PHILOSOPHY BY MR. OKUMU

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TYPESETTING BY BARRON OKUMU

PHILOSOPHY

OF EDUCATION

BY

BARRON OKUMU

©BARRON OKUMU, 2014

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MEANING AND SCOPE OF

PHILOSOPHY

PHILOSOPHY DEFINED

Philosophy (Greek philosophia, “love of

wisdom”), the rational and critical

inquiry into basic principles.

Philosophy is often divided into four

main branches: metaphysics, the

investigation of ultimate reality;

epistemology, the study of the

origins, validity, and limits of

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knowledge; ethics, the study of the

nature of morality and judgment; and

aesthetics, the study of the nature of

beauty in the fine arts.

As used originally by the ancient

Greeks, the term philosophy meant the

pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.

Philosophy comprised all areas of

speculative thought and included the

arts, sciences, and religion. As

special methods and principles were

developed in the various areas of

knowledge, each area acquired its own

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philosophical aspect, giving rise to

the philosophy of art, of science, and

of religion. The term philosophy is

often used popularly to mean a set of

basic values and attitudes toward

life, nature, and society—thus the

phrase “philosophy of life.” Because

the lines of distinction between the

various areas of knowledge are

flexible and subject to change, the

definition of the term philosophy

remains a subject of controversy.

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Therefore philosophy involves a search

for wisdom by philosophers, who are

constantly searching for answers to

everything, and who try to come to

terms with life in the world today.

APPROACHES OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is an activity with three

approaches, modes or styles namely:

Speculative, Prescriptive and

Analytic.

SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY

Speculative philosophy is a way of

thinking systematically about

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everything that exists. It tries to

understand how all the different

things that have been discovered

together form some sort of meaningful

totality. Speculative philosophy is

therefore a search for order and

wholesomeness applied not to

particular items or experience. It is

an attempt to find coherence in the

whole realm of thoughts and

experience.

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PRESCRIPTIVE PHILOSOPHY

This seeks to establish standards for

assessing values, judging conduct and

appraising art. It examines what we

mean by good or bad, right and wrong,

beautiful and ugly. It asks whether

these qualities are in things

themselves or whether they are

projections of our minds.

To the experimental psychologists the

varieties of human conduct are orally

either good or bad. They are simply

forms of behaviour to be studied

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empirically. But to the educator and

the prescriptive philosopher some

forms of behaviour are worthwhile and

others are not. The prescriptive

philosopher seeks to discover and to

recommend principles for describing

what actions and qualities are most

worthwhile and why they should be so.

ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY

Analytic philosophy focuses on words

and meaning. The analytic philosopher

examines such notions as “causes”,

“mind”, “academic freedom”, “quality

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of opportunity”, etc. in order to

assess the different contexts, he

shows how inconsistencies may arise

when meanings appropriate in certain

contexts are imported into others. The

analytic philosopher tends to be

sceptical, cautious and disinclined to

build system of thought.

GENERAL VERSUS TECHNICAL PHILOSOPHY

The discipline of philosophy is either

general or technical. When we speak of

the worldwide philosophy; we primarily

refer to general philosophy.

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Technical philosophy applies to

recognized academic scholars, to men

of books, or more specifically to

professional and technical

philosophers, of mostly western or

European origin.

MAJOR BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY AND

THEIR APPLICATION TO EDUCATION

In terms of content philosophy is

concerned with four distinct areas of

study, which are usually called the

four branches of philosophy. These are

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Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic and

Axiology.

Metaphysics

The term ‘Metaphysics’ in its original

meaning refers to what goes beyond (-

Meta) physics, beyond the study of

nature. Generally speaking,

metaphysics as a branch of philosophy

deals with questions that are

concerned with what lies after or

beyond the physical world of sense and

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experience; it deals with the realm of

the supra-sensible. Traditionally,

metaphysics has been subdivided into

four areas namely;

COSMOLOGY

Cosmology is the study of the universe

or cosmos. The early Greek

philosophers were interested in

explaining rationally the origin and

nature of the universe. At the time,

there existed many myths about the

ones found in African societies. Thus

philosophers addressed themselves to

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problems related to time and eternity,

to the necessity of the laws of nature

etc.

THEODICY

Theodicy developed gradually out of

cosmology. It is closely related to

theology, which deals with religious

matters, such as the nature of

religious beliefs, the meaning of the

supernatural, the existence of god

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etc. theodicy also deals with

religious sphere and inquiries into

the ultimate meaning of ‘being’, be it

God, an absolute spirit or the supra-

sensible which cannot be directly

perceived but which can be thought of.

This is called pure metaphysics.

Note: Theodicy is defence of God’s goodness. It is

an argument in defence of God’s goodness despite

the existence of evil

ONTOLOGY

This is the philosophical study of

‘being’ of whatever is. According to

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philosophers, all things, both living

and non-living have one thing in

common, ‘being’. Despite this common

element, all things or beings

participate in being in different

ways. Accordingly, minerals for

example the meaning of ‘being’ is the

primary task of ontology.

