Dr. Carl E.

Balita Review Center

CBRC Headquarters
2nd Flr., Carmen Building, 881 G. Tolentino St. corner España Blvd., Sampaloc, Manila 1008

Academics and Services Department (ASD)

PHINMA Education Special Teaching Enhancement Program (STEP)

THE TEACHING PROFESSION

HISTORICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

A. HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

ANCIENT PERIOD OF EDUCATION

1. PRIMITIVE EDUCATION (Education for Conformity)

- For survival
- Family was the center of practical training
- People were animistic and superstitious
- Home and Environment are the agencies of learning
- There was no grading system
- Culture was passed on and preserved for generation; tribes were able to survive; people were able to
adjust to social and political life

2. ORIENTAL /EASTERN EDUCATION (Education for Social Stability)

- Oriental
- Asian
- Aims to impress traditional customs and ideas in order to perpetuate the long and established social
order.

China- to preserve and perpetuate ancestral tradition

- Confucius – the first teacher of Ancient China
- Emphasis on Meritocracy
India- to preserve the caste system
- Concepts of Karma, Nirvana amd Samsara
- 4 Levels of the Caste System (Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras
Egypt- to strengthen religious tradition
- “The gift of the Nile”
- Contributions in Mathematics, Medicine, Transportation, Education, Engineering, Astronomy
- Theocracy as form of Government
3. GREEK EDUCATION/SPARTAN AND ATHENIAN EDUCATION (Education for the development of
an individual)
Aims to produce individual welfare and success through harmonious development of various aspects of
human personality

Athenians
- Aims excellence; perfection; healthy body and mind needed for public usefulness.
- Liberal education and focus on individuality with moral, intellectual and professional trainings
Spartans
- Aims for strong body; physically fit individual; to develop a good military citizen
- Military and physical training focus on competition and rivalry

Centers of education- palace, home and state

- Emphasized the complimentary development of the human personality for his cultural improvement and
for social transformation of the state

4. ROMAN EDUCATION (Education for Utilitarianism)

- Proponents: Romans
- Aims to educate the Romans for realizing national ideals (good worker, god soldier, good citizen and
oratorically inclined individuals.
- Prepared citizens for moral, military, civic and political functions.
- Centers of education- home, shop and farm, military camp, forum and private schools
- Focus: cultural-liberal arts, music, rhetoric etc.
- Patricians vs Pleabians
- Creation of the Laws of the Twelve Tables
- Educational ladder was introduced

5. EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION (Education for Humanitarianism)

- Aim to develop the right relationship between God and man; salvation and social relations based on
love)
- Agencies: Catechumenal Schools, Catechetical Schools, Cathedral School
- Types: religious (spiritual), ethical (moral) and social education, universal and democratic
- Considered Jesus as the “Teacher of all Teachers.”
- Outstanding contribution –Christianity, conversion of more than one-half of the world into Christianity
with the highest ideals of spirituality and morality

MEDIEVAL CONCEPTS OF EDUCATION

1. MONASTIC EDUCATION/MONASTICISM
- Aims Religious discipline- spiritual knowledge, salvation and moral (chastity, poverty and obedience)
-Proponent: St. Benedict
-Types: Moral and religious training
- Agencies: Monastic schools/Monasteries
-Methods: catechetical, dictation, memorization, language, discipline, meditation and contemplation
-Contributions: Christian monasteries preserve and spread learning and culture

2. SCHOLASTIC EDUCATION/SCHOLASTICISM
– Aims intellectual discipline and reasoned faith (support the doctrines of the church by rational arguments
- Proponent: St. Thomas Aquinas
-Types: religious and intellectual
- Agencies: Parish schools, Monastic and Cathedral schools, Palace school, and universities
- Focus: Theology and Religious Philosophy
- Methods- lecture, repetition, examination, scholastic method (stating a question, setting down objections
to the preposition, proving one side and answering or disputing objections); Aristotelian logic (using
syllogism-major premise, minor premises and conclusion.
- Contribution: organization of the university and the emphasis on intellectual training

3. CHIVALRY- A FEUDALISTIC TYPE OF EDUCATION

- Aims to develop Morality, Responsibility, Horesmanship, Gallantry, Religiosity and Social graces
-Types: Reading, writing and literary, social, military, religious, moral and physical training
- Agencies: home, castle, court, troubadours, minnesingers and minstrels (they sang about the noble
deeds)
- Focus: Reading, writing, literature, religion, music, dancing, good manners, horse riding for warfare,
household duties, physical exercises.
-Contributions: Emphasis placed on the learning social graces, rules of etiquette, or good manners and
right conduct

4. THE GUILD SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

- Aims to prepare for commercial and industrial life; vocational preparation
-Types: 3R’s, vocational and religious
- Agencies: The burgher school, chantry and guild school
- Methods: observation, imitation, practice, dictation, memorization, catechetical, discipline
- Contributions: vocational training and apprenticeship

B. PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

WESTERN PHILOSOPHIES

1. Realism
- Realism is a philosophy that believes that objects exist independent of the mind
- Believes that the world is made up of actual, factual and tangible objects
- Proponent: Aristotle/Harry S. Broudy
- The Educative Process
- The processes are transmission of information, conditioning if the pupil and use of discipline to
reinforce the processes.
- Curriculum: Problem-centered and habit formation
 - Methods: Socratic Method, disputation, lecture, memorization, use of visuals and problem-
solving.

