Introduction to the Philosophy of Education
Education may be described as a collective and a social manner which incorporate skills, beliefs, attitudes and philosophies. The triumph and enhancement of education result in the appropriate society. So, the purpose of education is to inculcate in children the knowledge, skills and values required for them to convey tremendous adjustments in their life and to become a useful citizen within the destiny. According to Parankimalil (2012) education is a systematic process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skills and sound attitude. Therefore, education is an important process, which help pupil to acquire knowledge, experience, skills, and good attitude that will help them to prepare for their future life.
I believe that every child is special and classroom should be a place for them to experience challenging situations relating to real world. I believe that everything of importance cannot be taught but students can be prepared to understand themselves the knowledge, skills and values required to lead a sustainable life. My philosophy focuses on 5 broad categories of what a child should learn in the school. It is my belief that these elements should be concentrated in our curriculum. As Paulo Freire mentioned in the banking concept, education is not about considering students as empty vessels in which teachers deposit knowledge in it (Freire, 1968). For worthwhile education, teachers should be active, forward thinking, energetic, knowledgeable, sincere and punctual for changing one’s truth, belief and justification.
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The Role of Teachers in Shaping Future Citizens
Being a teacher, we dig up opportunity for improving our own knowledge and skills and being part of building a better citizenship. To do so, the responsibility of a teacher is to prepare, shape and build children who love Islam, value and appreciate others, be honest with the nation and be ready to take responsibility in such a way that they are prepared for life.
For such a citizen, the children should be inculcate with the essential knowledge for the needs of the recent society, values of Islam and the universal truth as well as the skills required for the life.
Incorporating Soft Skills into Education
Moreover, I consider the children must be insist with the soft skills like communication, critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, interpersonal skills, team work, and adaptability in children through interactions with others, because soft skills can apply across a diversity of jobs and teach them how to deal with different problem face in real life situation. My main goal is to provide freedom for the children to make their own choice. Children must adopt democratic values and attitudes to guide their lives and to make decisions. In addition, democratic values will guide the children to live in a meaningful life with others in harmony. According to Moss & Lee (2010), John Dewey’s theory of education, explores the relationship between democracy and education. Dewey believed that democracy is a way of life. The main theme underlying Dewey’s philosophy was his belief that a democratic society of informed and engaged inquirers was the best means of promoting human interest (Talebi, 2015). Attitudes, skills and values are the key to a child's entry into employment and these provide the foundation to be successful in life. As per as Talebi (2015), Dewey strongly emphasizes to educate the children how to live with the content knowledge. There should always be a room for the children to learn about the real world through their educational life.
Fostering Democratic Values and Decision-Making in Students
I wholeheartedly believe that academics alone will not prepare children for tomorrow’s global world. Students deserve an education that prepares them for life and career after school. Before children leave school after 10 years of schooling, they must develop soft-skills, because nowadays workplace demands individuals to possess the skills to deal with people, find solutions to problems and be adaptable in a world that is exposed to constant change.
The Importance of Problem-Solving and Adaptability Skills
Problem solving skill will be one of the most important skills in order to thrive in today’s global economy. The ability to apply to concept and ideas into different situations and the capacity to solve problem will determine they can survive and succeed in the world. According to Moss & Lee (2010), in a democratic society, people should work cooperatively to solve the problems and schools are responsible for equipping students with the problem-solving ability. So, I always encourage children to take risk, and to learn from mistakes.
Promoting Social and Cultural Diversity in Education
Considering the environment they choose to work, accepting and respecting difference views and not imposing own thoughts to others are important life skills children need to learn. For the future occupations, children should learn to work collaboratively with individuals from diverse cultures and religions that provide them with the skills and character traits that is necessary for future success.
Adaptability will be another crucial skill that students need to develop before they complete their formal schooling. It is fundamental to encourage such skills to shine forth in the academic life of the student, because different workplaces have different expectations. Children need to understanding in any workplace it is important to understand cultural and social differences.
According to those using a critical theory lens, a teacher should view students’ culture as important (Moss & Lee (2010). Therefore, social and cultural diversity should be considered before they complete 10 years of schooling. So, I allow students to interact effectively with others, work cooperatively in diverse teams, respond open-mindedly to different ideas and values, and to work effectively with people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds.
Creating a Fun and Stress-Free Learning Environment
To satisfy these educational needs, learning should be a fun mechanism for students in which they enjoy by responding, interacting, socializing, inventing, sharing, discovering and deciding about knowledge, skills, values, ethics and discipline by expressing a permanent change in behavior. In this stress-free environment, students should put in every effort in obtaining maximum from the teacher within the context of teacher-student relationship without being oppressed (Freire, 1968). The students must master the skills required for a specific task throughout the course on the basis of guidance from the teacher. To achieve this, children must take responsibility and have accepted discipline. Hence, teachers are highly responsible for the child’s progress in learning and making them independent learners (Joyce, 2014)
Great teachers achieve these through the contents of what they implement in the classroom, thereby, motivation, reinforcement and encouragement in alignment with varieties of teaching and learning strategies. Moreover, it is common belief that every child is special and capable of producing truthful responses to the appropriate stimuli from the teacher in a positive learning environment for the purpose of learning. Teachers enjoy the involvement of students in the activities as part of active, guided, inquiry based, deductive, inductive and discovery learning. Due to such divesting capabilities of teachers, they are considered to be immense change agents in the educational institutions. As I strongly believe, that teachers must construct a positive learning environment for children in the school and the home environment should be modified by the teacher who emphasizes the parents in doing so.