RATIONAL OR PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY

This branch of metaphysics is also

referred to as the philosophy of mind.

One of its starting points is the

awareness that we perform certain

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activities such as perceiving,

imagining, remembering, feeling,

understanding and willing. These

activities are attributed to what is

commonly called the ‘mind’ as opposed

to the body. A question is raised in

this context, with regard to the

relationship between mind and body

e.g. whether they are two totally

different types of entity. This

question pertains to the famous mind-

body problem, which is connected

rationally with trying to determine

whether the mind survives the

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destruction of the body. Attempts to

answer questions in this area of

metaphysics are rendered difficult by

the complexity of the concepts in

order and by the fact that often there

are no clear criteria for determining

the meaning of the concepts used by

different thinkers.

Metaphysics and Education

Metaphysics as a school of thought was

developed by early philosophers such

as; The African philosophic sages,

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Thales, Galileo, Plato, Aristotle and

John Locke among others. To them

learning involves observing things in

nature and act according to the

observations. A human being is able to

grow, act and learn according to the

environment he is brought up. For

example one might be bothered with a

metaphysical question whether human

life has any purpose or does God

exist? What is the origin of the

universe? Failure to answer such

questions may lead the learner to

conclude that life has no meaning or

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like the Biblical philosopher who said

that life is useless, it is like

chasing the wind.

EPISTEMOLOGY

The term epistemology dates back to

the ancient Greece. It is derived from

two Greek words ‘Episteme’ meaning

knowledge and ‘logia’ meaning study.

Thus epistemology is the systematic

inquiry into the nature and ground of

experience, belief and knowledge. It

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is called a second order discipline

concerned with the ‘how’ and ‘why’

rather than ‘what’. It does not aim

directly to add to our store of

knowledge but it is a systematic

reflection of knowledge itself. It

aims at exploring scientifically what

we can know, how we can know and how

reliable that knowledge is. The main

proponent of this school of thought is

John Dewey.

From the point of view of the teacher

who is the Key player in the learning

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processes, one of the most important

distinctions made in epistemology is

that between the different types of

knowledge. These types of knowledge

are;

REVEALED KNOWLEDGE

Revealed knowledge may be described as

knowledge that God has disclosed to

man. In his omniscience, God inspired

certain men to write down truths that

he revealed to them, so that these

truths might be known thereafter by

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all mankind. For Christians and Jews,

the word of God is contained in the

Bible, for Muslims in the Qur’an, for

Hindus in the Bhagavad-Gita and the

Upanishads. Because it is the word of

God, it is true forever.

INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE

This refers to knowledge that a person

finds within himself in a moment of

insight. Insight or intuition is the

sudden eruption into consciousness of

an idea or conclusion produced by a

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long process of unconsciousness work.

All of a sudden we see the solution to

a problem with which our

unconsciousness has been at grip for

days, months or even years.

Intuitive knowledge is also described

as knowledge that is proposed and

accepted on the strength of the

imaginative vision or private

experience of the person proposing it.

The truths embodied in the works of

arts are a form of intuitive

knowledge. All great writers like

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Homer, William Shakespeare, Ngugi

Wathiong’o etc tell us truths about

the heart of man.

Note: Epistemology seeks to answer such basic

questions as "What is true?" and "How do we

know?"

Question: Compare and contrast Revealed

knowledge and Intuitive knowledge.

RATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

This is the knowledge we obtain by the

exercise of reason alone unaccompanied

by observation of actual states of

affairs. The principles of formal

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logic and pure mathematics are

paradigms of rational knowledge. The

truth is demonstrated by abstract

reasoning alone, e.g. if ‘A’ is

greater than ‘B’ and ‘B’ is greater

than ‘C’, then we conclude that ‘A’ is

greater than ‘C’. The principles of

rational knowledge may be applied to

sense experience, but they are not

deducted from it. Rational truths are

valid universally.

EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE

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This knowledge is acquired through

senses. By seeing, hearing, smelling,

feeling, and tasting we form our

conception of the world around us.

Empirical knowledge therefore is

composed of ideas formed in accordance

with observed or sensed facts.

AUTHORITATIVE KNOWLEDGE

This is knowledge that has been

accepted because it was vouched for by

authorities in the field. It is made

up of facts that have been accepted as

true. It is not subject to questioning

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or criticism. For example we accept

that Nairobi is the capital city of

Kenya, Washington is the capital city

of the United States of America, light

travels in a straight line, the battle

of Adowa took place in 1986, etc. we

feel no need to work out for ourselves

for example the table of logarithms.

Epistemology and Education

So far based on the above categories

of knowledge, below are the views of

the leading schools of philosophy

about knowledge in general and its

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relation to education. These leading

schools of thought are: Idealistic

epistemology, Realist epistemology and

Pragmatist epistemology.

IDEALIST EPISTEMOLOGY

The major proponents of idealist

epistemology include the African

sages, Priests from Egyptian Mystery

System, those who taught Plato,

Socrates and other Greek philosophers.

