What is the purpose of education and what are your pedagogical beliefs?
The aim of
this blog post is to outline my view on what I think the purpose of education
is and to highlight what my pedagogical beliefs are in primary education. Many
people have a different view on what the meaning of pedagogy is. Payne (1900,
p.194) says that pedagogy is “The teachers function is to surround the children
with conditions for growth.”However,
Donaldson (2015, p.63) has a completely different view on pedagogy in which he states,
“Pedagogy is about more than ‘teaching’ in the narrow sense of methods used in
the classroom. It represents the considered selection of those methods in light
of the purposes of the curriculum and the needs and developmental stage of the
children and young people.”
I agree with Donaldson as I believe it is more than teaching children basic numeracy and literacy skills. It’s also about everyday skills and knowledge, I think an effective teacher needs to adapt their pedagogy to meet the developmental needs of the child in order for them to thrive as an individual. This leads me onto what I think education is all about.
Firstly, I believe that the purpose of education is the development of autonomous thinkers. They should have freedom in what they learn.This relates to ideas of Montessori as Fisher (1964, p.20) states that Montessori thought “education must be made to fit the child and the child not forced to fit a preconceived idea of what education ought to be or do.” She believes that teachers need to create an environment that best fits the child’s interests (Isaacs, 2013). Waite (2011, p.67) can relate to Montessori as she states, “what children wish to learn and enjoy learning will be better retained than what they have no choice about.” Waite (2011) thinks children will absorb and keep the information in their minds when they have choice and are interested in what they are learning.
Lastly, I think another purpose of education is the development of skills and knowledge. I believe children should learn about skills they will need to know in order to carry out everyday life.This relates to Donaldson’s Successful Futures (2015, p.17) document as findings from the WISERD Report states “General social competences, life skills and personal confidence were seen by all as important things to be gained from school.” He also mentions how The Welsh Assembly Government have realised how crucial it is to have life skills as it can help “become more resilient and better able to deal with the changing challenges that face individuals now and in the future” (Donaldson, 2015, p. 42).
This links in with Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence as some of its aspects are similar to Successful Futures. This could be down to the fact that Donaldson created them both. For example, some of the different areas of learning in the Successful Futures document are the same to Scotland’s (2008, p.23) ‘Experiences and Outcomes’. They both have four clear purposes of their curriculum and they both involve children in their own learning and assessments. McIvor (2017) an educational expert mentions John Swinney Scotland’s Education Secretary on how he praises the Curriculum for Excellence as it meets the child’s needs and sets them up with the skills that they will need to use in their everyday lives to solve problems. The World Health Organisation (1994) talks about what children can achieve by having life skill. It enables them to interpret knowledge into the capability of doing something. Life skills can also play a part in health and well-being, by being confident and having high self-esteem children will feel good about themselves; this will then be recognised by others around them. Health and well-being has been seen as important as it has become a big part of the curriculum as one of the purposes Successful Futures (2015, p.30) is to be “healthy, confident individuals.”
I agree with Donaldson as I believe it is more than teaching children basic numeracy and literacy skills. It’s also about everyday skills and knowledge, I think an effective teacher needs to adapt their pedagogy to meet the developmental needs of the child in order for them to thrive as an individual. This leads me onto what I think education is all about.
Firstly, I believe that the purpose of education is the development of autonomous thinkers. They should have freedom in what they learn.This relates to ideas of Montessori as Fisher (1964, p.20) states that Montessori thought “education must be made to fit the child and the child not forced to fit a preconceived idea of what education ought to be or do.” She believes that teachers need to create an environment that best fits the child’s interests (Isaacs, 2013). Waite (2011, p.67) can relate to Montessori as she states, “what children wish to learn and enjoy learning will be better retained than what they have no choice about.” Waite (2011) thinks children will absorb and keep the information in their minds when they have choice and are interested in what they are learning.
Lastly, I think another purpose of education is the development of skills and knowledge. I believe children should learn about skills they will need to know in order to carry out everyday life.This relates to Donaldson’s Successful Futures (2015, p.17) document as findings from the WISERD Report states “General social competences, life skills and personal confidence were seen by all as important things to be gained from school.” He also mentions how The Welsh Assembly Government have realised how crucial it is to have life skills as it can help “become more resilient and better able to deal with the changing challenges that face individuals now and in the future” (Donaldson, 2015, p. 42).