The Critical Role of Curriculum in Holistic Education
Moreover, there must be consistency in implementing the curriculum and it should not be used as a political party’s manifesto. No matter the contents in it, students must receive general education in which they acquire knowledge which emphasizes to gain practical skills required for daily life. Students should be assessed and evaluated based on the materials taught using appropriate tools where constructive feedback should be given. The curriculum should not only be focused on vocational education because in doing so, students are directed to a narrow path of education. Therefore, each child should be provided with general education in which they learn subjects like Arts, Sociology and Philosophy to become an accepted human in the society.
When students are allowed to work together and tackle on a common issue, they are subjected to avoid confusion and conflicts. By working together, they learn to respect and listen to others in a friendly environment. A progressive curriculum favors the children respecting social status, race, sex and age. The frequent get-together of groups to work would produce a better community which emphasizes on common understanding, morality, ethical values and spiritual growth between individuals as they develop essential knowledge (Hanci, 2008).
Developing students morally and ethically is a significant factor in the current education system (Barrow, 2006). Motive of education is to survive in this changing world. One should be well-developed based on religious concepts as well as moral and ethical concepts. The education should cultivate moral and ethical characters. What we teach to them should emphasize on creating a rational person capable of making better judgments over extreme situations. It is impossible to cultivate all the skills but allowing students in an inquiry-based education system where selected contents having incomplete and proactive answers will lead to the habits of thoughtful inquiry. Therefore, curriculum contents should be minimized on the basis of memorizing and recalling. However, the contents should be designed in a set boundary of a general theme and questions. Even in the huge schools of America, the major issue is students having lack of required skills as a result of memorizing and recalling. There are four requirements of a curriculum in order to provide a thoughtful education where necessary skills will be gained (Wiggins, 1989). These are mentioned below:
- Emphasis the curriculum on improving knowledge through questioning carefully.
- Improve the ability of students to turn their questions in to knowledge.
- Students’ craftsmanship should be developed with the little knowledge they know.
- Involve students in questioning happily in searching for new knowledge.
According to (POPOVA, 2016) philosophy is 99 per cent about critical reflection on anything you care to be interested in. There are various educational philosophies identified by various educators. Some of the philosophies are Essentialism, Progressivism, Constructivism and Perennialism.
The progressivist group stated that a teacher should acknowledge that there is individual variation in the way that students approach learning and a teacher’s focus should be on their students’ strengths (Moss & Lee, 2010). I feel educational inequality is still present in current education system, because public schools are for those people who cannot afford high fees and private schools are for those students whose parents have more resources.
With reference to Marx conflict theory, current education system supports the wealthy in society and the students enrolled in elite school system can benefit more chances of getting quality education and highly paid jobs and social prestige in the society (Omer and Jabeen, 2016). On the other hand, functionalist believes that the education system provides opportunity for people to achieve the best that they can, according to their ability.
Out of the theories of education, I agree the most with progressivism constructivism. This educational philosophy believes that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content. My main focus is to make curriculum relevant to the lives of students, since the majority of students’ learning time is spent in school.
Therefore, the education they receive should match to the needs and expectations of different students. Dewey’s educational pragmatic ideas influenced education by encouraging more student- rather than curriculum-centred schools (Khasawneh, Miqdadi and Hijazi, 2014). Moreover, pragmatists believe children cannot learn unless they are active, and learners should put into practice knowledge in actual conditions through experimental investigation (Khasawneh, Miqdadi and Hijazi, 2014). The idea of democracy and social reforms are continually discussed in Dewey’s writing on education.
According to Talebi (2015), Dewey makes a strong case for the importance of education not only as a place to gain content knowledge, but also as a place to learn how to live. I believe learning should not stop even after school. Young children must leave school with the motivation and capacity to continue learning throughout every face of their life and they need to learn how to use knowledge for its own sake. It is important for children to realize what they learn in the classroom are just a poor imitation of a more real world. I consider them to gain knowledge of global awareness, internet safety and contemporary social issues including sex and drugs. I believe it is almost impossible to chain children from learning these things, thus I feel providing high level of awareness regarding outside world is more important than chaining them. It is important that young people receive age-appropriate drug and sexual health information and develop practical skills for keeping safe. Moreover, children need to understand economic and political issues around them. According to Moss & Lee (2010), critical theorists’ educational agenda includes making students aware of power and politics.
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