5. Philosophical Perspectives
Description:
Philosophical perspectives represent attitudes and values that individuals use to evaluate alternative action options and decide which ones are preferred. A individual rarely thinks about their philosophical perspective because it is something that is a result of their background and influences. It is not until a teacher or educator gets into the education field that they must understand and realize how their philosophical perspective influence the way they treat their students or decide which knowledge is the most important and worth knowing in the classroom and what the role of a teacher should be. Philosophical perspectives bring together a set of values and beliefs and educators who understand their specific type of philosophical perspectives in the classroom can help them feel more focused and consistent on decision making in the classroom (Haynes, 2010).
Illustration: Important signs reminding educators to ask themselves in the classroom:
Practical Example:
A practical example of how philosophical perspectives influences education is two teachers that teach the same grade, with the same curriculum, at the same school. One teacher teaches her lesson through conversation with her students rather than straight off the textbooks and often has discussions with her students about real world problems and relating that to their field of study (progressivism). The other teacher teachers her lessons by going straight off the curriculum and textbooks and not diverging into extra conversation with her students outside of textbook related questions (perennialism). Both teachers are teaching the same material but because they have different philosophies of education they are teaching it different ways.
Integral Components:
There are many different philosophical perspective of education and not one educator will agree with 100% of each one. Rather they usually agree with most of a few types of perspectives and they will use elements from different philosophical systems in order to provide them with a framework for deciding in the classroom what they want to teach, how they want to teach and where they stand on proposals for change ((Haynes, 2010). The different perspectives are essentialism (role of the student is to learn), behaviorism ( no free will, role of teacher is to identify and mark behavioral goals), progressivism (role of the student is to improve society), existentialism (role of individual and free choice), perennialism (role of student is to follow time honored set ways and principles) and reconstructionism (society needs to be reformed).
How the philosophical perspectives relates to me and my future classroom:
Philosophical perspectives influence me and my future classroom because my view of education influences what I think is important to focus on and teach and as such, will have a direct affect on my classroom. When the class took the philosophical questionnaire a few weeks ago, my top two perspectives were perennialism and existentialism. Perennialism is the Western culture worldview and the beliefs that there are certain unchanging truths of the world and they should be the focus of school curriculum. Existentialism is the importance of individual choice over rational theories and that a individual must define themselves over the choices they make in life (Haynes, 2010). Since I understand my perspective and the way that I think and view the world, I will be better suited to serve my students and help understand that I might need to expand my perspectives to understand other's points of view.
Scripture:
"But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that they are not consumed by one another" - Galatians 5:15. I chose this quote because this section is about differences in the ways of thinking and perspective when it comes to education and that can cause at times between individuals. Yet this quote is reminding us to not get caught up in that because it will consume us and we cannot educate our children when we are too busy fighting. Rather we should walk away and understand it is our differences that make us unique in the eyes of the Lord.