Other Idealists are Hegel and Immanuel

Kant. Plato and Socrates argued that

knowledge acquired through senses must

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always remain uncertain and incomplete

since the material world is only a

distorted copy of a more perfect

sphere of being. True knowledge is the

product of reason alone for reason is

the faculty that discerns the pure

spiritual forms of things beyond their

material embodiments.

Hegel argued that knowledge is valid

only in so far as forms a system.

Since ultimate reality is rational and

systematic, our knowledge of reality

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is true to the extent that is

systematic.

Most modern idealists uphold the

assertions of Immanuel Kant that the

essence of knowing is the composition

of meaning and order on information

gathered by the senses. The purpose of

teaching is to help the learner to

impose order and meaning on the

information he is presented with. The

learner should relate this information

to his own previous experiences so

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that what he learns is significant to

him personally.

Note: Epistemological idealism is a subjectivist

position in epistemology that holds that what

one knows about an object exists only in one's

mind. It is opposed to epistemological

realism.

Realist epistemology

Realist epistemologists assert that

true knowledge is the knowledge that

corresponds to the world as it is. In

the course of time the human race has

put together a stock of knowledge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemological_realism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemological_realism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjectivist

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whose truth has repeatedly been

confirmed. The most important task of

the school is to impart a selection of

this knowledge on the person. The

teacher has to decide what subject

matter should be studied in class and

transmit it to the learner. To

instruct the learner in the knowledge

that matters most is the true goal of

education.

Pragmatic epistemology

Pragmatic epistemology presents a

quite different view from the idealist

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and realists. Pragmatists believe that

the mind should be active and

exploratory. The proponents of

pragmatic epistemology like William

Peirce and John Dewey asserts that

knowledge is produced by a transaction

between man and his environment. An

idea can only be true if it is proved

to work. According to them the teacher

should construct learning situations

around particular problems whose

solution will lead his pupils to a

better understanding of their social

goal and physical environment.

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Logic

Logic deals with establishing the

consistency of statements. According

to R. J. Njoroge and G.A. Bennaars

(1996), it is the study of correct

reasoning. Logic attempts to establish

the truth or falsehood of statements.

It also justifies the validity and

soundness of arguments. Traditionally,

logic is classified into three sub

branches namely: Inductive logic,

Deductive logic and Symbolic logic.

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Inductive logic

This is a process whereby general law

or conclusion is inferred from

particular instances. It starts from

the particular and reasons to the

general. In other words inductive

reasoning proceeds from a particular

to a general idea. If an event or a

process is repeated several times and

consistently, then conclusions are

drawn. For example, it has been

established that for an object to

float in water, its density should be

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less than one gram per cubic

centimetre. Therefore all objects with

such density must float in water. This

law has been held without further

inquiry.

Deductive logic

This is a process reasoning whereby a

particular conclusion is inferred or

deduced from a general premise. These

premises often take the form of

general statements or propositions.

Deductive reasoning starts from a

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general principle to a particular

principle, for example;

All men are mortal.

Mugaka is a man.

Mugaka is mortal.

All University students are bright.

Atieno is a University student.

Atieno is bright.

More technically, such reasoning is

often expressed in the form of a

syllogism i.e. the first two

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statements need to be stated before

the third.

Symbolic logic

Symbolic logic is purely mathematical.

Here symbols are used to represent

figures or ideas. For example in

mathematics;

Represents summation or total∑

number of variables.

In some mathematical problems certain

symbols or letters of the alphabet

represents certain values e.g.

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If a = 2

b = 3

c = 6

Calculate the value of;

ab

bc

2b – a

c/a

ac + 2b

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From a logical point of view an

individual is able to make concrete

conclusions. In mathematics of

equations, x is used to represent the

unknown. An individual is able to use

the laws of logic to make calculations

and comprehend the value of the

unknown. For example; x + 4 = 13. The

symbol x represents a number which

must be added to 4 to bring 13. This

follows that know the value of x, 4

must be subtracted from 13.

Logic And Education

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Logic may be applied to the act of

teaching where teaching is understood

to be a special way of making things

known to others. Here teaching is

considered as a system of actions

varied in form of content but directed

towards learning. It is the

performance of these actions and in

the interactions of the teacher with

the learners that learning takes

place.

These actions and interactions are of

course personal but they are also

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logical, in that they have a certain

structure, a certain structure, a

certain order, such that no matter

where in the world teaching takes

place, it does so in accordance with

operations that reflect the very

nature of teaching – learning

situation.

What then, are the logical operations

and how can they be analyzed? The

action of teaching involves three

variables;

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The teacher’s behaviour which is the

independent variable.

The learner’s behaviour which is the

dependent variable.

Various postulated entities, such as

memories, beliefs, needs and

inferences which are intervening

variables.

The integration of these variables

brings about teaching and effective

learning.

Note: Logic is a theory of reasoning: the branch of

philosophy that deals with the theory of deductive

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and inductive arguments and aims to distinguish

good from bad reasoning.

