Philosophy of education

The word philosophy comes from two Greek words: filo, which means love, and sophist means wisdom, then philosophy means love of wisdom. The philosophy of education examines the goals, forms, methods, and meaning of education. It is important to understand how philosophy and education are interrelated in order to become the most effective teacher you can be, you must understand your own beliefs while at the same time empathizing with others. Let's start to learn more about the known philosophies of education.

1- Essentialism: It advocates training the mind with what is essential. I n this philosophical school of thought the aim is to instill students with the essentials of academic knowledge enacting a back-to-basics approach. It teaches the basic skills or the fundamental Rs such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and right conduct. 

2- Perennialism: Perennial means lasting for many years. Perennialism is the belief that schools should teach ideas that are everlasting. The of education is to teach students to think rationally and develop minds that can think critically. The curriculum is a universal one, what teachers teach are lifted from classic and great books. The classroom is teacher-centered, with students engaged in Socratic dialogue or inquiry sessions to develop an understanding of history's most timeless concepts.

3- Progressivism: This is the idea that education comes from the experience of the child. It aims to develop learners into becoming enlightened and intelligent citizens. They use the curriculum that responds to students' needs and that relates to their personal lives and experience. The teachers employ experiential methods, and they believe that one learns by doing. 

4- Existentialism: It focuses on individual's freedom to choose their own purpose in life. The main concern of existentialists is to help students understand and appreciate themselves as unique individuals who accept complete responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Students are given a wide variety of options from which to choose.

5- Behaviorism: It focuses on the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions. Behaviorists are concerned with the modification and shaping of students' behavior by providing for a favorable environment since they believe that we are a product of our environment. Teachers teach the students to respond favorably to various stimuli in the environment.

6- Constructivism: It says that people construct their own understanding of the world through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. Constructivists aim to develop intrinsically motivated and independent learners equipped with learning skills for them to construct knowledge and make meaning of them. Students are taught how to learn, and teachers provide students with data or experiences that allow them to hypothesize, predict, manipulate, pose questions, research, and invent. 

Motivation and learning

Motivation is the extent to which you make choices about (a) goals to pursue and (b) the effort you devote to that pursuit. We want our students to share our enthusiasm for our academic discipline and find courses so compelling that they willingly devote their hearts and minds to the learning process. As a teacher, we should provide opportunities for students to choose ways to learn at least occasionally will improve their motivation. Furthermore to work toward making the tasks more intrinsically motivating by tapping students' pre-existing interests through choices and only resorting to extrinsic rewards for things that are important but just not interesting. 

There are several different views of motivation. They do not necessarily conflict with each other but rather complement each other. 

1- Behaviourism:  it is known as the stimulus-response theory, where a particular stimulus provokes a particular response. Behaviourism lays emphasis on external rewards (grades, test scores, please the teacher,..)

2- Expectancy theory: motivation is a function of expectations and values. the learner is motivated by the anticipated benefit, the likelihood of achieving the benefit and the importance of the gain to the learner.

3- Needs theory: Lower order needs must be satisfied before higher-order ones, progress through the hierarchy from lower to higher fulfilments.

4- Self-perception: The value of pupils having influence over their learning, performance, and a sense of accomplishment, as well as receiving rich and constructive feedback, is emphasized by self-worth and self-esteem.

5- Learned helplessness: Learned helplessness is linked to a lack of control over one's learning; it happens when we believe there is no answer we can make to a circumstance that will affect the outcome, even though we put forward our best effort.

6- Social theory: In social theories of learning, cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences constantly interact to foster motivation and learning, not least because students model their learning after observing other students.