Topic 1: Philosophical Foundations Of Curriculum

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Module 2::PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICALFOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUMEARNING OUTCOMESWhen you complete this module you will be able to: Define what is philosophy Define what is educational philosophy Explain the influence of the four educational philosophies on curriculum Explain why curriculum developers need to understand how humans learn Compare the four major theoretical perspectives explaininghuman learningOVERVIEW Identify the application of behaviourist, cognitivist, constructivist and2.0 Psychological2.8Philosophical &FoundationsPsychologicalofhumanistprinciples in the classroomFoundations of CurriculumCurriculum State your values and beliefs about the nature of learning2.1 Behaviourial2.9What is philosophy?Perspective 2.2 Philosophy2.10Cognitivismof education2.11Philosophy2.3Constructivismand curriculum2.4 Perennialism2.12Humanisam2.5 Essentialism2.6 ProgressivismDiscussion Questions2.7 ReconstructionismReadings‘Consult Private Sector on Curriculum’“Consultation to get views of theKuala Lumpur, Sat-The Prime Ministerwants education officials to consult the private sector should be for Sijil Pelajaranprivate sector when drawing curriculum for Malaysia-level and onwards (Year 11secondary and tertiary level education to onwards). This approach is importantproduce the right people for the job market. because of the rapid and dynamic industrialDatuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said development taking shape. We cannot runthat private sector’s manpower needs and away from supplying a workforce neededfuture trends would allow adjustments to by industries for nation building”.Abdullah said after opening the two-daybe made to the current curriculum.The curriculum must see that those second Malay Education Congress today.entering the work market after completingtheir secondary education, diploma or [Source: New Straits Times, March, 27,degree courses are equipped with 2005]knowledge that is useful to the nature oftheir jobs, he added.1

2.0 Philosophical Foundations of CurriculumIn module 1, we discussed the different definitions ofcurriculum. We also briefly discussed the foundationsof curriculum, the curriculum development processand the relationship between curriculum andinstruction. In this module and the following module,we will examine in greater detail the foundations ofcurriculum. In other words, how different traditionaldisciplines have influenced curriculum. A curriculumis developed based on certain beliefs and orientations,conceptions of learning and the demands of society. Inthis chapter, we will focus on the philosophical andpsychological beliefs that influence curriculum andimpact curriculum. In Module 3 we will discuss therole of society in determining what is to be included ina curriculum as well as the legacy of significanthistorical events.ACTIVITY 2.1Read the newspaper report on ‘Consult Private Sector onCurriculum’1. What do you understand by the phrase “equipped with knowledgethat is useful to the nature of their jobs”? Give specific examples2. “We cannot run away from supplying a workforce needed byindustries for nation building”. To what extent do you agree thatthis should be the role and functions of schools and universities?Let’sbeginwithphilosophy. The2.1 What is Philosophy?2

word philosophy is a combination of the Greek word “philos” (love) and “sophia”(wisdom) which translated means “love of wisdom”. Philosophers are people who seekafter wisdom and curious about the world seeking to understand the nature of things.Oftentimes, the result of philosophy is not so much putting forward new philosophies orpropositions but making existing philosophies or propositions clearer. Philosophers studythe works of other philosophers and state anew what others have put forward as well asproposing new philosophies. A philosopher can be a person who knows philosophy eventhough he or she engages in little or no philosophising. Philosophy also refers to thecollective works of other philosophers. It can mean the academic exploration of variousquestions raised by philosophers.For centuries philosophers have been interested with such concepts as morality,goodness, knowledge, truth, beauty and our very existence. Among the questionsphilosophers ask are: What is truth? Why do we say a statement is correct or false? How do we know what we know? What is reality? What things can be describe as real? What is the nature of thought and thinking? What is special about being a human being? Is there anything special about being alive at all? What is ethics? What does it mean when something is right or wrong; good or bad? What is beauty? How do beautiful things differ from others?Philosophers use certain methods of inquiry. They often frame their questions asproblems or puzzles about subjects they find interesting and confusing. Popularly, theword philosophy may also refer to someone’s perspective on life (philosophy of life) orthe underlying principles or method of achieving something.2.2 Philosophy of EducationNow, let’s examine a branch of philosophy, namely; philosophy of education.What is philosophy of education? Philosophy of education is the study of questions suchas ‘What is education?’ ‘What is the purpose of education?’, ‘What does it mean to knowsomething?’ ‘What is the relationship between education and society?’ The philosophy ofeducation recognises that the development of a civil society depends on the education ofthe young as responsible, thoughtful and enterprising citizens which is a challenging taskrequiring deep understanding of ethical principles, moral values, political theory,aesthetics and economics; not to mention an understanding of children themselves.Most of the prominent philosophers in the last 2000 years were not philosophersof education but have at some point considered and written on the philosophy of32.3 Philosophy and Curriculum

