarantee of a larger society which is worthy, lovely and harmonious."

Assess how these principles align with the principles of an IB education?

The schools that are following the IB education are in many ways, looking at a child centered approach as

can be seen in the IB mission statement. Where the students is able to value education as a process that is

“Life-long” and the IB learners are students who value the opinions of others and are able to accept

differences, reflecting on the democratic nature of society as envisioned by Dewey.

The IB school also have an approach that allows for the school to look at the holistic nature of curriculum in

the PYP through the POI and in the MYP through the creation of IDU and forming links to the subjects. The

development of skills that are transdisciplinary and are skills for life is also at the heart of an IB education.

His idea about the learning experiences is also reflected in the IB standards and Practices for good teaching
and learning which requires schools to create experiences that the relevant, age appropriate and based on the

reality of the child. The students can be involved in creating what they want to learn and there the curriculum

is flexible in IB school till Grade 10, or MYP year 5. The close alignment of student as the driver of learning

is seen in the democratic approach even in assessment and how students are involved in assessing

themselves and each other.

In conclusion, it can be said that the IB has tried to apply many of the ideas that John Dewey had proposed

although there have been other influencers in this, but the alignment seen is noteworthy.
Reference list:

1. P. G. (2008, August 20). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/freedom-

learn/200808/brief-history-education

2. Williams, M. K. (2017). John Dewey in the 21st century. Journal of Inquiry & Action in
Education, 9(1), 91–100. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1158258.pdf

3. IB organization. (n.d.). International education. Retrieved from http://www.ibo.org/