7 Philosophies of

Education
Essentialism

Progressivism

Perennialism

Proponents

Purpose of the
Curriculum

Subjects to be Taught

William Bagley

The purpose of this

philosophy is to help the
learners acquire basic skill
set, intelligence and morals
for them to become model
citizens.

Reading & Writing

Math
Natural Sciences
History
Foreign Languages
Literature

John Dewey

This aims to develop the

learners to become
enlightened and intelligent
citizens of a democratic
society. They encourage the
learners to live fully NOW
instead of preparing for adult
life.

Skills in Gathering and

Evaluating Information
Problem Solving Skills
Natural and Social
Sciences

This aims to develop the

learners rational and moral
powers and to let them use
their reasoning skills and
higher faculties according to
their passions and appetites.

Robert Hutchins and Mortimer

Adler

Humanities
General Education
Principles of Natural
Science
Philosophy
Language
History
Conceptual Thinking

Teaching Strategies
and Approaches
Teachers on this school
focuses on the mastery of
subject matter and basic
skills through the use of
prescribed textbooks, drill
method and the lecture
method.
Teachers use experimental
methods in teaching that
encourage the learners to
gain knowledge from actual
experience. Teachers in this
school of educational
philosophy also use the
hands-on-minds-on-heartson teaching methodology to
let the students interact with
nature and society.
The teaching is centered on
the teacher. They utilise the
Socratic method of teaching
and mutual inquiry sessions.

The 7 Philosophies of Education

7 Philosophies of
Education
Essentialism

Progressivism

Perennialism

Proponents

Purpose of the
Curriculum

Subjects to be Taught

William Bagley

The main purpose of this

philosophy is to help the
learners acquire basic skill set,
intelligence and morals for
them to become model citizens.

Reading & Writing

Math
Natural Sciences
History
Foreign Languages
Literature

John Dewey

This philosophical school of

education aims to develop the
learners to become enlightened
and intelligent citizens of a
democratic society. They
encourage the learners to live
fully NOW instead of preparing
for adult life.

Skills in Gathering and

Evaluating Information
Problem Solving Skills
Natural and Social
Sciences

The curriculum for this

philosophical school of
education aims to develop the
learners rational and moral
powers and to let them use their

Robert Hutchins and

Mortimer Adler

Humanities
General Education
Principles of Natural
Science
Philosophy

Teaching Strategies and

Approaches
Teachers who follow the
essentialist way of teaching
focuses mainly on the mastery
of subject matter and basic
skills through the use of
prescribed textbooks, drill
method and the lecture method.
Teachers following this
philosophy of teaching use
experimental methods in
teaching that encourage the
learners to gain knowledge
from actual experience.
Teachers in this school of
educational philosophy also use
the hands-on-minds-on-heartson teaching methodology to let
the students interact with nature
and society.
The perennialist way of
teaching is centered on the
teacher. They utilise the
Socratic method of teaching and
mutual inquiry sessions.

reasoning skills and higher

faculties according to their
passions and appetites.

Language
History
Conceptual Thinking

Existentialism

Jean Paul Sartre

Behaviourism

Ivan Pavlov, Edward

Thorndike, John Watson and
Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Linguistic Philosophy

Jurgen Habermas and Hans

Georg Gadamer

Constructivism

Jean Piaget and Lev

Vygotsky

This school of philosophy deals

with the development of the
learner as a whole person and
not just the development of the
mind. They do this by helping
the students understand and
appreciate themselves as unique
individuals who accept
complete responsibility for their
thoughts, feelings and actions
The main purpose of the
behaviourist curriculum is to
develop a favourable learning
environment for the learners to
develop desirable behaviour in
the society.
Linguistic educational
philosophy works toward the
development of the learners
communication skills from
them to be able to express
themselves and their ideas.
This philosophy of education
aims to develop learners to
become independent and
inherently motivated so that
they can construct new ideas
with the help of proper learning

Humanities
Vocational Education
History
Fine Arts
Drama
Creative Expression
Literature
Philosophy

Psychology of Human
Behaviour
Stimuli-Response
Relationship

Verbal Communication
Nonverbal
Communication
Paraverbal
Communication
Foreign Language
Knowledge Evaluation
and Synthesis
Learning Process and
Skills
Research and
Experimentation

The teaching-learning process

in an existentialist classroom is
self-paced and self-directed. It
encourages an open and honest
individual relationship between
the learner and the teacher. The
teachers use the values
clarification strategy.

Teachers under this school of

philosophy use behaviourist
method of teaching in which the
teacher control physical
variables to get the desired
responses from the learners.
The experimental method is the
most popular teaching strategy
used by the teachers under this
philosophy since it is the most
effective way of teaching
language and communication.
A constructivist teacher
provides the learners adequate
data and information and
encourage them to interact with
this data to form their own
hypothesis, predict the

skills.

Prepared By: Lea Jane I. Razona

3rd year BSEd

outcome, investigate, and

invent new ideas and to
research for further information.