The concept of education
THE DESCRIPTIVE CONCEPT OF
EDUCATION
• Education is….
– What goes on in formal and non-formal
institutions or learning
– What a system that concerns with
• The way education is organized and arranged
• The methods of delivery of educational policies
– What the MoE tries to implement
• The educational policies through its agencies and
personnel at various levels (divisions and
subdivisions)
THE NORMATIVE CONCEPT OF
EDUCATION
• Relates to the types of activities and the
common criteria of education/educating
• Two approaches:
– The concept of educated man
– The process of educating
Woodrow Wilson (in Akinpelu,1981) an American
philosopher wrote:
“ The educated man is to be discovered by his point of
view, by the temper of his mind, by his attitude towards
life and his fair way of thinking. He can see, he can
discriminate, he can combine ideas and see whether they
lead; he has insight and comprehension. His mind is a
practiced instrument of appreciation. He is more apt to
contribute light than heat to a discussion, and will oftener
than not show the power of uniting the elements of a
difficult subject in a whole view; he has knowledge of the
world which no one can have who knows only his own
generation or only his own task”.
R.S. Peters highlights…
• The importance of understanding
knowledge and skills that one possess
– As a basis of beliefs and conducts that
structured according to a systematic
conceptual schemes
– Ability to organize and reorganize thoughts
– Ability to enjoy and control educational
activities and life (value the activity)
Process of educating…
• Conscious effort to change of mind
• Change = intentional, deliberate, and directed
towards a purpose
• Cognitive perspective i.e. knowledge condition =
knowing and understanding
• Transmission of knowledge and skills = ethical
and moral
• Contents should parallel to the level of
development (cognitive, affective and physical)
Teaching …
• the conscious and deliberate effort by a
mature or experienced person to impart
information, knowledge, skills, etc. to an
immature or less experienced person, with
the intention that the learner will learn or
come to believe what he is taught is good.
Criteria of teaching …
• A person who is consciously and deliberately
doing the teaching.
• Another person who is being taught
• Some content or material, information,
knowledge and so on, that is being imparted
• An intention on the part of the person doing the
act that the recipient should learn.
• The process of inducing the learning must be
morally acceptable and must be pedagogically
sound.
These are not teaching …
• Drill
– Repetition
• Instructing
– One-sided activity
• Training
– Directed towards specific skill or mastery of
knowledge
• Conditioning
– Directed towards change of habits or behavior, not
the understanding or intelligence
• Indoctrination
– Inculcation of values or beliefs without any freedom to
choose or to ask
Learning …
• Kimble
– … a relatively permanent change in
behavioral potentiality that occurs as a
result of reinforced practice
• Woolfolk
– …. occurs when experience causes relatively
permanent change in an individual’s
knowledge or behavior
Learning ….
• Change in behavior or knowledge
• Change is relatively permanent
• Change as a result from experience and/or
practice
• Change can be intentional or
unintentional, conscious or unconscious
Learning is simply involve changes
What is philosophy of
education?
Philosophy of education
• Technical notion
– Speculative activity to build a constructive and
consistent worldview
– Defining concepts, analyzing and criticizing
statements and propositions
• Commonsense notion
– Personal view / opinion
– Attitude
– Expression
• Educated people
– Educational goals and objectives to be achieved
Philosopher’s notion …
• Process of analysis and reflection
• The product of that analysis and reflection
• Disagreements among philosophers
– Emphasis
• Reflection activity
• Process of analysis
– Incomplete without clear statement and rational
alternative
George Newsome ….
• Application of philosophy of education
– Application of solutions / answers to various
questions
– Application of methods, tools, techniques to
investigate problems in schools
– Application of system, world frame to interpret
education
– Application of philosophy to education
• Deduce educational implications from systematic
philosophies
John Dewey ….
• Education and philosophy are the same
thing but look at different angle
• Philosophy of education is not an
application of ideas but rather deals with
– Same themes as philosophy
– Solving life problems
– Problems of values
– Finding truth and knowledge
Akinpelu …
• Criteria of philosophy of education
– Based on human nature and society
according to societal interpretations
– Based on societal needs and requirements
– Based on value system or a theory that
connotes things worth having
What are the functions of
philosophy of education?
Some of the functions …
• Understand the teaching system
• Analyze educational terms and concepts
• Criticize educational facts and assumptions
• Guide educational foundations and knowledge
• Accept the changes of policy
• Guide teachers’ attitude and professionalism
• Raise dialogue and questions
• Eliminate the disagreement in education
• Suggest new plans / domain for future
Justification …
• Help teachers / educators to become more
aware of educational issues and other
related issues
• Help teachers / educators to become more
critical
• Increase the ability of involvement and
influence on educational policies i.e. in
terms of its application
• Educate teachers to become better
teachers