This links in with Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence as some of its aspects are similar to Successful Futures. This could be down to the fact that Donaldson created them both. For example, some of the different areas of learning in the Successful Futures document are the same to Scotland’s (2008, p.23) ‘Experiences and Outcomes’. They both have four clear purposes of their curriculum and they both involve children in their own learning and assessments. McIvor (2017) an educational expert mentions John Swinney Scotland’s Education Secretary on how he praises the Curriculum for Excellence as it meets the child’s needs and sets them up with the skills that they will need to use in their everyday lives to solve problems. The World Health Organisation (1994) talks about what children can achieve by having life skill. It enables them to interpret knowledge into the capability of doing something. Life skills can also play a part in health and well-being, by being confident and having high self-esteem children will feel good about themselves; this will then be recognised by others around them. Health and well-being has been seen as important as it has become a big part of the curriculum as one of the purposes Successful Futures (2015, p.30) is to be “healthy, confident individuals.”
So girls, what do you think the
purpose of education is and what are your pedagogical beliefs?
References:
·
World Health Organisation, (1994). ‘Life Skills
Education for Children and Adolescents in Schools’ Available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/63552/1/WHO_MNH_PSF_93.7A_Rev.2.pdf
[Accessed: 21/10/17]
·
Waite, S. (2011). Teaching and learning outside the classroom:
personal values, alternative pedagogies and standards. Education 3-13, 39(1), p.67.
·
Payne, B. (1900) ‘Pedagogy’ The Course of Study, 1(3), p.194.
·
The Scottish Government, 2008. Curriculum for Excellence building the
curriculum 3: a framework for learning and teaching. Scottish Government.
P. 23. Available at: http://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/226155/0061245.pdf
[Accessed: 26.10.2017]
McIvor,
J. (2017) ‘New curriculum could be 'disastrous'’, Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41134835 [Accessed:
24/10/17]
Isaacs,
B. (2013) Understanding the Montessori
Approach. London: Routledge.
·
Freire, Paulo. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin. London. P.79
· Fisher,
D. (1964) The Montessori Manual: For
Teachers and Parents. Cambridge Massachusetts
: Robert Bentley. P. 20.
· Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures: Independent Review
of Curriculum and Assessment arrangements in Wales. Welsh Government. P.17, 30,
42, 63.
Dewey, J. (1938). The theory of inquiry. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Wiston.
Great post Hannah!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you and think that the purpose of education is for children to develop skills and knowledge but mostly to develop their creativity within a class room. I believe that pedagogy should be relatable to the students to help them to develop upon their creativity and knowledge, as Freire (1996, p.79) says that “we must never provide the people with programs which have little or nothing to do with their own preoccupations, doubts, hopes, and fears” which I agree with as I have expressed within my first blog post, do you agree with this statement?
Thank you Hollie! :)
DeleteYes, I do agree with the statement as I think children engage more within activities and tasks that they are interested in as Renninger et al. (2002, 2004) cited in Damon et al. (2006, p.325) state that "They are likely to be more motivated and more self-regulating when they study content in which they are interested."
Damon. et al. (2006) Handbook of Child Psychology. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xTD471221c0C&pg=PA325&lpg=PA325&dq=children+engage+more+if+they+are+interested+within+tasks&source=bl&ots=EK0Ul7sd6N&sig=e_bScIXu7K_GF4MqsIrAvOfb5WA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj928GOufjXAhURaVAKHQ4EBKwQ6AEITDAH#v=onepage&q=children%20engage%20more%20if%20they%20are%20interested%20within%20tasks&f=false [Accessed: 07/12/17] p.325
Very interesting post Hannah!. Reading through your argument as to why you believe the purpose of education is to create autonomous thinkers. I believe you have outlined some excellent arguments to back up your ideas and it has give me another outlook on this blog question. However, I also believe that you could possibly link autonomous thinkers to creativity, which was the focus of my blog post. Looking at creativity as the purpose of education, to me, means creating an environment where creativity is central and being creative with their pedagogy. Therefore ensuring children get the opportunity to be creative with their own learning, and I personally think this reflects the idea of children being autonomous over their own learning too.
Delete