Examining Various Educational and Curriculum Philosophies over At Least the Past 100 Years
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Introduction
Education is simply a form of learning where skills, knowledge, and the habits of a group of individuals are consequently transferred from a given generation to the next generations through trainings, teachings, or research. While on the other hand, curriculum is the intended interaction of the pupils with the instructional materials, content, processes, and resources for the evaluation of the attainment of the educational objectives. While the curriculum theories are usually esteemed by the scholars within educational field as a significant component of the of the curriculum studies, it is often held in very low regard by several practitioners who in moat cases dismiss it as being completely not related to their daily work. Nonetheless, the theories are of great value to the practitioner and scholar. The curriculum theories are capable of providing a set of the conceptual tools that is applicable in the analysis of the curriculum proposals, for the guiding reform and illuminating practice (Ornstein & Hunkins, Frances, 2009). Indeed, the theories are significant in the planning process within the education sector.
Various Educational and Curriculum Philosophies over At Least the Past 100 Years
In order to understand education and how it should be delivered via the curriculum, it is significant to explore some of the different philosophical theories of education. There are several educational and curriculum philosophies that have been advanced by different scholars within the education sector. On of the approaches is the behavioral curriculum theory that is based on a given plan that outlines objectives and goals through the use of strategies and models in the formulation of a curriculum. This approach is rigid and relies on scientific and technical approach step by step strategies and models. This approach is the oldest and has remain the most applied. On the other hand the managerial approach is always inclined to center on the selection, communication, and supervision of the people involved. The theory plans its various ways of communication through schedules, programs, resources, space, personnel, and equipment. The approach focuses on the implementation and administration and not the subject matter (Ornstein & Hunkins, Frances, 2009).
Another philosophical theory of curriculum is the systems approach that stresses the significance of engineering the policies and individuals into different units as well as sub units. The curriculum is actually structured with the flow charts, diagrams, and committees that establish the different concerns of the whole school as opposed to subject or department. This approach is also known as total quality management. While academic theory examines and produces trends, chief positions, as well as trends on a philosophical and historical level rather than with the practical or social reasoning. This approach is often overwhelming for the learners who are not having any strong background of the knowledge (Glatthorn, 1980). Nevertheless, the approach is subject oriented, traditionally intellectual, and encyclopedic.
The humanistic philosophical theory considers all the other approaches inflexible to the extent that they miss the social and personal aspect of the need for human development in the context of creative solving of problems and natural curiosity. The theory focuses the curriculum on the games, group, life experiences, and interest centers. It stresses on the cooper-active learning as opposed to competition. While on the other hand, reconceptualist philosophical theory is actually more focused on the reform and change. The approach stresses the curriculum to be inclusive of the ideological issues while investigating and consequently influencing economic, social, as well as political issues (Glatthorn, 1980). In this approach the theoretical work is more significant as opposed to the practical applications. The approach considers the school to be an extension of the larger society and therefore should play a role in changing the future of the society.
After discussing the various philosophical theories of curriculum, it is significant to indicate that philosophy is one of the main foundations of the curriculum. Allan Glatthorn has mentioned seven different types of curriculum that includes recommended, written, taught, supported, assessed, and learned, as well as hidden curriculum. However, this paper will argue from a school of thought that the reconceptualist philosophical theory or simply society-centered approach is the best approach that should be adopted during the conceptualization of a curriculum (Glatthorn, 1980). Several of the curriculum theorists have actually agreed that social order is the starting point and consequently the determinant of the curriculum. The students learn from what they see within the society and if curriculum is focused on the social issues then it will definitely achieve its intended purpose.