education. Among them are Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Dewey, Adler, Confucius, AlFarabi, Tagore and many others [we will discuss their contributions to education later inthe chapter]. These philosophers have been key voices in philosophy of education andhave contributed to our basic understanding of what education is and can be. They havealso provided powerful critical perspectives revealing the problems in education.What is the connection between philosophy and curriculum? For example, whenyou propose the teaching of a particular body of knowledge, course or subject, you willbe asked, “What is your philosophy for introducing that content?” If you are unable toanswer the question, you may not be able to convince others to accept your proposal.Philosophy is the starting point in any curriculum decision making and is the basis for allsubsequent decisions regarding curriculum. Philosophy becomes the criteria fordetermining the aims, selection, organisation and implementation of the curriculum in theclassroom.Philosophy helps us answer general questions such as: ‘What are schools for?’‘What subjects are of value?’, ‘How should students learn the content?’ It also helps usto answer more precise tasks such as deciding what textbooks to use, how to use them,what homework to assign and how much of it, how to test and use the results.SELF-TEST 2.1What do philosophers?List the concepts philosophers have been interested in.What is philosophy of education? How is it related to thecurriculum of a school system?“In modern times there are opposing views about thepractice of education. There is no general agreement aboutwhat the young should learn either in relation to virtue or inrelation to the best life; nor is it clear whether theireducation ought to be directed more towards the intellectthan towards the character of the soul. And it is not certainwhether training should be directed at things useful in life, orat those conducive to virtue, or at non-essentials. And thereis no agreement as to what in fact does tend towards virtue.Men do not all prize most highly the same virtue. So naturallythey differ also about the proper training for it."Would you believe that the above statement was written more that 2000 years agoby the Greek philosopher Aristotle and we are still debating the same issues today.4

Sometimes one wonders whether we know what we want! We lament about the poorlevel of basic skills of students and call for a return to the basics. At the same time wewant students to develop critical thinking skills and call for lesser emphasis on rotelearning. Through the centuries, many philosophies of education have emerged, each withtheir own beliefs about education. In this chapter, we will discuss four philosophies,namely; perennialism, essentialism, progressivism and reconstructionism proposed byWestern philosophers. Also, discussed are the viewpoints of three Eastern philosophers;namely, al-Farabi, Tagore and Confucius. Each of these educational philosophies isexamined to see what curriculum is proposed and how teaching and learning should beconducted.2.4 Perennialism2.4.1 What is Perennialism?Perennial means "everlasting," like a perennial flower that blooms year after year.Perennialism, the oldest and most conservative educational philosophy has its roots in thephilosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Two modern day proponents of perennialism areRobert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler. The perennialists believed that humans are rationaland the aim of education is “to improve man as man” (Hutchins, 1953). The answers toall educational questions derive from the answer to one question: What is human nature?According to them, human nature is constant and humans have the ability to understandthe universal truths of nature. Thus, the aim of education is to develop the rational personand to uncover universal truths by training the intellect. Towards developing one’s moraland spiritual being, character education should be emphasised.Perennialism is based on the belief that some ideas have lasted over centuries andare as relevant today as when they were first conceived. These ideas should be studied inschool. A list of the ‘Great Books’ was proposed covering topics in literature, art,psychology, philosophy, mathematics, science, economics, politics and so forth.Examples of such books are: Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe, War and Peacewritten by Leo Tolstoy, Moby Dick written by Herman Melville, Euclid’s book Elementson geometry, Newton’s book on Optics, The Sexual Enlightenment of Children written bySigmund Freud, An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations byAdam Smith and many others. The book selected had to have contemporary significance,that is, it should be relevant to the problems and issues of present times. The book shouldespouse ideas and issues that have occupied the minds of thinking individuals in the last2000 years. The book should attract people to read it again and again and benefit from it.The perennialists believed that these are history's finest thinkers and writers. Theirideas are profound and meaningful even today as when they were written. When students5