Axiology

Axiology is the philosophical study of

theory of values. The term axiology

has been derived from Greek words AXIA

meaning values and LOGIA meaning

study. Axiology is a very broad area

of study with several sub-branches

each dealing with a different set of

values. The main sub – branches of

axiology are: Ethics and Aesthetics.

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Ethics

This is also called moral philosophy.

It reflects on the origin and nature

of moral values. It inquires into the

meaning of what is right or wrong,

thereby distinguishing between the

good of the society. At individual

level, it focuses on human behaviour.

Aesthetics

This is the theory of beauty as

applied in the field of art,

architecture and music. Axiology is

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further concerned with social,

cultural and political values. In this

context we speak of social philosophy,

political philosophy and philosophy of

culture each of which is an area of

specialization within axiology, in as

far as all of them are concerned with

values.

Note: In Unification Thought, Axiology holds a

central position as the foundation for the theories

of Education, Art, and Ethics, which deal with how

to achieve a truthful, beautiful, and good society,

respectively.

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Axiology and Education

Values abound everywhere in education.

They are involved in every aspect of

school practice, basic to all matters

of choice and decision making. Using

values, teachers evaluate students and

students evaluate teachers, Society

evaluates courses of study, school

programmes and teaching competence.

The society itself is evaluated by

educators. When we pass judgment on an

educational practice, when we estimate

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the worth of an education policy, we

are making value judgment.

Ethics views education as a moral

enterprise. Teachers are always

drawing attention to what ought to be

said and done and how students ought

to behave. They are concerned with

imparting moral values and improving

individual and social behaviour.

Aesthetics being the study of values

and realm of beauty, aesthetic values

are difficult to access because they

are likely to be personal and

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subjective. However aesthetics can be

applied to the process of teaching and

learning. In so far as aesthetics is

concerned, the teacher should select

materials that are attractive to the

general class. The teacher himself

should not look clumsy. Unattractive

class learning makes the learners

unable to learn.

1. EDUCATION: MEANING AND SCOPE

In its wider/general sense, Education

is any act or experience which

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positively alters or forms the

intellect, character, or physical

ability of an individual. In its

technical/practical sense, education

can be defined as the process by which

society consciously and knowingly

passes on its accumulated knowledge,

skills and values from one generation

to another through institutions.

Educators see it as the best tool

available for social and economic

advancement and hence immense efforts

are made to construct, equip and staff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Values

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge

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schools and colleges. But what is the

meaning of education?

According to some learned people, the

word "Education" has been derived from

the Latin term "Educatum" which means

the act of teaching or training. A

group of educationists say that it has

come from another Latin word "Educare"

which means "to bring up" or "to

raise".

According to a few others, the word

"Education" has originated from

another Latin term "Educere" which

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means "to lead forth" or "to come

out". All these meanings indicate that

education seeks to nourish the good

qualities in man and draw out the best

in every individual. Education seeks

to develop the innate inner capacities

of man.

By educating an individual we attempt

to give him some desirable knowledge,

understanding, skills, interests,

attitudes and critical 'thinking. That

is, he acquires knowledge of history,

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geography, arithmetic, languages and

sciences.

He develops some understanding about

the deeper things in life, the complex

human relations, and the cause and

effect relationship and so on. He gets

some skills in writing, speaking,

calculating, drawing, operating some

equipment etc. He develops some

interests in and attitudes towards

social work, democratic living, co-

operative management and so on.

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As an individual in the society, he

has to think critically about various

issues in life and take decisions

about them being free from bias and

prejudices, superstitions and blind

beliefs. Thus, he has to learn all

these qualities of head, hand and

heart through the process of

education.

In Ancient Greece, Socrates argued

that education was about drawing out

what was already within student

(Intellectual midwifery).

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The Webster Dictionary defines

education as the process of educating

or teaching. Education is further

defined as “to develop the knowledge,

skills or character of ….. Thus from

this definition we might assume that

the purpose of education is to develop

the knowledge, skill or character of

students. Unfortunately, this

definition offers little unless we

further define words such as develop

knowledge and character. Several other

attempts have been made to define

education and here are some:

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Plato: "Education is the capacity to

feel pleasure and pain at the right

moment. It develops in the body and in

the soul of the pupil all the beauty

and all the perfection which he is

capable of."

Aristotle: "Education is the creation

of a sound mind in a sound body. It

develops man's faculty, especially his

mind so that he may be able to enjoy

the contemplation of supreme truth,

goodness and beauty of which perfect

happiness essentially consists.

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Rousseau: "Education of man commences

at his birth; before he can speak,

before he can understand he is already

instructed. Experience is the

forerunner of the perfect".

Herbert Spencer: "Education is

complete living".

Heinrich Pestalozzi: "Education is

natural harmonious and progressive

development of man's innate powers".

Friedrich Willian Froebel: "Education

is unfoldment of what is already

enfolded in the germ. It is the

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process through which the child makes

internal external".

The Penguin encyclopaedia (1965)

describes education as a process by

which material, mental, moral and

cultural inheritance of a society is

transmitted to each generation.

