POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN

TEACHING AND LEARNING

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION:
EXPLORING LEARNING THEORIES

by
Michelle Fahey

INTERNAL EXAMINERS
Dr. Carina Ginty & Dr. Pauline Logue

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Literature Review
a. Discovery Learning
b. Cognitive Approach
c. Behavioural Approach
d. Humanist Approach
4. Personal Teaching Philosophy
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography

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ABSTRACT

This academic paper aims to conduct a literature review of known teaching

philosophies and to develop a teaching philosophy statement that I feel defines my
method of teachings.

From my knowledge of teaching philosophies, I felt I was a cognitive learner and

therefore taught through a cognitive approach, but as I carried out my review, I have
discovered that I can relate to more than one approach, in both my teaching and my
learning. While primarily I am a cognitive teacher, I also have a humanistic approach
to support my goals around mental health, empathy, educational values and discipline.

My research examines the influence of learning theories on the philosophy of

education. My examination focuses on the methods of discovery learning, cognitive
approach, behavioural approach and humanist approach. As part of these methods I
explored the main philosopher under each learning category and thought about how I
could apply their methods to my teaching.

Keywords: Education, Learning Theories, Montessori, Paiget, Vygotsky, Pavlov,

Skinner, Maslow.

INTRODUCTION
Learning theories linked to understanding how people learn date back to 500 BC and
to Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Plato argued that truth and knowledge were
within, it comes natural to people whereas Aristotle believed that it is something that
is taught through nurturing. The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest
questions in human development, inheritance vs environmental conditions.

Learning is a complex topic, there is no single theory of learning. This literature review
intends to explore some of the primary learning theories, each of these approaches
have much to offer, each with their advantages and disadvantages.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Discovery Learning

Discovery learning is strongly tied to problem solving. Learning theorists characterise

learning to solve problems as discovery learning, in which participants learn to
recognise a problem, characterise what a solution would look like, search for relevant
information, develop a solution strategy, and execute the chosen strategy (Borthick,
2000, p.181).

In every walk of life, we learn by trial and error. Whenever we enter a new situation,
we learn to figure out how we are expected to behave. The same is done in educational
situations. Teachers can allow students considerable freedom to undertake projects
and discover for themselves the outcome of their work (Jarvis et al, 2004).

Maria Montessori,

The Montessori Method is an approach to education which underlines individuality and

independence in learning, the process of learning should be in harmony with the child’s
individual development pace.

Maria Montessori’s ideas revolved around the importance of the child’s environment.
She theorised school as home, placing the image of a womb as a child’s very first
home, a home where an embryo can develop naturally (Palmer, 2001).

Create the right environment for them and their characters will develop normally. The
‘second womb’ is what she called the young child’s proper environment (Palmer, 2001,
p.247).

Cognitive Approach

Cognitive approaches to learning are concerned with how information is processed by

learners. Cognitive theories view students as active in “an internal learning process
that involves memory, thinking, reflection, abstraction, motivation, and meta-cognition”
(Ally, 2008, p.10).

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Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child
development. Early in his career Piaget worked for Albert Binet who was involved in
the development of Early IQ test (Bentham, 2002).

Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development which reflect the increasing
sophistication of children's thought:

1. Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2)

2. Preoperational stage (from age 2 to age 7)
3. Concrete operational stage (from age 7 to age 11)
4. Formal operational stage (age 11+ - adolescence and adulthood).

(Bentham, 2002, p.2).

According to Piaget certain ways of thinking that are quite simple for an adult, are not
so simple for a child. For example, a child may have difficulty understanding that she
is English and a Londoner because she is unable to classify one concept (London) as
a subset of another (England), (Woolfolk, 2013, p.37).

Lev Vygotsky

Vygotsky wanted to discover the actual relations of the developmental process to

learning capabilities. In order to do this, it was necessary to determine two different
developmental levels: the actual developmental level and the zone of proximal
development (Jarvis et al, 2004, p.36).