The school of thought that reconceptualist philosophical theory or simply society-centered theory is best suited can be supported through looking at the social learning theory. The theory was developed by Albert Bandura in the year 1977. In this theory, Bandura indicated through numerous experiments, that the presence of consequences was not mandatory, in order for learning to occur. Learning could take place through simple observation of other peoples’ activities. He demonstrated this through the Bobo doll experiment. In this experiment, Bandura demonstrated that, children can change their behavior patterns simply by observing others. He held a notion that, aggression can be explained in three dimensions. The first dimension is how aggressive modes of behaving are developed; secondly, what factors make individuals to show aggressive behavior, and what indicates if this pattern of aggressive behaviors will be sustained in the future (Isom, 1998).
Social theory is based on observational learning, which is sometimes referred to as imitation or modeling. In the social learning process, learning takes place when people imitate and observe others. In this process there are four aspects. They are influenced by the observer’s perception, after being exposed to learning models. These aspects include: retention, attention, motivation, and motor reproduction. The first component of observation learning is attention. People can not learn a lot by observing without perceiving and concentrating on the important aspects of the behavior in the learning model. For example, Mary had to pay attention to what her abusive fathers were doing, for her to reproduce the same behaviors later (Akers & Sellers, 2004). The second component of social learning is retention. For an individual to reproduce the behavior in the model, the individual must retain the information in long term memory.
The third process in observational learning is motor reproduction. The individual, who learn though observation, must be in a position to physically reproduce the behavior in the mode of learning. A case which shows motor reproduction is where an individual learns how to ride a bike. After a behavior is learnt through the processes of attention and retention, the observer must be in apposition to produce the learned behavior. Mary had the ability to reproduce her learnt behavior, through her violent adult life. Reinforcement or motivation is the final stage of observational learning. In this stage, the individual expects to obtain positive reinforcement from the learned behavior. In the Bobo doll experiment performed by Bandura, children were made to watch violence films. These children observed that, adult in the film who acted violently, were rewarded for their behavior. Therefore, these children after watching the film, acted violently to achieve the same results. Bandura also observed that, as these children grew up, the violence they were exposed to formed part of their personality as adults. This turned them into violent adult (Akers & Sellers, 2004).
Later, Bandura introduced cognitive aspects to his social learning theory, to enhance observational learning. In this modification, he viewed human behavior as a result of interaction between the psychological processes and the environment. He postulated that, human beings are able to control their behavior through self regulation. The self regulation process involves three steps: the first step is self observation. This implies that, human beings observe themselves, and their ways of behaving, and keep a record of their behavior. The second step of self regulation is judgment. In this step, individuals measure their observed behavior against standard behavior. These standards can be either societal norms, or personal standards set by the individual. The last step in self regulation is self response. If the person after judging himself, realize that, the standards have been maintained, the person will reward himself. If the person performs poorly, it will result into self punishment (Wortley, 2006). The theory has simply proved that society or simply the immediate surrounding of the student or leaner influences the learning process and the curriculum development should be focused on it in order to achieve the goals of education. In a nutshell, when coming up with a curriculum, it should be focused on the society making reconceptualist philosophical theory or simply society-centered theory the best approach.
Conclusion
The very nature of the curriculum theory is appearing to be a culmination of the approaches and functions whether apparent or hidden or whether new or old. Theorists have become aware that when coming up with a curriculum, an individual should not just focus on the school or the student but rather the general society and this is what makes reconceptualist philosophical theory the best approach.
References
Akers R. L. & Christine S. S (2004). Student Study Guide Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, and Applications. Accessed from web March 13, 2013
<http://roxbury.net/images/pdfs/ct4ssg.pdf>
Glatthorn, A. A. (1980). A guide for designing an English curriculum for the eighties. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Isom, M .D (1998). Theorist -Albert Bandura the Social Learning Theory. Accessed on web March 13, 2013 http://criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/bandura.htm
Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, Frances, P. (2009). Curriculum, Foundations, Principles, and Issues. U.S.A: Pearson Education.
Wortley, R. (2006). Guilt, Shame and Situational Crime Prevention. Accessed from web March 13, 2013 <http://www.popcenter.org/library/crimeprevention/volume_05/06_wortley.pdf>