are immersed in the study of these profound and enduring ideas, they will appreciatelearning for its own sake as well as develop their intellectual powers and moral qualities.2.4.2 The Perennialist CurriculumBased on the beliefs of perennialism, the curriculum proposed had the followingcharacteristics: The ‘Great Books’ programme or more commonly called the liberal arts willdiscipline the mind and cultivate the intellect. To read the book in its originallanguage, students must learn Latin and Greek. Students also had to learn grammar,rhetoric, logic, advanced mathematics and philosophy (Hutchins, 1936). The study of philosophy is a crucial part of the perennialist curriculum. This wasbecause they wanted students to discover those ideas that are most insightful andtimeless in understanding the human condition. At a much later time, Mortimer Adler (1982) in his book the Paideia Proposal,recommended a single elementary and secondary curriculum for all students. Theeducationally disadvantaged had to spend some time in pre-schools. Perennialists were not keen on allowing students to take electives (except secondlanguages) such as vocational and life-adjustment subjects. They argued that thesesubjects denied students the opportunity to fully develop their rational powers. The perennialists criticised the vast amount of disjointed factual information thateducators have required students to absorb. They urge that teachers should spendmore time teaching concepts and explaining how these concepts are meaningful tostudents. Since, enormous amount of scientific knowledge has been produced, teaching shouldfocus on the processes by which scientific truths have been discovered. However, theperennialists advise that students should not be taught information that may soon beobsolete or found to be incorrect because of future scientific and technologicalfindings. At the secondary and university level, perennialists were against reliance ontextbooks and lectures in communicating ideas. Emphasis should be on teacherguided seminars, where students and teachers engage in dialogue; and mutual inquirysessions to enhance understanding of the great ideas and concepts that have stood thetest to time. Student should learns to learn, and not to be evaluated6

Universities should not only prepare students for specific careers but to pursueknowledge for its own sake. “University students may learn a few trees, perennialistsclaim, but many will be quite ignorant about the forests: the timeless philosophicalquestions “ (Hutchins, 1936) Teaching reasoning using the ‘Great Books’ of Western writers is advocated using theSocratic method to discipline the minds of students. Emphasis should be on scientificreasoning rather than mere acquisition of facts. Teach science but not technology, greatACTIVITY2.2topics.ideas rather thanvocational The GreatPerennialists argue that the topicsof theBooksgreat books describe any society, at any time,and thus the books are appropriate for American society. Students must learn toThe Great Booksto a curriculumandbooksa bookbecauselist that theycamereflect realrecognise controversyand referdisagreementin demicsandeducators,disagreements between persons. Students must think about the disagreements andstarting in the 1920s and 1930s. It was initiated by John Erskine on how toreacha reasoned, defensible conclusion. improve higher education by returning to the western liberal arts tradition ofbroad cross-disciplinary learning. Notable among the academics andSchoolshouldor ethics.educatorswasteachRobertreligiousHutchins valuesand MortimerAdler.The difference between right andwrong shouldbeemphasizedsothatstudentswillhave definitethat they mustThey felt that the emphasis on narrowspecialisationin rulesAmericanfollow.universities and colleges had harmed the quality of higher education byfailing to expose students to the important products of Western civilizationand thought.The Great Books started out as a list of 100 essential texts whichwere selected based on the criteria that it had relevance to present problemsSELF-TESTand issues andit is relevant2.2to a large number of the great ideas and greatissues that haveoccupiedthemindsthinkingofindividuals.1. Identify the mainoffeaturesthe perennialist curriculum.The GreatAccordingBooks coveredtopicsincludinghistory,poetry, in theto perennialism,what fiction,should beemphasisednatural science, classroom?mathematics, philosophy, drama, politics, religion,economics and ethics. Examples of the books are:Homer’s The Iliad and The OdysseyWorks of Aristotle and PlatoArchimedes Measurement of a circle, On Spirals, Treating MechanicalProblemsChaucer’s Canterbury TalesShakespeare’s complete worksDescartes The GeometryIsaac Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural PhilosophyKarl Marx’s Das KapitalLeo Tolstoy’s War and PeaceWilliam James’ The Principle of PsychologyThe Great Books was criticised as being elitist and giving importanceto ‘dead white males’, while ignoring the contributions of females andminorities (such as Afro-Americans). Another harmful criticism was that thebooks were more to create the illusion of being cultured without any realsubstance behind it.[Source: Great Books of the Western World.www.answers.com]What other books of The Great Books do you know?What were the main arguments put forward by the perennialists forusing The Great Books?Do you agree with the criticisms of The Great Books?7