Vygotsky -Zone of Proximal Development Source: (McLeod, 2018)

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Vygotsky believed that mental age paralleled to actual level of development. However,
he thought that children that got assistance from others might be a better indication of
their mental development than what they could achieve by themselves. This
highlighted the potential rather than the achievement and the value of collaboration
over independent learning. Children, therefore, need support systems (scaffolding) in
order to undertake tasks within the zone of proximal development (Jarvis et al, 2004).

Behavioural Approach
Behaviourism is based on the principle of stimulus and response. The activity is
teacher-led where the teacher is in control of what needs to be done, how it will be
done and what evidence of behavioural change needs to be produced. The basics are
that people need to be directed and that if the stimulus is something that the individual
wants (a reward) or fears (a punishment), then the individual will respond accordingly
and there will be a noticeable change in behaviour (Bates, 2015).

In a rational age where the result is more important than the means, it is recognised
that the means do not always justify the ends. Teachers and educational institutes are
expected to get measurable results and evaluate levels of competency therefore it
might be claimed that in the long run this approach to learning is not very efficient
because it has not encouraged the learners to think for themselves but only to learn
to conform to the accepted situation (Jarvis et al, 2004).

Ivan Pavlov

Pavlov study was based on what is now known as the classical conditional theory. The
experiment goes as follows. The food is the unconditional stimulus prompting an
unconditioned response of salivation. If a bell (conditional stimulus) immediately
precedes the presentation of food (unconditional stimulus) then, after several pairings
of the bell and the food, the bell acquires the ability to prompt the conditioned response
of salivation (Bentham, 2002, p.22).

The conditioning theories is not that they only deal with behaviour, but rather that they
explain learning in terms of environmental events. The best-known conditioning theory
is B. F. Skinner’s operant conditioning. (Schunk, 2012).

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B. F. Skinner

Operant conditioning states that the environment’s reaction to an individual’s

behaviour controls that individual’s behaviour. Skinner believed that the ABC approach
needed to be considered, A for antecedent (what happens immediately before the
behaviour), B for behaviour and C for consequences as well as the situation within
which the learning took place (Bentham, 2002).

Behaviour is complicated, there are all sorts of factors involved in determining what
you do (or don’t do). The main task of the learning psychologist is to understand
behaviour and behaviour change, and from understanding comes the ability to predict
and sometimes to control, both of which are useful and important functions
(LeFrancois, 2011, P.6).

Humanist Approach
Humanistic psychology is said to be in direct opposition to behaviourism. The
humanistic approach focuses on hidden internal experiences and emphasises that the
role of feelings must be acknowledged and incorporated into the learning experiences
(Bentham, 2002).

The key elements in applying this humanistic approach to classroom teaching involve:

 Seeing the teacher’s role as essentially that of being a facilitator.

 Providing a significant degree of choice and control to pupils to manage and
organise their learning.
 Displaying respect for and empathy with pupils.

(Rogers, 2003, p.49).

Abraham Maslow

Maslow suggested that humans have a hierarchy of needs ranging from lower level
needs for survival and safety to the top-level of self-actualisation. Self- actualisation is
Maslow’s term for self-fulfilment and the realisation of personal potential (Woolfolk,
2008, p.441)

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Source: verywellmind.com

Maslow’s theory was hierarchical in the sense that more basic needs needed to be
met before time and effort were given over to accomplishing other higher needs
(Bentham, 2002).

A criticism of Maslow’s theory is it that not everyone behaves in an ordered way and
that in many cases multiple needs may motivate the person to succeed. Motivating
students using Maslow’s theories increases their competency, self-esteem, and
independence and allows the balance to shift from extrinsic (gaining as many marks
as possible from an assignment) to intrinsic (developing an interest to learn about the
topic for personal goals) motivation (Woolfolk, 2008).

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PERSONAL TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Through my research into the different teaching philosophies I have discovered that
as a lecturer in GMIT I am a teacher with a cognitive and humanistic approach. I
believe that learning involves memory, thinking, reflection, abstraction, motivation and
meta-cognition (Ally, 2008, p.10) and the role of feelings must be acknowledged and
incorporated into the learning experience (Bentham, 2002).

