PHILOSOPHY AND

CURRICULUM DESIGN

BY:

IRENEO VILLANUEVA
BATAGA
Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss some types of philosophy used in

developing curriculum;

2. Appreciate the significance of philosophy in

designing curriculum;

3. Discuss the determinants of educational

philosophy in curriculum design.
The Search for a Philosophical Attitude

PHILOSOPHICAL ACT- Is used to describe the act of

engaging oneself in the questioning activity and bringing
things to into philosophical praxis.
Philosophers philosophize not only to answer the
questions that bother their minds but to ask question
for further inquiries.
However the aim of philosophy is not to fill one’s head
with textual knowledge and observable facts but rather
to reflects and cultivate a constructive and critical
depositions towards it.
Philosophical Attitude

To become a philosopher one must question

everything and have an inquiring mind. As
Descartes put it we shall not become a
philosopher even if we read all the reasoning of
Plato and Aristotle if we cannot form a sound
judgement upon any proposition.
Thus to become a philosopher one must bend one’s
mind to thought process and meditation.
So Philosophy is one of the major foundations of CURRICULUM
Critical questions to be answered

1. How is philosophy a “crucial determinant”

in curriculum trends and development?

2. What is your philosophy of teaching and
learning as it relates to curriculum?
3. What do you perceive as the pros and cons
of each philosophy?
 THE STRUGGLE TO BE A DECISIVE LEADER

Leaders can have many different titles, but the way I see it, they are
really the CDMs — Chief Decision Makers within their
organizations. Unfortunately, not all leaders excel at making
decisions just because they have been put in a position to do so. In
fact, many leaders struggle with decisiveness.
Leaders understand that the decisions they make might have substantial ripple
effects, and that can make the process of making a decision quite taxing.
Some leaders obsess over details and fret anxiously over every aspect of the
choices they see before them. They fail to delegate or include others in the
decision-making process, and they take too much time and energy to reach
their conclusions. Other leaders reduce the heavy cognitive load of decision
making by making quick, ill-informed and poorly researched decisions. Or
they delegate too readily, leaving decisions to those who may not be capable
of making them.
Being decisive is critical if you’re a leader and that means performing a
balancing act of sorts. Decision making isn’t a purely rational undertaking,
especially when you’re making the types of decisions leaders tend to make in
today’s corporate world. You have to tap into your intuition, logic, and
emotions and consider the wide-ranging impacts your choices will have.
Decisiveness requires you to combine a number of traits into a mechanism that
allows you to act with responsibility, confidence, and in a timely manner for
the benefit of your people and your organization.
Use Emotional Intelligence as Your Decision-Making Superpower

Emotional intelligence is your ability to tap into your self-awareness as

well as the moods of the people around you and the circumstances you
find yourself in.

When you’re self-aware and emotionally intelligent, you hone your

ability to make decisions because you’re not allowing unconscious
biases or the effects of exhaustion to dictate your choices. Instead,
you’re able to consider the decision-making process more cohesively,
utilizing your emotions and reason in perfect balance.
Determinants of Educational Philosophy in Curriculum Design
1. Social Forces
The social forces in a society influence the functioning of schools
directly as well as indirectly. These social forces are reflected in social
goals, cultural uniformity and diversity, social pressures, social
change, future planning and concepts of culture. Our country is
multicultural and has a long recorded history, the social forces
represent a bewildering variety as well as complexity; these social
forces determine the social agenda of education.
The curriculum reflects contemporary social forces and helps shape
the society.
2. Human Development
Various aspects of human growth and development are accomplished partly
by the structured curriculum in use in the school and partly by the society.
The area of human development has been well researched and studied in
detail. These studies have made us think afresh about children, their
developmental stages, how they think, their needs and interests. Children
are not small adults. They differ from adults in many important ways.
Differences across various developmental stages before adulthood are not
merely quantitative, they are essentially qualitative. These differences have
been admirably described by various child psychologists, chief among these
being Jean Piaget. Knowledge about human development can help the
teacher develop a curriculum. The curriculum thus developed must include
various aspects of development stage not only in terms of age cohorts but
also differences among children from the same age cohort.
3. Nature of Learning
Various aspects of the learning process have been well researched though
we have not been able to reveal the entire process. This has given rise
to a number of learning theories chief among these being the
behaviouristic theories and the cognitive theories. These learning theories
recommend different approaches to the task of curriculum planning.
Curriculum specialists cannot ignore the role of these theories because
most of these are scientific in their orientation.
4. Nature of Knowledge and Cognition
The nature of knowledge and cognition is yet another basis of curriculum.
What distinguishes knowledge from information? How do children transform
information into knowledge? What knowledge is most worthwhile? What
is the nature of thought processes? How are various thought processes
and cognitive process skills related to each other? These questions have
interested teachers, psychologists, researchers as well as philosophers.
Answers to these questions can help educationists organize knowledge in
the curriculum. It has been established now that learners have their own
preferred learning styles and strategies. A good curriculum should therefore
provide alternative paths for learning according to different learning styles
of students.
Philosophical Historical

Major
Foundations
of
Curriculum

Psychological Social
 PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS of CURRICULUM

Philosophy provides educators, teachers and

curriculum makers with framework for planning,
implementing and evaluating curriculum in schools. It
helps in answering what school are for, what subjects
Ph
ilo
Philosophical Foundations of
are important, how students should learn and what
so
pi Curriculum
materials and methods should be used. In decision
making, philosophy provides the starting point and
ca
will be used for the succeeding decision making.
l

The philosophy of a curriculum planner,

implementer or evaluator reflects his or her life
experiences, common beliefs, social and economic
background and education.
 Suggestions
from Subject
Specialists

Studies of Studies of
Ph Contemporary

ilo Ralph Tyler’s framework shows that philosophy is

Learners Life

so School
pi one of the five criteria in selecting
Purposes educational
ca
l purposes.