Morris (1996) argues that educating is

the process of forming fundamental

dispositions – intellectual and

emotional towards nature and fellow

human beings.

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Curle (1973) sees education as a

process of awakening in the

individuals mind the seeds for peace,

justice and equality.

Tanner and Tanner (1980) proposed that

education should be conceived as a

guided recapitulation of the process

of inquiry which gives rise to the

fruitful bodies of organized knowledge

comprising the established

disciplines.

G. P. Oluoch (1982) defines education

as a process of acquiring and

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developing desirable knowledge, skills

and attitudes.

Hirst et al (1983) define education as

the development of desirable qualities

in people.

From these definitions, education has

come to mean the development of an all

found person, involving intellectual,

moral, and emotional and personality

development of an individual. It can

be defined in terms of training, skill

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acquisition and formal school

attendance.

2.1 Dimensions of Education

Education is said to be a multi –

dimensional concept: We can identify

four dimensions of education namely:

The cognitive dimension

The normative dimension

The creative dimension

The dialogical dimension

(Dimensions=facets=components)

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2.1.1 The Cognitive Dimension of

Education

This dimension defines education in

terms of learning and schooling.

Psychologists, generally distinguish

between two types of learning namely:

Associative learning and Cognitive

learning.

Associative learning: This implies a

stimulus – response pattern and the

formation of conditioned associations

(Pavlov)

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Since cognitive learning is said to

result in cognition or knowing, we

find the basis for the cognitive

dimension of education.

It is concerned with the mental

process of knowing, including aspects

such as awareness, perception,

reasoning, and judgment.

2.1.2 The Normative Dimension of

Education

The Normative dimension of education

tries to define education in terms of

what ought to or should happen. This

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enters into the area of values and

ideals. According to a French

sociologist Emile Durkheim, “A society

can neither create nor recreate itself

without at the same time creating an

ideal” therefore the normative

dimension of education refers to norms

or standards that are to be

recommended for the educational

enterprise, which in turn provide

general guidelines for educational

theory and practice.

2.1.3 The Creative Dimension

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The creative dimension of education is

understood to mean making the learner

aware of his task as an actor, a

producer and a creator. It stresses

the importance of work as an integral

part of man’s task to be human. It

encourages learners to conceive new

solutions, new possibilities and to

produce original ideas.

2.1.4 Dialogical dimension

According to R.S Peters (1990) in his

book, “Ethics and Education”,

Education itself is a public form of

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experience. It intended to be a social

or public affair, a social

institution. This is a direct

reference to the social aspect or

dimension of education which is also

called the dialogical dimension.

Dialogical rather than the social

dimension of education is preferred

since education defined in real terms

involves dialogue.

The term dialogue is derived from the

Greek Word dia-logos which implies

communication between two or more

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people it means people speaking words

(logos) to each other. Dialogue is

radically different from monologue,

where only one person speaks.

Education defined as dialogue implies

people communicating with each other

on equal terms. The dialogical

dimension of education is therefore

opposed to authoritarianism in

education whereby the learner is

forced to accept the authoritative

word of the teacher without being

given a chance to question that word.

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2.2 The Importance and Purpose of

Education

In any inquiry into educational

purpose, it is important to make a

clear distinction between education

and schooling. Education is a lifelong

process. It begins with birth,

continues throughout life and ends

when one dies. Much of education is

informal and part of it formal.

Schooling on the other hand is a

process of acquiring knowledge,

attitudes, values, skills in an

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institution; it is characterised by

syllabuses to be covered, textbooks to

be used, teachers assigned to various

classes for particular subjects which

are taught at particular times,

examinations to be done at the end of

the term, year and level to mark the

end and determine the next level of

learning.

Educational Philosophers have pointed

out various purposes of education some

of which are outlined below.

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Education for discipline: Education should

aim principally at forming and

strengthening the mental faculties,

thus enabling persons to meet and

master the exigencies of life when

school days are over. Education for

character: Using any means, at its

disposal, including discipline and

knowledge, education should seek to

form morally responsible and socially

sensitive human beings.

Education for knowledge: Education should

concern itself mainly with the

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teaching of useful knowledge and

skill, which are essential to life in

the society.

Education for life: Civility and utility

are essential conditions for personal

and social decency and success.

Education should concern itself with

the teaching of relevant competencies.

Education for growth: Education should

supply opportunity for personal

growth. It should always aspire to

cultivating rather than arresting

growth.

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Education for personal fulfilment: Happiness

in life is ultimate objective, so

education should contain the means to

promote personal autonomy, an

essential condition to happiness.

Education for aesthetic refinement: Education

should prepare persons to appreciate

beauty in all its various forms and

supply standards for making aesthetic

judgments.

