TOPIC 2:

PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION IN
THE WESTERN SOCIETIES
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
COMPRISES TWO SCHOOLS, WHICH ARE
TRADITIONAL AND MODERN. IT HAS ITS ROOTS
IN ATHENS, ROME AND JUDEO CHRISTIANITY.
EDUCATIONAL THINKING, LIKE EVERY OTHER
BRANCH OF KNOWLEDGE, STARTED IN THE
PHILOSOPHICAL DELIBERATION OF THE ANCIENT
GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. THUS THE MEANING OF
EDUCATION IN WEST IS INITIALLY AVAILABLE IN
THE WORKS OF PLATO.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHIES
OF EDUCATION
1. Learners play active roles in the teaching and learning process.
➢ Students are given the opportunity to take control of their own learning process.
They have the freedom and rights to take charge of their own learning, as they are
given the opportunity and freedom to manage their own learning process.

2. Teachers play the role of a facilitator.

➢ Western teachers are more like “guides” or “facilitators” than actually teachers.
The educative process is not teacher-centered; teachers are responsible to help and
guide the students in their learning process rather than teaching them what to do.

3. Students learn by understanding.

➢ They do not memorize what they have learned but rather understand what they are
learning. This gives the students opportunities to understand the topic that they are
learning in a deeper way.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHIES
OF EDUCATION
4. Western education philosophy believes that providing compliments to
students is important in encouraging them to excel in education.
5. Western education encourages individualism and creativity towards the
practitioner.
➢ Since students are given freedom to express their creativity, they are not afraid to
be different or make mistakes, as the Western education looks at students mistakes
positively and the way to learn.

6. Western education philosophy believes that student-teacher relationship is

more open and the students are more willing to talk to their teachers.
 WESTERN EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

Idealism Realism

Existentialism
Essentialism

Perennialism
Pragmatism Naturalism

Reconstructionism Progressivism
 Espoused by Plato (Father of Idealism)
about 400 years BC Reality, as we
perceive it, is a
mental construct.

Idealism believes that ideas are the only Experiences are the
true reality, and that truth and values result of sensory
are absolute and universal abilities of the
human mind.
One cannot
As a result, schools exist to sharpen the perceive the
mind and intellectual processes. The school
is seen as an intellectual institution for existence of things
students to explore and discover truth. beyond the realm
of the intellect.

Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Kant, Berkeley, etc.

❖ God is the absolute ideal and all positive values are
fully realized and enjoyed through Him.
❖ Every individual is born good, and is capable to
sense, perceive and think.
❖ The self is the ultimate reality of individual
experiences; the individual self has all the freedom
for self-determination.
❖ Social values are realized when an individual
recognizes that he is a part of the total society.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ To develop the individual spiritually, Curriculum developed according to
mentally, and morally ideals and eternal values

✓ Character development Humanistic Subjects:

▪ Literature
✓ Self-realization
▪ History
✓ Preservation and transmission of ▪ Philosophy
culture ▪ Religion
▪ Mathematics
✓ Preparation for a holy life ▪ Arts
 TEACHING METHODS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

✓ Lecture-Discussion Method Imitating examples of heroes

✓ Socratic Dialogue (Question-
answer method)
✓ Argumentation
✓ Book study
✓ Project Method
ROLE OF TEACHERS ROLE OF SCHOOL
✓ Chief source of inspiration; role ▪ An agency of the society
model ▪ A thinking institution
✓ Creator of educational
environment
✓ Spiritual guide
 Aristotle, a student of Plato who broke with
his mentor's idealist philosophy, is called
Reality is found in the Father of both Realism and the Scientific
the physical world Method.
that we live in.
Knowledge is
Realists believe that reality exists
gained through independent of the human mind. The
reason and ultimate reality is the world of physical
experience. objects. The focus is on the body/objects.
Truth is objective-
what can be The goal of education is to help individuals understand
observed. and apply the principles of science to help solve the
problems in the world. Schools are seen as academic
institutions to develop the students’ abilities in
reasoning, observation and experimentation.