2. Idealism
- Idealism is the philosophy that believes the ultimate reality is spiritual or mental. It believes in a
unified reality with God as the perfect or the absolute or universal mind.
- Emphasizes the importance of the mind, soul and spirit.
- Proponent: Plato
- Objectives of Education
- For the individual: self-realization (attainment of superior life)
- For society: Brotherhood (souls and essence of democracy)
- The Educative Process
- School is ideal-centered
- The teacher is the key to the Educative process. (The teacher is model, specialist of children,
excellent technician, respectable, personal, friend, motivator, co-worker with God. Etc.)
- Imitation, interest, effort and discipline
- Self-activity

3. Pragmatism
- Believes that the world is an ever-changing entity
- believes that the essence of an idea comes from the consequence3 of its test or practice; if it
works, the idea is true or good, if it doesn’t the idea is false or bad. It is called experimentalism
(Pierce), practicalism (James) and instrumentalism (Dewey).
- Proponent: John Dewey

4. Perennialism
- believes that the basic principles of education are changeless permanent or perennial.
- Basic Principles:
- Since human nature is constant, the nature of education remains constant too.
- Since man’s distinctive characteristics in his ability to reason, education should concentrate on
developing the rational faculty.
- The only type of adjustment to which education should lead is adjustment to the truth which is
universal and unchanging
- Education is not a replica of life but preparation of it
- Children should be taught certain basic subjects that would acquaint them with the world’s
permanencies, both spiritual and physical.
- There permanencies are best studied in what they call the “Great Books”
- Proponent: Robert Hutchins
5. Essentialism
- Believes in the basic ideas all men ought to know.
- advocated to reexamine curricular matters, distinguishing the essentials and the non-essentials in
the school programs and to re-establish the authority of the teacher in the classroom.
- Aims to maintain the status quo
- Proponent: William Bagley
- 3Rs, Basic, Essential
- Basic Principles
- Learning, of its very nature, involves hard work and often unwilling application
- The initiative in education should lie with the teacher and not with the pupil.
- The heart of the educational process is the absorption of prescribed subject matter.
- The school should not abandon traditional methods of mental discipline.

6. Progressivism
- Focuses on the Individuality of the child.
- Basic Principles
• Education should be active and related to the interests of the child.
• Learning should take place through problems solving rather than absorption of subject
matter.
• Education as the intelligent reconstruction of experience is synonymous with civilized living.
• The teacher’s role is not to direct but to advice.
• The school should encourage cooperation rather than competition
• Only democracy permits, rather encourages, the free interplay of ideas and personalities
that is a necessary condition of true growth.
- Proponent: John Dewey

7. Existentialism
- Believes that Education should enable man to make his own choices in life
- Centers on individual, his freedom of realizing his essence on the basis of his personal decision or
choice.
- Proponent: Jean Paul Sartre, Soren Kierkegaard

8. Social Reconstructionism
- Aims to transform the society
- Focuses on social problems
- Basic Principles
- Education must become the chief means of enacting a program of clear and precise social action
- Education must commit here and now creation of a new social order, which will fulfill the basic
values of our culture and at the same time, harmonize with the underlying social and economic
forces of the modern world.
- The new society must be genuine democracy whose major institutions and resources are
controlled by the people themselves.
 - It is the teacher’s duty to convince his pupils of the validity and urgency of the reconstructionist
solution, but he must do with scrupulous regard for democratic progress.
- The means and ends of education must be completely refashioned to meet the demands of the
present cultural crisis and to accord with findings of behavioral science.

EASTERN PHILOSOPHIES

1. Buddhism
- Founded by Siddharta Gautama who lived from 563-483 B.C.
- Four Noble Truths
- Eight fold path

2. Islam
- Arabic word which means submission to God.
- One of the three monotheistic religions in the world.
- The Islamic faith is centered on the Five Pillars of Islam
• Shahada (Confession of faith) There’s no other God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.
• Salat (Prayer) Muslims pray five times daily facing Mecca – At daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon,
after sunset and early in the night. They also go to the Mosques during Fridays.
• Zakat (almsgiving) – Muslims give 2 ½ percent of their income and other properties to charity
(eg. Muslim scholars)
• Ramadan (Fasting) – During this period, the Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke or engage in sex
between dawn and sunset.
• Hajj (Pilgrimage) – A muslim is required to go to Mecca at least once in his lifetime.

3. Taoism
- Founded by Lao Tzu
- Wu Wei – Let things come naturally
- Tao = The Way (A way of acting or a principle of teaching)
- The original teachings of Taoism are found in Tao Te Ching, one of China’s most influential book.
- One will attain enlightenment by stilling his senses, appetite and desires.