Use of
Use of
Psychology
Philosophy
of Learning

Tyler’s View of Philosophy

in Relation to School
Purposes
 FIVE Educational Philosophies

Perennialism Idealism
Ph Existentialism
ilo
so
pi
ca
l

Realism Experimentation
 Four Educational Philosophies

a. Perennialism
• To educate the rational person;
Aim of
Education
• To cultivate the intellect
Ph
ilo
so Role of
• Teachers help students think with reason
Education
pi
ca
l • Classical subjects, literary analysis and
Focus in the
Curriculum
curriculum is constant

Curriculum
• Use of great books and return to liberal arts
Trends
Features:

1. It advocates the permanency of knowledge that has stood the test of time and values that
have moral and spiritual.
2. The underlying idea is that constant, absolute, and universal.
3. Believes that cement of education is the common nature of man and therefore want to
cultivate reason and intellectual powers.
4. Obviously perennialism in education is born of idealism in general philosophy.

Implications:
5. The curriculum of perennialist is subject-centered.It draws heavily on defined disciplines or
logically organized body of content but it emphasizes teaching learning of languages
literature, sciences and arts.
6. Want to teach subject in their separate form example history as history, chemistry as
chemistry.
7. Only subject matter which is considered to be hard is admissible for inclusion and in
curriculum.
8. Emphasize ability to read classics and other difficult materials.
9. In such a scheme of things, students are regarded immature as they lack the judgement
required to determine what should be studied, and also their interest demands little
attention as far as curriculum development is concerned.
 Five Educational Philosophies

b. Idealism
• Exaltation of human personality
Aim of
Education

Ph
ilo • Teachers help students to think creatively
so Role of
Education
(HOTS)and develop initiative and creative power.
pi
ca
l • Religion, morality, art and aesthetics,
Focus in the
Curriculum
mathematics and science

Curriculum
• Use Traditional methods of teaching.
Trends
 Idealism
Features:
1. The doctrine of idealism suggests that matter is an illusion and that
reality is that with exists mentally.
2. Reality is exists as it experienced.
3. Truth is same today as it was yesterday.
4. It emphasizes moral and spiritual reality as the chief explanation of
the world and considers moral values absolute, timeless, and universal.
5. They believe that human behavior is rational, when it conforms to the
laws of nature and is governed by social laws
Implications for Curriculum:
1. Teachers are expected to act as role model of enduring values.
2. The school must be highly structured and should advocate only those ideas that demonstrate
enduring values.
3. The materials used for instructions, therefore, would center on broad ideas particularly those
contained in great works of literature and or scriptures.
4. Curriculum should aim an inculcation of three spiritual truth, beauty, and goodness. These three
values determines the three types of activities, intellectual aesthetic and morals.
Within an idealist educational philosophy,
the curricular focus is on ideas rather than
the student or specific content areas.
Learning is also intrinsically motivated.
Teaching methods used within idealism
include: lecture, discussion, and Socratic
dialogue. Essential to these teaching
methods is posing questions that generate
thoughts and spark connections
 Five Educational Philosophies

C. Realism
• To give a complete knowledge and understanding of human society
human nature, motives and institutions .
Aim of
Education

Ph
• Realism calls self-discipline for the learners by controlling their feelings,
ilo
desires and perform duties. Realism tells teacher to treat learners with
so Role of affection and sympathy.
Education
pi
ca
l • Preparation for a Happy and Successful Life: The first and most important
aim of realistic education is to prepare learners for a happy and successful
Focus in the life.( Vocational, religious, leisure,citizenship activities.
Curriculum

• Teaching life skills and immersion

Curriculum
Trends
 Five Educational Philosophies

d. Experimentalism
• Students should not be taught what to think but how to think
• Experience anything to learn it.
Aim of
Education

Ph
• Student thinking replaces rote memorization and shallow understanding at
ilo
center stage; from the start, students are situated in activities that require
so Role of them to experiment with ideas as they pursue ends that matter to them.
Education
pi
ca
l • Can be related to the interests of the students, activity centered curriculum.
Focusing in Laboratory activities like Science, Math, and Astronomy, and other
Focus in the subjects with students centered activities.
Curriculum

• Teaching problem solving skills, and practical knowledge.

Curriculum
Trends
Features
IMPLICATIONS
 Five Educational Philosophies

e. Existentialism
• Any of the child may join the group without any compulsion.
Aim of
Education

Ph
ilo • Development of introspective powers – self observation.
Role of
so Education
pi
ca • Provide scope for the exercise of free choice.
l
• The child should know his own self.
Focus in the
• History from the present predicament, Humanities, Fine
Curriculum arts are all to be included in Vocationalization.

• Home education
Curriculum • Education for creativity
Trends
ADDITIONAL INPUT
 Social Foundations of
Education

Schools exist within the social context . Societal culture

affects and shapes schools and their curricula.
S
o In considering the social foundations of curriculum, we must
ci recognize that schools are only one of the many institutions
al that educates society. The home, the family, community,
likewise , educate the people in the society. But schools are
formal institutions that address more complex and interrelated
societies and the world.
 Social Foundations of
Education
Society as ever dynamic is a source of a very fast changes
which are difficult to cope with and to adjust to. Thus, schools
are made to help to understand these changes. In order for
S schools to be relevant, schools curricula should address
o diversity, explosion of knowledge, school reforms and
ci education for all.
al
The relationship of curriculum and society is mutual and
encompassing. Hence, to be relevant, the curricula should
reflect and preserve the culture of society and its aspirations.
At the same time, society should also imbibe the changes
brought about by the formal institutions called schools.