Aristotle, Locke, Comenius, Thomas Aquinas, Francis Bacon, Alfred

North Whitehead, and Bertrand Russell, etc.
❖ External world is the reality.
❖ Man will discover reality with the use of science and
common sense through education or learning.
❖ Mind is functioning and is geared towards creativity.
❖ Reality can be proved by observation, experience,
experiment and scientific reasoning.
❖ Values must be studied to be applied in the actual
setting.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Emphasis on the practical side ✓ Curriculum should be scientifically
of education including approached, standardized, and distinct-
education for moral and discipline based.
character development. ✓ Curriculum is systematic, organized and
classified under different subject-matter
disciplines such as languages, mathematics,
and science.
✓ Studies should be practical and useful
✓ Vocational education ✓ The proper kind of education should be
✓ Develop the physical and based on a curriculum to perfect one’s natural
mental powers of the child powers by training the senses.
✓ Developing and training of
senses
 TEACHING METHODS
✓ Scientific and objective methods
of teaching; Teaching methods
focus on mastery of facts and
basic skills through
demonstration and recitation.
ROLE OF THE TEACHER
The teacher should present material in a
systematic and organized way and should
promote the idea that one can use clearly
defined criteria in making judgments about
art, economics, politics and science.

✓ Informal methods of teaching Teachers’ role is supreme because he brings

the child in touch with the external realities of
✓ Self-experience (field trips,
life.
audio-visual aids, etc.) and
research

✓ Experimental method
✓ Performance-based teaching
 Reality is always
changing and is
dependent on what we
Charles Sanders Peirce is the principal proponent of observe and experience.
pragmatism.
Since man is a social
animal therefore, he
develops in social
Action gets priority over thought. Experience is at the circumstances. His
center of the universe. Everyone is tested on the success is success in
touch-stone of experience. Beliefs and ideas are true
if they are workable and profitable otherwise false. society.

The world is a process,

a constant flux. Truth is
Education should help an individual to meet human always in the making.
needs & solve problems and thereby enable an
individual to lead a happy life. Schools should help The world is ever
students to grow. The school is a miniature society which progressing and
prepares the child for future life.
evolving.
Peirce, William James, George Herbert Mead, and John Dewey
❖ The pragmatists are pluralists. According to them there are as many words as
human beings. The ultimate reality is not one but many. Everyone searches truth
and aim of life according to his experiences.
❖ The aim and values of life change in different times and chimes. Human life and
the world is a laboratory in which the aims and values are developed.
❖ Pragmatists are individualists. They put maximum premium upon freedom in human
life. Liberty goes with equality and fraternity. With freedom comes responsibility.
❖ Pragmatists are experimentalists. They give more importance to action than ideas.
Activity is the means to attain the end of knowledge.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM
✓ It believes that there can be no fixed
aims of education.
✓ Educator aims at harmonious
development of the educand - physical,
intellectual, social and aesthetic.
✓ The aim of education, therefore, is to
direct “the impulses, interests, desires and
abilities towards ‘the satisfaction of the
felt wants of the child in his environment.”
✓ Education deals with human life. It should
provide real life experiences to the child.
✓ Education should have a social function. It
should be through the medium of society
so that he develops socially desirable
qualities which promote his welfare and
happiness.
CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Principle of Utility – only those subjects,
activities and experiences should be included in
the curriculum: language, physical well-being,
physical training, Geography, History, Science,
Agriculture, and Home Science
✓ Principle of Interest – only those activities ad
experiences where the child takes interest
should be included: interest in conversation;
interest in investigation; interest in construction
and interest in creative expression. At the
primary stage, curriculum should include
Reading, Writing, Counting, Art, Craft-work,
Natural science and other practical work of
simple nature.
✓ Principle of Experience – child’s activity,
vocation and experience
✓ Principle of Integration – flexible, dynamic
and integrated curriculum: integration of
subjects and activities as knowledge is one unit.
 TEACHING METHODS ROLE OF THE TEACHER
✓ The pragmatic method of ✓ The teacher acts as a helper, guide and
teaching is practical utility: the philosopher. The chief function of pragmatic
child is the central figure in this teacher is to suggest problems to his pupils
method. and to stimulate them to find by themselves
✓ Pragmatic method is activity- the solutions.
based method; problem solving ✓ Provide opportunities for the natural
development of innate qualities of children.
✓ Learning thru personal ✓ The ideal teacher is one who helps the
experience students to grow by empowering them with
✓ Learning by doing the knowledge, skills and dispositions to make
✓ Pragmatic method is socialistic in intelligent decisions in life.
nature; learning is purposeful
✓ Auto-education or Self-education
✓ Experimental method
✓ Project method
Reality is constructed by Key ideas originate from Soren Kierkegaard (Founder of
Existentialism), F. W. Nietzche, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers,
the individual; there are and Jean-Paul Sartre.
no universal and
absolute ideas.