4. Confucianism
- A body of beliefs and practices that are based on the chinese classics and are supported by the
authority of Kung fu-tzu or Confucius although he maintained himself that he was a transmitter
rather than a creator.
- He taught the importance of life which means propriety and orderliness.
- propriety - (the state or quality of conforming to conventionally accepted standards of behavior or
morals.)
- Many adherents to this belief considered it as a way of life, a code of moral and social behavior,
rather than a religion.
 5. Hinduism
- The world oldest religion
- The third largest religion in the world
- 95% of the Hindus live in India
- The predominant religion of the peoples of India. This religion has a triad of Gods known as the
Trimurti.
- The practice of Hinduism is within the framework of the Caste System.
- Under this ideology, the sum of the human being’s actions is carried from one life to the next.
Result is either an improved or worsened fate.

C. SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

Sociology
- The science of man and society
- Study of patterns of human behavior
- Study of groups and societies and how they affect the people

Society
- An organized group of people that occupies territory, who interrelates and interacts with one
another, recruit its members by inter group sexual reproduction and has a shared comprehensive
culture, with common shared attitudes, sentiments, aspirations and goals
- A group of organized individuals who think of themselves as a distinct group, who live together
sharing the same culture, who have some things in common, a set of loyalties and sentiments

Groups
- A unit of interacting personalities with an interdependence of roles and status existing between or
among the members
- A number of people who at a given time interrelate and interact with one another, with common
shared attitudes, aspirations and goals

Status
- Refers to the position assigned by a person in a group or organization

Social stratification

• Refers to the classification of group members according to certain criteria which may differ according
to the nature of the group; structured ranking of people in society that perpetuates unequal economic
rewards and power in society
- Influenced by the economic status of an individual
- Stratification is based on;
a. Income/Wealth
b. Power
c. Prestige

Social mobility
- Refers to the movement of individuals or groups from one position of a society’s stratification to
another

Types of Social Mobility:

• Horizontal Mobility – movement of a person from one social position to another of the same rank e.g.
teacher in a barrio school is transferred to a school in a town.
• Vertical Mobility – movement of a person from one social position to another of a different rank e.g. a
teacher who becomes a principal.
• Intergenerational Mobility – involves changes in the social position of children relative to their
parents e.g. parents who are rich but their children become poor
• Intragenerational Mobility – involves changes in a person’s social position within his/her adult life
e.g. a poor boy who struggle to become a successful doctor.

Culture
- The shared products of human learning, the set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values and
ideals that are characteristics of a particular society or population
- The complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, morals, customs and other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
- A fabric of ideas, beliefs, skills, tools, aesthetic object, methods of thinking, customs and
institutions into which each member of society is born.

Elements of Culture
- Language – an abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture; the
foundation of culture; verbal and nonverbal
- Norms – are established standards of behavior maintained by a society; it must be shared and
understood
- Sanctions – penalties or rewards for conduct concerning social norms e.g. (positive sanctions)
pay, promotion, medals, word of gratitude or (negative) fines, imprisonment, threats, stares,
ostracism
- Values – are collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable and proper or bad,
undesirable and improper in a particular culture; values are use to evaluate the behavior of others

Duties – refer to those that are under justice to another individual or collective person and to God. If moral
obligation embraces one’s responsibilities toward himself, duties are properly directed to others.
- Authority – refers to the right given to give commands, enforce laws, take action, make decisions,
and exact obedience, determine or judge
 - Accountability – means to be answerable for; emphasizes liability for something of value either
contractually or because of one’s position of authority
- Responsibility – refers to trustworthy performance of fixed duties and consequent awareness of
the penalty for failure to do so; is based on good judgment and relates to the obligation and
commitment

D. HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PHILIPPINE EDUCATION

1. PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
AIMS: survival, enculturation, conformity
METHOD: practical, informal, theoretical, trial and error

2. SPANISH PERIOD (1521-1898)

AIM: Propagate Christianity
METHOD: Formal, dictation, memorization, vocational, religious

3. AMERICAN PERIOD (1898-1946)

AIM: Democracy, train Filipinos for self-governance
METHOD: Formal, socialized recitation and active participation

4. COMMONWEALTH PERIOD (1935-1942

AIMS: Moral character, discipline, civic conscience, vocational efficiency (1935 Constitution)
METHOD: Training through public/private schools

5. JAPANESE OCCUPATION (1943-1945)

AIMS: Understand position of Philippines in Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, love of labor
METHOD: Formal (vocational, agricultural, technical)

6. REPUBLIC PERIOD
AIM: Equal education for all, full realization of democratic ideals
METHOD: Formal, formation of Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education (PCSPE),
restatement of Nat’l Dev’t Goals and Educational Aims

7. NEW SOCIETY (1972-1986)

AIMS: Nat’l dev’t, make educ relevant to needs
METHOD: Elem: 3Rs, values, mastery of learning
Secondary: time allotment, YDT, CAT

8. PRESENT PERIOD (1986-Present)

AIM: National dev’t, values education
METHOD: NESC implementation (mastery, 3Rs, student-centered, multidisciplinary