PHILOSOPHY AND AIMS OF EDUCATION

(FALSAFAH DAN MATLAMAT PENDIDIKAN)

 ISLTILAH MATLAMAT PENDIDIKAN
• Outcomes
• Aims
• Ends
• Purposes
• Functions
• Goals
• objectives
 CHARACTERISTICS (CIRI-CIRI)
• The aims of education are broad, general
statements of the purposes of education;
• Meant to give general direction to education
throughout the country.
 SUMBER MATLAMAT
From examining:
• the needs of children and youth in the society;
• Our culture
• Various needs of our society.
 Statements of aims of education are:

• positions taken based on a set of beliefs – a

philosophy – of education
• certain assumptions about education, society,
and how young people learn.
• A statement of belief directed to the mission
of the schools.
SINGLE

MARRIED

DIVORCED
 MAJOR PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION

• Reconstructionism (most liberal)

• Progressivism
• [Eclecticism (borrowing of beliefs from more
than one school of philosophy)]
• Essentialism
• Perrenialism (most conservative)
 Reconstructionism
Shape individuals and through them shape culture and
society
 Reconstructionism
• Dewey’s philosophy
• Seek to change society actively
• Adjust society to its populace
• Schools should not simply transmit the
cultural heritage or simply study social
problems but become an agency for solving
political and social problems (social change)
• Study controversial social issues
 Perennialism
• See aims of education as the disciplining the mind, the
development of the ability to reason, and the pursuit of truth
• Plato, Aristotle, Catholic thinker, Islamic thinker
• See truth as eternal, everlasting, absolute and unchanging
• Secular and sectarian perennialists:
• Secular – curriculum emphasizes grammar, rhetoric, logic, classical
& modern languages, mathematics
• Sectarian – curriculum emphasizes theological writings (the truth
is the same today as it was then and always shall be)
• Education is to develop the mind. Education is preparation for life.
• Suitable to small percentage of students who possess high verbal
and academic aptitude.
 Essentialism (longest and most durable)

• Aim of education is the transmission of the

cultural heritage
• Seek to preserve society
• Adjust men and women to society
• Education is preparation for life (or future
purpose e.g. job, college etc).
 Essentialism
(Cognitive goals)
• Primarily cognitive and
intellectual
• Empahsize 3 R’s and the “hard”
(i.e. academic) subjects
• Tailors the child to the
curriculum
• Techniques Assign-Study-Recite-
Test are principal methods
• Reproduce what has been
learned. Focus on mastery of
subject matter. Stress on
academic disciplines. (Sound
familiar?)
 Essentialism (Behavioristic Principles)
• Principles of behaviorist school of psychology (Pavlov,
Thorndike, Skinner)
• Learner in the passive role as recipient of the many stimuli to
which he must respond
• Known as connectionism, association, S-R (stimulus-response)
bond and conditioning
• Teaching techniques e.g. classroom drill, programmed
instruction, standardized testing, behavioral objectives
• Content arranged into logical, sequential pieces and prescribed
to the learner
• Procedure: begin instruction with a rule, concept or model &
then give students opportunities to practice (drill).
 Learning becomes a
habitual part of the
individual’s behavior.

THE PRESENT EDUCATION

PROGRAMS AND
PRACTICES MAINTAIN A
STRONG ESSENTIALISTIC
ORIENTATION.
 Progressivism

• Also known as pragmatism.

• See truth as relative, changing and as yet to be discovered.
• Education directed to immediate needs, pre-professional
education; a utilitarian education; specialized education
and vocational training.
• Education is life (learn by doing).
• Tailors the curriculum to the child. Teach the child in a
relaxed environment without forcing learning (Child-
centered school)
• The needs and interests of learners must be considered.
Personality, character is more than subject matter
(knowledge or information).
 Progressivism…

• Education is a process that continues as long

as one lives, not a product (e.g. facts & motor
skills) to be learned.

A child learns best when actively experiencing

his or her world as opposed to passively
absorbing preselected content.
 Progressivism…

• If experiences in school are designed to meet the

needs and interests of the individual learners, it follows
that no single pattern of the subject matter can be
appropriate for all learners.
• Teachers are counselors and facilitators of learning,
NOT expounders of subject matter.
• Cooperation is emphasized in the classroom, NOT
competition.
• Individual growth in relationship to one’s ability is
more important than growth in comparison to others.
 Progressivism (Scientific Method)…

• Known as reflective thinking, problem solving,

practical intelligence
• 5 steps in its simplest form:
– Identifying a problem
– Forming an hypothesis (hypotheses)
– Gathering data
– Analyzing data
– Drawing conclusions
Does following these steps provide sufficient training
in all elements of thinking?
 Progressivism (Experimentalist, Gestalt,
Perceptual Psychology)
• Experimentalist Psychology
– Kurt Lewin, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow etc
– Active involvement of the learner in all his capacities
• Gestalt Psychology
– Concentrate on wholes, the big picture so that learners can
see the relationships among the various parts
– Inquiry and discovery learning
– Real-life situations
– Previous experiences of the learner
• Perceptual Psychology
 Progressivism (Perceptual Psychology)
• Focused on the development of the learner’s self-
concept
• Goal is to develop ‘self-actualizing’ or ‘fully functioning’
personality (as defined by Maslow) or adequate person
• 4 characteristics of an adequate person (Combs)
– A positive view of self
– Identification with others
– Openness to experience and acceptance
– Possession of a rich field of perceptions gained from formal
schooling and informal sources
 Progressivism
(Perceptual
Psychology)…
• Teachers must help
young people to
develop an adequate
concept of themselves
and must be willing to
deal both with their
perceptions of the
world and the world as
it is.
An individual’s feeling of adequacy or inadequacy can often be attributed to
other people’s perceptions (self-fulfilling prophecy).

• People learn who they are and what they are from the
ways in which they have been treated by those who
surround them in the process of their growing up…People
develop feelings that they are liked, wanted, acceptable,
and able from having been liked, wanted, accepted and
from having been successful. One learns that he is these
things, not from being told so, but through the experience
of being treated as though he were so... To produce a
positive self, it is necessary to provide experiences that
teach individuals they are positive people.
• Arthus W. Combs (1962)
People learn that they are able,
NOT from failure, but
from SUCCESS.