Existence comes before Existentialist educators believe there is no god or

any definition of what higher power, they encourage all students to create
their own meaning of life.
we are. We define
ourselves in relationship
to that existence by the
choices we make. The objective of education is to enable every
individual to develop his unique qualities, to harness
his potentialities and cultivate his individualities.
“Existence precedes Schools should recognize that every student is a
essence.” - Sartre free, unique, and sentient being with personal
fears, hopes and aspirations.

Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, etc.

❖ Subjective existence of man: Man is, his existence and existence denotes that
he is alive, moving, becoming and striving- striving to become what he wills to
be.
❖ Man is a free entity having freedom of choice. He even makes choice when
he chooses not to make any choice. Man can become whatever he wants to
become through his choices, but at the same time he cannot avoid the
consequences of his choices.
❖ Existence precedes essence for human beings. Essence precedes existence for
objects. Objects always have a definite purpose and this purpose is known
prior to the creation of the object. On the other hand, humans are not born
with a definite purpose.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Fostering Unique Qualities and Cultivating Individualities. ✓ There is no fixed curriculum for the
Existentialists believe that each individual is unique and Existentialists; the content and
education must cater to the individual differences.
✓ Development of Complete Man. Existentialists want that pedagogy is determined by the
education helps a person to be a whole man in his natural needs and preference of the
environment. For the event of complete man, freedom is students. Learning is self-paced
the essential requirement. and self-directed.
✓ Making Better Choices. As choice determines perfectibility
and happiness, education should train, man to create better
✓ The humanities and the arts are
choices. As such, the aim of education is to enable man especially useful in drawing the
to thrash out better choices in one’s life. students’ attention to the issues,
✓ Leading a Good life. The good life, according to challenges, dilemmas and
existentialists, is authentic life which is possible when a problems that human beings face.
person starts realizing his individuality and makes his/her
own independent choices. Therefore, education aims at ✓ Vocational education is seen
teaching him to guide an honest life with its noble obligations more as a means of teaching
a summit. students about themselves and
✓ Fostering of Values. In keeping with existentialist, the aim of their potentials than that of
education should be developing a scale of supreme values in
line with freedom. The learners must develop a commitment to
earning a livelihood.
those values and act for them.
 TEACHING METHODS ROLE OF THE TEACHER
✓ Open-minded and reflective, the teacher creates a learning ✓ To help students define their
environment where both teachers and students are free to own essence by exposing them
reflect, ask questions and engage in philosophical dialogue to various paths they take in
about issues and moral choices in life. life.
✓ Focus is on the individual.
✓ To create an environment in
✓ In teaching history, existentialists focus on the actions of
historical individuals, who provide possible models for the which they freely choose their
students’ own behavior, rather than emphasizing historical events. own preferred way.
✓ In arts, existentialism encourages individual creativity and ✓ Assist and guide the learner in
imagination more than copying and imitating established the process of becoming
models. intelligent, sensitive, choosing,
✓ In teaching values, teachers employ values clarification and acting individual who
strategy to help students know themselves and their place in knows the obligation and
society. responsibility of freedom.
✓ Values education is a matter of choice that goes throughout ✓ Help the individual identify
existence.
and know himself better.
✓ There should be private and open spaces in the classroom to
facilitate dialogues, small group discussions, and
individualization
 Reality comes from
fundamentally fixed
Leading proponents include Robert Hutchins and truths especially related
Mortimer Adler to God. People find truth
thru reasoning and
revelation and that
goodness is found in
Rooted in Idealism and Realism; The nature of rational thinking.
man is constant. Because men as men are
everywhere the same, education should Knowledge is independent
basically be the same for all men.
of man. Truth can be
known by man through
reason, but there is
The aim of education is to help students know certain other truths which
and internalize ideas and values which are
universal and lasting. The role of schools, for can only be known
the perennialists, is to train a group of through intuition and / or
intellectual elite. revelation.

Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler

 ✓ Because man’s highest characteristic- the one differentiating him
from the lower life forms- is his reason, he must use it to direct his
life and control his instincts. Men are free, not determined. They
are responsible for their actions.

✓ Perennialism says since people are human, one should teach first about humans,
not machines or techniques.
✓ Man tends toward knowledge. His mind is basically curious; thus, he needs little
special prodding to start him on his epistemological expedition.
✓ Just as man tends towards knowledge, so he tends towards the moral life. And, just
as knowledge is attained through reason, so the moral life is the life consonant
with reason. The good act is the act controlled by man’s rationality.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM
✓ Because human beings are essentially the same,
education should be essentially the same for
everyone. The function of a citizen may vary from
society to society, but the function of man, as a
man, is the same in every age and in every
society since it results from his nature as a man.
“The aim of an educational system … is to
improve man as man.”
✓ To ensure that students acquire understandings
about the great ideas of Western civilization.
✓ Education should be for the “long-haul‟ not for
the immediate, contemporary fad. It is not the
job of the school to meddle in contemporary
problems, social reform, and political action. It is
the job of the school to provide an education on
the basis of which education, students later after
graduation can rationally initiate the efforts for
social reform, change, and political action.
CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Curriculum of perennialism stems from
the “Great Books,” a collection of
literature deemed in Western culture to
be foundational, significant, and relevant,
regardless of the time period.
✓ The student should be taught such basic
subjects as English, languages, history,
mathematics, natural science,
philosophy, and fine arts. Adler states:
“The three R‟s, which always signified
the formal disciplines, are the essence of
liberal or general education.”
✓ The child should learn reading and
writing, how to speak and how to listen.
✓ The perennialists also favour a subject-
matter-based curriculum where the
students are incrementally taught the skills
and inculcated with the disposition to
appreciate the classics.
 TEACHING METHODS
✓ The method of teaching for the perennialist is rooted in
mental discipline and in the training of the intellect through
the discipline inherent in the subject matter.
✓ Since the child has a natural tendency to learn, the basis of
the perennialist method is cooperation with the natural
tendency of the student toward reason.
✓ The perennialist methodology relies heavily upon the use of
lectures to Englishmen the student while he follows his
natural curiosity under the moral authority of the teacher.
✓ It is closely associated with the Socratic method of teaching,
which promotes an open dialogue between teacher and
student.
✓ Other techniques considered important by the perennialists
are memorization of materials, and for the ecclesiastical
perennialists, recitation of the Catechism.
✓ The teaching materials, learning activities, and pedagogy
are not dependent on the students’ interests, but on what is
necessary to enhance their intellectual capacity.
ROLE OF THE TEACHER
✓ Perennialism is similar to essentialism in that
teachers guide the educational process. The
teachers are the main actors in ensuring
mastery of content and development of
reasoning skills.
✓ A perennialism teacher has a duty to help
students to become cultural citizens and to
understand the principles of human knowledge.
✓ The teacher, to the perennialist, is a mental
disciplinarian with highly developed logical
skills, capable of teaching logical thinking and
the use of reason to his students.
✓ The teacher must have the ability to work with
the natural tendencies of the students toward
reason. He must serve as a benevolent
taskmaster, exercising the minds of the
students in order to help them develop their
rational faculties.
The “essence” of a thing
is conceived as the
It originated from William C. Bagley (Father of the
totality of its essential Essentialism Movement) and is also rooted in
properties. Idealism and Realism.

