Comparison of Attributes of Educational Philosophies

1. Comparison of Attributes of Educational
Philosophies
Presenter: JeffreyC. Autor

2. For Perennialists, the focus is to teach ideas that are everlasting, to seek
enduring truths which are constant, not changing, as the natural and
human worlds at their most essential level, do not change.
PERENNIALISM

3. Essentialists believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to be
transmitted to students in a systematic, disciplined way. The emphasis in this
conservative perspective is on intellectual and moral standards that schools should
teach. The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and academic
rigor.
ESSENTIALISM

4. Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on
the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should
test ideas by active experimentation. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners
that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The learner is a
problem solver and thinker who makes meaning through his or her individual
experience in the physical and cultural context.
PROGRESSIVISM

5. Reconstructionist educators focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform as the aim of education.
Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) was the founder of social reconstructionism, in reaction against the
realities ofWorld War II. He recognized the potential for either human annihilation through technology
and human cruelty or the capacity to create a beneficent society using technology and human
compassion.
George Counts (1889-1974) recognized that education was the means ofpreparing people for creating
this new social order.Critical theorists, like social reconstructionists, believe that systems must be
changed to overcome oppression and improve human conditions.
RECONSTRUCTIONISM

6. Comparisonof Attributes of Educational Philosophies
CATEGORIES TRADITIONAL CONTEMPORARY
Philosophical- orientation Realism | Idealism Pragmatism
Theoretical- orientation Perennialism |Essentialism Progressivism
Reconstructionism
Direction in time preserving the past growth, reconstruct present,
change society, shape future
Educational value fixed, absolute, objective changeable, subjective, relative
Educational process focuses on teaching focuses on active self-learning
Intellectual focus train, discipline the mind engage in problem-solving,
social tasks
Subject-matter for its own self-importance all have similar value
Curriculum composed of three Rs three Rs, arts, sciences,
vocational

7. Comparisonof Attributes of Educational Philosophies
CATEGORIES TRADITIONAL CONTEMPORARY
Learning cognitive learning, disciplines exploratory, discovery
Grouping homogeneous heterogeneous, culturally diverse
Teacher disseminates, lectures,
dominates instruction
facilitates, coaches, change agent
Student receptacle, receives knowledge,
passive
engages discoverer, constructs
knowledge
Social direction, control, restraint Individualism
Citizenship cognitive, personal development personal, social development

8. Comparisonof Attributes of Educational Philosophies
CATEGORIES TRADITIONAL CONTEMPORARY
Freedom and Democracy conformity, compliance with
authority, knowledge and
discipline
creativeness, self-actualization,
direct experiences
Excellence vs. Equality excellence in education,
academic, rewards and jobs
based on merit
equality of education, equal
change to disadvantaged
Society group values, acceptance of
norms, cooperative and
conforming behavior
individual growth, individual
ability, importance of individual
Source:https://web.augsburg.edu/~erickson/edc490/downloads/comparison_edu_philo.pdf