An introduction to the study of Education
(EDES113)
(Philosophy)
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
General Ground rules
Active Participation in the lectures
Raise hands
Respect for all
Late coming/ Noise/ front space
The signing of the register and leaving
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Announcements
• Test is postponed for the 08 April 2024 (Monday)
• Test will be a sit-down
• 1 hour long
• Marks:30 (contributing 15% towards final marks)
• MCQ
• Sections A, B & C
• Time: 16h30
• Venues: Auditorium, Dining Hall & SU
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Pink eye outbreak
• Wear glasses
• Avoid eye contact
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Recap
Why is philosophy important?
Why is philosophy important in education?
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
AIMS AND
CONCEPTIONS
OF EDUCATION
Understanding the aims & conceptions of education
Three dimensions to understand the concept
education
Three essential dimensions in understanding the concept education
Sociological
(Informal)
EDUCATION
General
enlightenment Institutional
(Formal)
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Towards understanding of the concept education.
Forms of education
.Formal Education
It is pre-planned direct, organized and given in specific educational institutions such as schools and
universities/colleges.
Informal Education
Informal education is not pre-planned or deliberate (takes place everywhere at anytime)
General Enlightmment
It falls within the formal and informal types of education. It is a flexible system that is mainly influenced by life-long process based
on the personal identity.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Sociological understanding of education-
informal curriculum
•Unsystematic – in bits and pieces
•Oral & restricted – views, perception
and local experience (inadequately
specialised with general descriptions).
Sociological
understanding
Education does
•Occurs in personal settings (e.g at
Being educated –
home).
not only take Socialising a Indoctrination or
knowing how to
place in a formal person brain washing
behave in society
institution
•Randomly learnt from conversations,
No formal Society’s general
teaching or
learning
norms of
behaviour TV, social media, community
•Based on opinions – personal and
local
•Based on Family, community, culture,
conversations,
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Sociological perspective
• Socialising learning refers to integrating a person into the societal norms
and behavior.
• Learning how to operate in society according to its social standards. gender
Roles and behaviours of males and females. E.g Learnt socially: girls wear skirt and
dresses and boys wear pants. Or females are nurturers and males are providers.
• People who socialize or teach others how to behave are in the community and pass
this information informally. Educators are found in the community.
• They also teach about cultural and traditional behaviours according to each tribe.
• Being educated does not necessarily refer to formal schooling. Learning can
occur in forms of story telling & tales. Informal conversations.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Sociological understanding of education
• All people can become learners, there are no age
restrictions
• The learner learns through modeling; observations;
doing, and engaging in local and cultural ongoing
practices
• There is no failing, the focus is general competence on
the tasks
• Learning takes place anywhere.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Informal learning
I have got one apple and my mom
• Activity based on General knowledge gives me one more apple, how many
apples do I have:
The answer is based on general
knowledge from everywhere.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Strengths vs Limitations of informal
learning
• Limitations
• Strengths
• It is oral and based on local
• It uses a common sense
knowledge
• It does not need one to be • It is dependent on an individual
literate and social experience or
• It is used by everyone cultural segments
(especially to communicate • It can be easily forgotten
and engage in everyday life
activities)
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Institutional understanding of education
(Formal)
• Being educated means attending a particular institution
• Influences from schools and universities
• Clear grading: passing & failing
• Has a professional instructor (teacher)
• Assumption that activities in school are in line with official
goals of schooling.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Institutional understanding of education
(Formal)
• Coherent, structured, systematic, planned (Grades,
planned content)
• Organised and Specialised (segmented into different
subjects)
• Specific language and symbols are used for teaching and
learning (human anatomy-biology/ equations- physics
&mathematics)
• Based on specific approved texts (prescribed)
• Regulated by rules created by dominant groups
(policies/political)
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Institutional understanding of
education
• Activity based on school knowledge
One apple + One apple = two apples
The answer is based on school knowledge
(+ and = )
Stop and think..
Think about why is it useful and important to get formal
education?
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Strengths vs Limitations of formal
learning
Strengths Limitations
• Organised because it follows a • Only educated/literate people can
structure understand it
• It based on international • Missing of any step will not yield
information result since it
• It follows specialised language of hierarchical/systematic
a discipline (accounting, maths,
biology)
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
General enlightenment understanding of
education
• General enlightenment point of view take education as an individual
undertaking/development of the mind.
• Education associated with understanding or clarification
• Enlightenment ‘education’ does not necessarily refer to socialisation or
attendance of formal schooling
Education is not merely a tool or instrument to do things... The
knowledge and understanding obtained become features of one’s
person and shape one’s sense of what is of ultimate (Hamm, 1989
p. 35).
GE= Ability to reason and think independently based on all knowledge
acquired.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
GE: Scenario
In a remote village nestled amidst towering mountains, Maya, a young woman
with a burning curiosity, embarks on a journey of education as a quest for
enlightenment. With limited resources but boundless determination, Maya
seeks out knowledge wherever she can find it: pouring over ancient texts in
the village library, engaging in discussions with wise elders, and even
venturing into the nearby town to attend workshops and seminars. Through
her relentless pursuit of learning, Maya transcends the confines of her rural
upbringing, gaining new insights into the world and her place within it.
Each discovery fuels her thirst for enlightenment, propelling her forward
on a transformative journey of personal growth and self-discovery.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Indicate the type of education
Case study 1: Case study 2:
In the bustling halls of UNIZULU, a prestigious In a tight-knit township neighbourhood, the streets serve as a
institution renowned for its commitment to academic bustling forum for education, where children and adults alike
engage in rich informal learning experiences. From the elders
excellence, Thando, a diligent student from a modest
sharing stories of local history in verandas, soccer matches and
background, navigates the corridors in pursuit of in the alleyways. Education permeates every aspect of
knowledge. Armed with textbooks and notebooks, he community life. Youngsters gather under the shade of a tree,
attends lectures, seminars, and laboratory sessions, eagerly exchanging knowledge gleaned from their varied
immersing himself in the structured curriculum designed experiences, while parents impart practical skills through
to impart both practical skills and theoretical hands-on apprenticeships in family-run businesses and unions.
understanding. Under the guidance of esteemed Through these organic interactions, collective wisdom
professors, Thando grapples with complex concepts, emerges, shaped by the unique cultural fabric of the
engages in rigorous debates, and diligently completes neighbourhood, reinforcing that education is not confined to
the walls of formal institutions but is instead woven into the
assignments, each task a stepping stone on his path
very fabric of social life, shaping identities, values, and
toward intellectual enlightenment. aspirations.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Conclusion
• Three different ways to understand the concept education
o Education as a social activity
o Education as an institutional practice
o Education as an individual undertaking
• A child’s education takes place through formalised practices,
socialisation and through the development of the mind (GE).
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Discussion
Is our former president Jacob Zuma an educated man?
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
QUESTION
• WHO should determine the aims of education?
• WHO should control education ?
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