It is largely by the social

environment and the
man’s material which
determines how he shall
live.
Education is a social
activity which simplifies,
purifies and integrates
social experience to
understand the cultural
heritage.
Asserts that education properly involves the
learning of the basic skills, arts and sciences that
have been useful in the past and are likely to
remain useful in the future; focuses on
INTELLECTUAL DISCIPLINES
Educational theory that sees the primary
function of the school to be the preservation and
transmission of the basic elements of human
culture.
William Bagley, Theodore Sizer, etc.
❖ Refers to the “traditional” or “Back to the Basics” approach to
education. It is so named because it strives to instill students with
the “essentials” of academic knowledge and character
development.
❖ Frown upon vocational, life-adjustment, or other courses with
“watered down” academic content; it is not to take on
nonessential functions such as “social adjustment”, career
education, consumer education, cooking classes, etc.
❖ Its primary mission is academic.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Prepare students to be ✓ Strong emphasis on basic skills in elementary
productive, contributing schools and on disciplined knowledge and
members of society. scholastic achievement in secondary schools.
✓ For essentialist, the aim of ✓ Stresses core knowledge in reading, writing,
education is to teach the math, science, history, foreign language, and
young the essentials they technology.
need to live well in the ✓ The curriculum is similar to the perennialists in
modern world. being subject-centred. In the essentialist
✓ The three goals of essentialism system, students are required to master a set
are: body of information and basic techniques for
❖ Academic knowledge their grade level before they are promoted to
❖ Patriotism the next higher grade. The content gradually
❖ Character development with the moves towards more complex skills and
back-to-basics method (train the detailed knowledge.
mind, promote reasoning, and
ensure a common culture)
 TEACHING METHODS ROLE OF THE TEACHER
✓ Teaching methods in essentialism typically ✓ The teacher should serve as an
involves: intellectual and moral role model
❖Lecturing; for the students.
❖Memorization; ✓ The teachers or administrators
❖Repetition; decide what is most important for
❖Practice; and the students to learn with little
❖assessment. regard to the student interests. The
✓ Teacher and subject centered teachers also focus on achievement
✓ Mastery learning test scores as a means of
✓ Essentialism attempts to improve student’s evaluating progress.
intellect by training the mind and promoting ✓ The teacher is also able to maintain
reasoning. It also strives to ensure a common discipline, order and control in the
culture. classroom, and teach the subject in
a systematic and coherent way,
with a focus on the essential facts
to be learnt.
 Like pragmatism,
Proponents include John Dewey (Father of progressivism believes
progressive Education), William James, Rousseau, that reality is constantly
Lawrence, and Kilpatric.
changing, so nothing is
ever static. Reality is in
the area of everyday
Progressivism is a theory of education that is life, personal
concerned with “learning by doing” and
purports that children learn best when experience.
pursuing their own interests and satisfying
their own needs.
Learning is rooted in
the questions of
learners that arise
The school is a miniature democratic society in through experiencing
which students could learn and practice the skill
and tools necessary for democratic living. - Dewey the world. It is active,
not passive.

John Dewey; William James; J Rousseau; G Thomas Lawrence;

William Kilpatric
 Pragmatism Progressivism
• emerged in the 1870s • emerged in the 1890s
• highlights on practicality and • highlights on human progress
experience • Progressivism is about learning by doing.
• Pragmatism method is about problem
solving
 ✓All learning is active; learning is intellectual, social, and
emotional. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners
that arise through experiencing the world.

❖ Center of gravity is child

❖ Focus of philosophy is learning ,not the teacher
‘s teaching
❖ Education comes from the experience
of the child.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Progressivism is known as "child-centered ✓ Curriculum should be
instruction." This means that everything that is interdisciplinary since problems
done in the classroom, is done for the purpose by nature are multi- dimensional
of facilitating and nurturing the student's and involve answers from a
variety of subject-matter.
development.
✓ Curriculum is based on students'
✓ It bases all of the lessons or plans on
interests, involves the
the developmental needs of the children, application of human problems
and believes that a child should learn by and affairs.
doing, rather than by passively watching. ✓ It uses the life experience
Learning is constructed based on discovery approach to fit the student for
and experience. future social action.
✓ Political; moral; social; vocational
; intellectual; mathematics;
general science, languages;
integration of experiences.
 TEACHING METHODS
✓ work in groups to learn cooperation and social ✓ Acts as facilitator for student learning
skills.
✓ Design group assignments.
✓ Give experiment based projects.
✓ Engage students in social activities by
teaching them social responsibilities and
democracy.
✓ Relate day to day activities with real life.
✓ Selection of subject content by looking
forward to ask what skills will be needed in
future society
✓ Curriculum as per the students needs.
ROLE OF THE TEACHER
✓ Determine student’s interest for developing
curriculum
✓ The teacher offers new possibilities for
students to consider, to integrate, perhaps
to rebel against. This prompts additional
questions and opens up new avenues of
discovery.
✓ The teacher also prepares the groundwork
for students to more effectively learn with
and from their peers than if they were left
to their own devices, helping them to
construct a caring cooperative community,
providing guidance, and, when necessary,
teaching the skills that promote
constructive collaboration.
 Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) was the
founder of social reconstructionism.
Society is in need of Other proponents are George Counts
constant reconstruction and Paulo Freire
or change.