3.0 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

The Philosophy of education is a

branch of applied philosophy which

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analyzes the aims, forms, methods, and

results of education as both a process

and a field of study. It is influenced

both by developments within

philosophy, especially questions of

ethics and epistemology, and by

concerns arising from instructional

practice. The subject is often taught

within a department or college of

education, rather than within a

philosophy department. Philosophical

treatments of education date at least

as far back as Socrates, but the field

of inquiry only began to be recognized

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as a formal subdiscipline in the

nineteenth century. Though the field

often seems to lack the cohesion of

other areas of philosophy, it is

generally, and perhaps therefore, more

open to new approaches.

The term "philosophy of education"

might also refer to a comprehensive

normative theory of education that is

informed both by philosophical

perspectives in ethics, epistemology,

and the human condition as well as by

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psychological perspectives on human

learning and development.

3.1 Educational philosophies

A philosophy of education as a

normative theory "propound[s] views

about what education should be, what

dispositions it should cultivate, why

it ought to cultivate them, how and in

whom it should do so, and what forms

it should take." Major philosophies of

education in the United States are

essentialism, perennialism,

progressivism, social

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reconstructionism, critical theory,

and existentialism. These philosophies

are informed by philosophical

perspectives of idealism, realism,

pragmatism, existentialism, and

postmodernism; political ideologies of

liberalism, conservatism, and Marxism;

as well as by the perspectives of

behaviorism, cognitivism, humanism,

and constructivism from psychology and

education.

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Major Philosophies- Idealism- Realism-

Pragmatism- Existentialism

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IDEALISM: The realities of idealism

are spiritual, moral or mental and

unchanging. Idealism is a

philosophical approach that has as its

central tenet that ideas are the only

true reality. Truth can be found

through reasoning, intuition and

religious revelation. Teacher’s role

is to bring latent knowledge and ideas

to consciousness. Teaching methods

focus on handling ideas through

lecture, discussion, and Socratic

dialogue. Learning is an intellectual

process that involves recalling and

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working with ideas. In idealism, the

aim of education is to discover and

develop each individual’s abilities

and full moral excellence in order to

better serve society. Curriculum is

knowledge based and subject based. The

most important subjects are

philosophy, theology and mathematics

because they cultivate abstract

thinking.

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REALISM: Contends that reality is

based on natural laws, is objective

and composed of matter. People can

come to know the world through their

senses and their reasons. Aristotle

believed that everything had a purpose

and humans’ purpose is to think.

Teacher’s role is to be a moral and

spiritual leader and to be an

authority. Learning is just

exercising the mind, and logical

thinking is highest form of mental

exercise.

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The Realist curriculum emphasizes the

subject matter of the physical world,

particularly science and mathematics.

Teaching methods focus on mastery of

facts and basic skills through

demonstration and recitation.

Curriculum is knowledge based and

subject based. Most important

subjects are humanistic and scientific

subjects.

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PRAGMATISM (EXPERIMENTALISM) Reality

is based on change, process, and

relativity. Learning occurs as the

person engages in problem solving.

Both the learner and their environment

are constantly changing. Teachers’

role is to focus on critical thinking.

Teaching is more exploratory than

explanatory. Curriculum ought to be

based on the learner’s experience and

interests it also emphasizes the

inclusion of problem-solving

activities in a classroom.

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EXISTENTIALISM: The nature of reality

for Existentialists is subjective, and

lies within the individual.

Existentialism is a philosophy

concerned with finding self and the

meaning of life through free will,

choice, and personal responsibility.

Teachers’ role is to cultivate

personal choice and individual self-

definition. Teachers view the

individual as an entity within a

social context in which the learner

must confront others views to clarify

his or her own.

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Existentialists are opposed to

thinking about students as objects to

be measured, tracked, or standardized.

Such educators want the educational

experience to focus on creating

opportunities for self-direction and

self actualization. They start with

the student, rather than on curriculum

content.

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES:

PERENNIALISM, ESSENTIALISM,

PROGRESSIVISM, RECONSTRUCTIONISM

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PERENNIALISM: The oldest and most

conservative educational philosophy.

It is rooted in realism and relies on

the past and stresses traditional

values. The aim of education is to

ensure that students acquire

understandings about the great ideas

of Western civilization. The focus is

to teach ideas that are everlasting,

to seek enduring truths which are

constant, and are not changing.

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The demanding curriculum focuses on

attaining cultural literacy, stressing

students’ growth in enduring

disciplines. The perennialist’s

curriculum is subject centered and

constant. It emphasizes the great

works of literature and art, the laws

or principles of science.

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ESSENTIALISM: Traditional and

conservative philosophy based on

idealism and realism. This approach

was in reaction to progressivist

approaches. Essentialists believe that

there is a common core of knowledge

that needs to be transmitted to

students in a systematic, disciplined

way. The core of the curriculum is

essential knowledge and skills and

academic rigor.

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Essentialists accept the idea that

this core curriculum may change.

Schooling should be practical,

preparing students to become valuable

members of society. Teachers are to

help students keep their non-

productive instincts in check, such as

aggression or mindlessness. Students

should be taught hard work, respect

for authority, and discipline.