Abraham Maslow had a theory of hierarchy

of need, in the sense that more basic
needs needed to be met before time and
effort were given over to accomplishing
other higher needs (Bentham, 2002). I do
agree with the importance of students
having the basic needs to advance in
education, although I believe that students
have a different view of what defines their basic needs. As a teacher my aspirations
and goals are to communicate information to the students in a practical and
educational way that suits the requirements of industry. My objectives for the students
are to develop critical thinking skills and encourage a desire for life-long learning. I
believe in providing a learning environment in which students feel confident and
empowered to learn. I believe that students can achieve self-actualization without all
levels of the hierarchy of needs when they have self-esteem and self-belief.

My methods of teaching are based on interactive learning, in the form of classroom

debates, workshops and research-based topics that are explored in class. I believe
that student learn best by being active participants. My assessments are all continuous
assessments, I find that these provide a clear reflection of the level of input that the
students have invested into the module. I like to keep these continuous assessments
practical and base them on tasks that would arise in industry. I see my role as a
facilitator of education and to help and encourage class discipline through the self-
discipline of each student.

I found this research topic so fascinating that I decided to observe other areas of my
life where these approaches are relevant. I discovered that as a mother of four young

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 children, I can relate my home life teaching with that of Maria
Montessori. I understand and appreciate the relevance of
discovery leaning for a younger child. This method allows
children to develop at their own pace. My role of the teacher in
this instance is that of an observer through the development of
the children’s own creativity and natural abilities, especially
through practical play.

In my engineering life I deliver weekly in-house Continuing Professional Development

(CPD) training with my peers. I use a cognitive approach to provide the learners with
challenging tasks that allow them think critically. Interestingly as part of this study, I
explored the areas of pedagogy and andragogy. I gained a good understanding that
where pedagogy is an education method in which the learner is dependent on the
teacher for guidance, evaluation, and acquisition of knowledge, the andragogy
methods used in adult education is directed towards self-actualisation, gaining
experience, and problem-solving. I have been inspired by this to do a better job
connecting learning experiences to what my peer learners already know.

This exploration also made me question the way I teach versus the way I learn. As a
student I have learnt best when taught through a combination of these learning styles
at different stages of my development, for example, I found the driving force for this
paper was from the behaviourism reward of advancing to the next stage in this
Teaching & Learning Certification.

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion for this research I focused on the areas of cognitive and humanist
approaches. Although I always try to be engaging in my lecturers, I think the humanist
approach is an area that I would like to improve on by increasing my interacting with
the students. I intend to do more questions and answers sessions possibly in a less
formal structure like Padlet or similar.

As students it is important to appreciate that every situation is a learning experience,

that there is always opportunity to improve yourself, your knowledge and to develop
your skills.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Borthick, A (2000). The Motivation for Collaborative Discovery Learning Online and its
Application in an Information Systems Assurance Course. Accounting Education (Vol
15, no 2), Georgia state University.

Jarvis, Peter, Holford John & Friffin Colin. (2004) The theory & practice of Learning
(2nd ed). Routledge Falmer.

Palmer, Joy A. (2001). Fifty Major Thinkers on Education (1st ED.) Routledge

Ally, M. (2008). Foundations of educational theory for online learning, Athabasca

University.

Bentham, Susan (2002). Psychology and Education. Routledge Modular Psychology

Series.

Woolfolk, A., Hughes, Malcolm & Walkup, V. (2013). Psychology in Education (2nd
ed.). USA: Pearson Education Limited.

McLeod, Saul. (2018) Developmental Psychology. Routledge

Bates, Bob. (2015). Learning Theories Simplified ...and how to apply them to teaching.
Sage publications Limited.

Schunk, D.H. (2012). Learning Theories; An Educational Perspective (6th Ed). The
University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Lefrancois, Guy R. (2011). Theories of Human Learning (6th ed) Cengage Learning.

Rogers, Bill. (2003) Teacher Leadership and Behaviour Management. Paul Chapman
Publications.

Woolfolk, A. (2008). Educational Psychology (10th ed.). USA: Person Education Inc.

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