Lesson 14: Contributions of Western Philosophers to Early childhood education
Contributions of John Dewey (1859-1959) to ECE
Apart from the philosophers discussed in the previous lesson some other western philosophers and their contributions to early childhood education are discussed in the following lesson
John Dewey was born in October 1859. His experiences form the core of his philosophy of education. His significant books in education are “School and Society”, the “Child and the curriculum”, “Democracy and Education” and “Experience and Education”.
His educational theory consists of following aims or principles:
Education is life
Education as socialefficiency
Education should combine theory and practice
Education is experience
Dewey’s Concept of Education:
School is a miniature society and social efficiency is the basic aim of education.
Education is not preparation for life but life in itself.
Education should be based on individual interests and capacities of the child.
The child must be an active learner.
Education must include activities and experience centered curriculum.
His educational philosophy is called “Pragmatism”.
Pragmatism - It stresses action rather than reflection. The important principle of pragmatism is learning by doing and the child learns much better from his own activity rather than from instruction.
Education should be active because activity leads to moral development.
The important element in education is freedom.
Education is a social necessity because it leads to development of social qualities in an individual.
Education should try to create a free atmosphere in which the child may remain active, feel pleasure and do hard work and also participate in the consciousness of social life.
The child learns most effectively when he is able to complete definite job. Therefore any work can be divided in to a series of tasks, jobs or projects which can be finished in reasonable time limits. Children thus get joy and pride doing such jobs and in their completion.
Participants