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PROGRESSIVISM: It is developed from

pragmatic philosophy. Progressivists

believe that education should focus on

the whole child, rather than on the

content or the teacher. It is active,

not passive. The learner is a problem

solver and thinker who makes meaning

through his or her individual

experience in the physical and

cultural context. Progressivism

emphasized how to think, not what to

think.

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Curriculum content is derived from

student interests and questions. John

Dewey was its foremost proponent. One

of his tenets was that the school

should improve the way of life of our

citizens through experiencing freedom

and democracy in schools. Shared

decision making, planning of teachers

with students, student- selected

topics are all aspects. Books, Laptops

etc are mere tools, they are not the

authority.

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Progressivism is also opposed to: Rote

learning, authoritarian teaching,

overreliance on textbook methods,

intimidation or corporal punishment

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RECONSTRUCTIONISM: This educational

philosophy is based on socialistic

ideas. Reconstructionist educators

focus on a curriculum that highlights

social reform as the aim of education.

According to Brameld, the founder of

social reconstructionism, students and

teachers must improve society.

Learning experiences must be developed

that are in keeping with a new social-

economic-political education. Society

is always changing and the curriculum

has to change.

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For social reconstructionists and

critical theorists, curriculum focuses

on student experience and taking

social action on real problems, such

as violence, hunger, international

terrorism, and inflation.

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Conclusion: Philosophy of Education

as a field of study-with its own

methods, theories, and ways of solving

problems- We believe that no single

philosophy, old or new , should guide

decisions about schools and Learning

experiences to be preffered.

Educationists need to help improve and

design school activities in harmony

with the philosophy of the school and

community or nation.

Movements

Classical education

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The Classical education movement

advocates a form of education based in

the traditions of Western culture,

with a particular focus on education

as understood and taught in the Middle

Ages. The term "classical education"

has been used in English for several

centuries, with each era modifying the

definition and adding its own

selection of topics. By the end of the

18th century, in addition to the

trivium and quadrivium of the Middle

Ages, the definition of a classical

education embraced the study of

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literature, poetry, drama, philosophy,

history, art, and languages. In the

20th and 21st centuries it is used to

refer to a broad-based study of the

liberal arts and sciences, as opposed

to a practical or pre-professional

program.

Contemplative education

Contemplative education focuses on

bringing spiritual awareness into the

pedagogical process. Contemplative

approaches may be used in the

classroom, especially in tertiary or

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(often in modified form) in secondary

education.

Contemplative methods may also be used

by teachers in their preparation. In

this case, inspiration for enriching

the content, format, or teaching

methods may be sought through various

practices, such as consciously

reviewing the previous day's

activities; actively holding the

students in consciousness; and

contemplating inspiring pedagogical

texts. Waldorf education was one of

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the pioneers of this approach. Zigler

suggested that only through focusing

on their own spiritual development

could teachers positively impact the

spiritual development of students.

The Center for Contemplative Mind in

Society's Association for Contemplative Mind in

Higher Education was set up to foster the

use of contemplative methods in

education. Parker Palmer is a recent

pioneer in contemplative methods.

Humanistic education

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Humanistic education emphasizes issues

of moral autonomy, personal freedom,

and tolerance. Its long history can be

traced through several phases:

Classical humanism, with roots going

back to the Paideia of classical

Athens; Romantic humanism, as

presented in the works of Rousseau,

Goethe, and Pestalozzi; Existentialist

humanism, emphasizing issues of

freedom and identity and questioning

modernism's focus on the primacy of

rational thinking; and Radical

humanism, or critical pedagogy,

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emphasizing social and political

engagement, as represented by

educators such as Freire, Giroux, and

Kozol.

Critical pedagogy

Critical pedagogy is an "educational

movement, guided by passion and

principle, to help students develop

consciousness of freedom, recognize

authoritarian tendencies, and connect

knowledge to power and the ability to

take constructive action." Based in

Marxist theory, critical pedagogy

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draws on radical democracy, anarchism,

feminism, and other movements for

social justice.

Democratic education

Democratic education is a theory of

learning and school governance in

which students and staff participate

freely and equally in a school

democracy. In a democratic school,

there is typically shared decision-

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making among students and staff on

matters concerning living, working,

and learning together.

Unschooling

Unschooling is a range of educational

philosophies and practices centered on

allowing children to learn through

their natural life experiences,

including child directed play, game

play, household responsibilities, work

experience, and social interaction,

rather than through a more traditional

school curriculum. Unschooling

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encourages exploration of activities

led by the children themselves,

facilitated by the adults. Unschooling

differs from conventional schooling

principally in the thesis that

standard curricula and conventional

grading methods, as well as other

features of traditional schooling, are

counterproductive to the goal of

maximizing the education of each

child.

Philosophers of education

Socrates (c. 469 BC – 399 BC)

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Socrates' important contribution to

Western thought is his dialectic

method of inquiry, known as the

Socratic method or method of

"elenchus", first described by Plato

in the Socratic Dialogues. To solve a

problem, it would be broken down into

a series of questions, the answers to

which gradually distill the answer a

person would seek. The influence of

this approach is most strongly felt

today in the use of the scientific

method, in which hypothesis is the

first stage. The development and

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practice of this method is one of

Socrates' most enduring contributions.