Such social change Social reconstructionism is a philosophy

involves a that emphasizes the addressing of social
questions and a quest to create a better
reconstruction of society and worldwide democracy.
education and the use
of education in
reconstructing the
Teaching and learning is a process of
society. inquiry in which the child must invent and
reinvent the world. - Freire

Theodore Brameld, George Counts, Paulo Freire

 The chief purpose of education is to “RECONSTRUCT” society in
order to meet the cultural crisis brought about by social, political,
and economic problems.

 Education was seen as a primary instrument in recognizing and

providing equality for those suffering disadvantage because of sex,
race, ethnic origin, age, or physical disability.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Teach students and the ✓ Curriculum focuses on student experience
public not to settle for and taking social action on real problems,
“what is” but rather to such as violence, hunger, international
dream about “what might terrorism, inflation, and inequality.
be” Curriculum that highlights social reform.
✓ Prepare students to
✓ Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary
become agents for change
curriculum is adopted with the teacher
referring to various disciplines such as
history, politics, economics and science.
✓ Reconstructionists favor multicultural
education, believing that students need to
go beyond their inherited culture to
construct a larger sense of identity and
purpose.
 TEACHING METHODS ROLE OF THE TEACHER
✓Strategies for dealing with ✓The teacher should be a social
controversial issues (particularly in activist who is internationally
social studies and literature), inquiry, oriented and humanitarian in his
dialogue, and multiple perspectives are or her outlook, and confident in
the focus. engaging students in action
projects of all kinds;
✓Community-based learning and
✓Criticize and evaluate work
bringing the world into the classroom
conditions and extend
are also strategies. educational role outside of the
✓Cooperative learning, problem solving, classroom;
critical thinking ✓Willing to engage and form
alliances with the community and
parents to make the school
better
Spencer, Mc Dougall, Darwin, Lamarck,
Rousseau, Percy Nunn are the There is only one
proponents of naturalism. reality, and that reality
is nature; truth can be
discovered only through
Naturalism is a concept that firmly nature.
believes that ultimate reality lies in
the nature of the matter. Reality and nature are
identical and beyond
nature there is no
Education should be according to the reality
nature of child. It advocates creation
of natural conditions in which natural
development of child can take place.

Spencer, Rousseau, Hobbes, etc.

❖ According to naturalism, reality and nature are
identical and beyond nature there is no reality.
❖ Education should be a practical preparation for
life.
❖ All knowledge should be evaluated in terms of
evolutionary naturalistic principles of education.
❖ Education must provide first-hand contact with
the child’s physical environment.
 EDUCATIONAL AIM CURRICULAR EMPHASIS
✓ Education aims at the inner faculties, ✓ There is no fixed curriculum; every
capacities and powers of the child. child is given the right to determine his
✓ The main aim of education should be to own curriculum.
fulfill an individual and social needs ✓ Child centered according to the
through nature. The tendencies, capacities, present and future needs of the child
instincts, likes and dislikes should be taken
into account while imparting education.
✓ Aim of education is not preparation for life, ✓ Subjects like agriculture, nature study,
but participation in it. gardening, art, craft, geology, and
✓ Each stage through which a child passes astronomy are taught. The subjects
has a specific aim of education are correlated with the physical
✓ The aim of education is to develop the activities of the child and with the life
child emotionally and morally according around him. Mathematics and
to the child’s needs. languages are includes as they are
essential for understanding science
subjects.
 TEACHING METHODS ROLE OF THE TEACHER
✓Learning by doing, playway method, ✓Teacher is always behind the
observation and experimentation screen. He is a spectator or an
✓Direct experiences of things observer.
✓Heuristic method instead of “chalk-and- ✓Teacher plays his role behind
talk” the scene. He does not
✓Emphasis on the value of concrete interfere in students' activities.
objects ✓Teacher acts as a facilitator, a
✓Hands-on training and practical setter of the stage, and as a
experiences supplier of materials and
opportunities.