Developing a philosophy of education essay

Mark has an interesting story to tell — he was a priest, who then left Christianity and found an alternative in Greek philosophy particularly Plato and depth psychology. As for me, I was never a Christian, but found a form of practical spirituality in ancient philosophy. Here are some initial thoughts, please chime in with your own thoughts too.

Maria Montessori's discovery of what she referred to as "the child's true normal nature" in[31] which happened in the process of her experimental observation of young children given freedom in an environment prepared with materials designed for their self-directed learning activity.

Waldorf education Waldorf education also known as Steiner or Steiner-Waldorf education is a humanistic approach to pedagogy based upon the educational philosophy of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Learning is interdisciplinary, integrating practical, artistic, and conceptual elements.

The approach emphasizes the role of the imagination in learning, developing thinking that includes a creative as well as an analytic component.

The educational philosophy's overarching goals are to provide young people the basis on which to develop into free, morally responsible and integrated individuals, and to help every child fulfill his or her unique destiny, the existence of which anthroposophy posits.

Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to define curricula within collegial structures. Schools are normally self-administered by faculty; emphasis is placed upon giving individual teachers the freedom to develop creative methods.

Steiner's theory of child development divides education into three discrete developmental stages predating but with close similarities to the stages of development described by Piaget. Early childhood education occurs through imitation; teachers provide practical activities and a healthy environment.

Steiner believed that young children should meet only goodness. Elementary education is strongly arts-based, centered on the teacher's creative authority; the elementary school-age child should meet beauty.

Secondary education seeks to develop the judgment, intellect, and practical idealism; the adolescent should meet truth. Democratic education Democratic education is a theory of learning and school governance in which students and staff participate freely and equally in a school democracy.

In a democratic school, there is typically shared decision-making among students and staff on matters concerning living, working, and learning together. Neill[ edit ] Main article: He wrote a number of books that now define much of contemporary democratic education philosophy.

My Philosophy of Education essaysI believe the purposes of education are necessary for the child to live a successful life. Not only do children learn mathematics, science, history, or english at school, they also learn the social economics and the development of . Online Library of Liberty. A collection of scholarly works about individual liberty and free markets. A project of Liberty Fund, Inc. Please enjoy this repost of one of my most popular essays (originally written in ): For many people, the main appeal of George Lucas’ “Star Wars” movies is the “Jedi Way,” the philosophy/religion that guides the mystical Jedi knights.

Neill believed that the happiness of the child should be the paramount consideration in decisions about the child's upbringing, and that this happiness grew from a sense of personal freedom.

He felt that deprivation of this sense of freedom during childhood, and the consequent unhappiness experienced by the repressed child, was responsible for many of the psychological disorders of adulthood. Educational progressivism Educational progressivism is the belief that education must be based on the principle that humans are social animals who learn best in real-life activities with other people.

Progressivistslike proponents of most educational theories, claim to rely on the best available scientific theories of learning. Most progressive educators believe that children learn as if they were scientists, following a process similar to John Dewey's model of learning known as "the pattern of inquiry": The two most influential works that stemmed from his research and study were The Child and the Curriculum and Democracy and Education We get the case of the child vs.

His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called " genetic epistemology ".

Piaget placed great importance on the education of children. As the Director of the International Bureau of Education, he declared in that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual.

According to Ernst von GlasersfeldJean Piaget is "the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing. His books The Process of Education and Toward a Theory of Instruction are landmarks in conceptualizing learning and curriculum development.

He argued that any subject can be taught in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development. This notion was an underpinning for his concept of the " spiral " helical curriculum which posited the idea that a curriculum should revisit basic ideas, building on them until the student had grasped the full formal concept.

He emphasized intuition as a neglected but essential feature of productive thinking. He felt that interest in the material being learned was the best stimulus for learning rather than external motivation such as grades. Bruner developed the concept of discovery learning which promoted learning as a process of constructing new ideas based on current or past knowledge.

Students are encouraged to discover facts and relationships and continually build on what they already know. Unschooling Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed playgame play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interactionrather than through a more traditional school curriculum.

Unschooling encourages exploration of activities led by the children themselves, facilitated by the adults. Unschooling differs from conventional schooling principally in the thesis that standard curricula and conventional grading methods, as well as other features of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education of each child.

John Holt educator In Holt published his first book, How Children Failasserting that the academic failure of schoolchildren was not despite the efforts of the schools, but actually because of the schools.

Not surprisingly, How Children Fail ignited a firestorm of controversy. Holt was catapulted into the American national consciousness to the extent that he made appearances on major TV talk shows, wrote book reviews for Life magazine, and was a guest on the To Tell The Truth TV game show.

Contemplative education[ edit ] Contemplative education focuses on bringing introspective practices such as mindfulness and yoga into curricular and pedagogical processes for diverse aims grounded in secular, spiritual, religious and post-secular perspectives. Parker Palmer is a recent pioneer in contemplative methods.

Contemplative methods may also be used by teachers in their preparation; Waldorf education was one of the pioneers of the latter approach.This foundation in the field of education is your personal philosophy of education. The philosophy I live by is to be dedicated to the total development of each individual student as well as myself/5(9).

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You can view samples of our professional work here. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays. Philosophy of education can refer to either the academic field of applied philosophy or to one of any educational philosophies that promote a specific type or vision of education, and/or which examine the definition, goals and meaning of education.

Developing a philosophy of education can be a daunting task for new and veteran teachers alike. While most know what they believe and value and how they teach, it can be difficult to express these beliefs, values, and practices in words.

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