2.5 Essentialism2.5.1 What is Essentialism?Essentialism comes from the word ‘essential’ which means the main things or thebasics. As an educational philosophy, it advocates instilling in students with the"essentials" or “basics” of academic knowledge and character development. The termessentialism as an educational philosophy was originally popularised in the 1930s byWilliam Bagley and later in the 1950s by Arthur Bestor and Admiral Rickover. When itwas first introduced as an educational philosophy in American schools, it was criticisedas being too rigid. In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik which caused a panic ineducational circles as Americans felt they had fallen behind the Soviet Uniontechnologically. A rethinking of education followed that led to interest in essentialism.Essentialism was grounded in a conservative philosophy that argues that schoolsshould not try to radically reshape society. Rather, they should transmit traditional moralvalues and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens.Essentialists believe that teachers should instill traditional virtues such as respect for8

authority, fidelity to duty, consideration for others and practicality. Essentialism placedimportance on science and understanding the world through scientific experimentation.To convey important knowledge about the world, essentialist educators emphasisedinstruction in natural science rather than non-scientific disciplines such as philosophy orcomparative religion.2.5.2 The Essentialist CurriculumBased on the beliefs of essentialism, the curriculum proposed has the followingcharacteristics: The ‘basics’ of the essentialist curriculum are mathematics, natural science,history, foreign language, and literature. Essentialists disapprove of vocational, lifeadjustment, or other courses with "watered down" academic content. Elementary students receive instruction in skills such as writing, reading, andmeasurement. Even while learning art and music (subjects most often associated withthe development of creativity) students are required to master a body of informationand basic techniques, gradually moving from less to more complex skills and detailedknowledge. Only by mastering the required material for their grade level are studentspromoted to the next higher grade. Essentialist programs are academically rigorous, for both slow and fast learners.Common subjects for all students regardless of abilities and interests. But, how muchis to be learned is adjusted according to student ability. It advocates a longer school day, a longer academic year, and more challengingtextbooks. Essentialists maintain that classrooms should be oriented around theteacher, who serves as the intellectual and moral role model for students. Teaching is teacher-centred and teachers decide what is most important forstudents to learn with little emphasis on student interests because it will divert timeand attention from learning the academic subjects. Essentialist teachers focus heavilyon achievement test scores as a means of evaluating progress. In an essentialist classroom, students are taught to be "culturally literate," that is,to possess a working knowledge about the people, events, ideas, and institutions thathave shaped society. Essentialists hope that when students leave school, they willpossess not only basic skills and extensive knowledge, but also disciplined andpractical

2.0 Philosophical Foundations of Curriculum 2.1 What is Philosophy? word philosophy is a combination of the Greek word “philos” (love) and “sophia” . According to them, human nature is constant and humans have the ability to understand the universal truths of nature. Thus, the aim of education is to develop the rational person .

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