Plato (424/423 BCE - 348/347 BCE)

Plato's educational philosophy was

grounded in his vision of the ideal

Republic, wherein the individual was

best served by being subordinated to a

just society. He advocated removing

children from their mothers' care and

raising them as wards of the state,

with great care being taken to

differentiate children suitable to the

various castes, the highest receiving

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the most education, so that they could

act as guardians of the city and care

for the less able. Education would be

holistic, including facts, skills,

physical discipline, and music and

art, which he considered the highest

form of endeavor.

Plato believed that talent was

distributed non-genetically and thus

must be found in children born in any

social class. He builds on this by

insisting that those suitably gifted

are to be trained by the state so that

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they may be qualified to assume the

role of a ruling class. What this

establishes is essentially a system of

selective public education premised on

the assumption that an educated

minority of the population are, by

virtue of their education (and inborn

educability), sufficient for healthy

governance.

Plato's writings contain some of the

following ideas: Elementary education

would be confined to the guardian

class till the age of 18, followed by

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two years of compulsory military

training and then by higher education

for those who qualified. While

elementary education made the soul

responsive to the environment, higher

education helped the soul to search

for truth which illuminated it. Both

boys and girls receive the same kind

of education. Elementary education

consisted of music and gymnastics,

designed to train and blend gentle and

fierce qualities in the individual and

create a harmonious person.

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At the age of 20, a selection was

made. The best students would take an

advanced course in mathematics,

geometry, astronomy and harmonics. The

first course in the scheme of higher

education would last for ten years. It

would be for those who had a flair for

science. At the age of 30 there would

be another selection; those who

qualified would study dialectics and

metaphysics, logic and philosophy for

the next five years. After accepting

junior positions in the army for 15

years, a man would have completed his

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theoretical and practical education by

the age of 50.

Aristotle (384 BCE - 322 BCE)

Only fragments of Aristotle's treatise

On Education are still in existence. We

thus know of his philosophy of

education primarily through brief

passages in other works. Aristotle

considered human nature, habit and

reason to be equally important forces

to be cultivated in education. Thus,

for example, he considered repetition

to be a key tool to develop good

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habits. The teacher was to lead the

student systematically; this differs,

for example, from Socrates' emphasis

on questioning his listeners to bring

out their own ideas (though the

comparison is perhaps incongruous

since Socrates was dealing with

adults).

Aristotle placed great emphasis on

balancing the theoretical and

practical aspects of subjects taught.

Subjects he explicitly mentions as

being important included reading,

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writing and mathematics; music;

physical education; literature and

history; and a wide range of sciences.

He also mentioned the importance of

play.

One of education's primary missions

for Aristotle, perhaps its most

important, was to produce good and

virtuous citizens for the polis. All

who have meditated on the art of governing

mankind have been convinced that the fate of

empires depends on the education of youth.

Avicenna (980 - 1037)

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In the medieval Islamic world, an

elementary school was known as a

maktab, which dates back to at least

the 10th century. Like madrasahs

(which referred to higher education),

a maktab was often attached to a

mosque. In the 11th century, Ibn Sina

(known as Avicenna in the West), wrote

a chapter dealing with the maktab

entitled "The Role of the Teacher in

the Training and Upbringing of

Children", as a guide to teachers

working at maktab schools. He wrote

that children can learn better if

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taught in classes instead of

individual tuition from private

tutors, and he gave a number of

reasons for why this is the case,

citing the value of competition and

emulation among pupils as well as the

usefulness of group discussions and

debates. Ibn Sina described the

curriculum of a maktab school in some

detail, describing the curricula for

two stages of education in a maktab

school.

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Ibn Sina wrote that children should be

sent to a maktab school from the age

of 6 and be taught primary education

until they reach the age of 14. During

which time, he wrote that they should

be taught the Qur'an, Islamic

metaphysics, language, literature,

Islamic ethics, and manual skills

(which could refer to a variety of

practical skills).

Ibn Sina refers to the secondary

education stage of maktab schooling as

the period of specialization, when

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pupils should begin to acquire manual

skills, regardless of their social

status. He writes that children after

the age of 14 should be given a choice

to choose and specialize in subjects

they have an interest in, whether it

was reading, manual skills,

literature, preaching, medicine,

geometry, trade and commerce,

craftsmanship, or any other subject or

profession they would be interested in

pursuing for a future career. He wrote

that this was a transitional stage and

that there needs to be flexibility

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regarding the age in which pupils

graduate, as the student's emotional

development and chosen subjects need

to be taken into account.

The empiricist theory of 'tabula rasa'

was also developed by Ibn Sina. He

argued that the "human intellect at

birth is rather like a tabula rasa, a

pure potentiality that is actualized

through education and comes to know"

and that knowledge is attained through

"empirical familiarity with objects in

this world from which one abstracts

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universal concepts" which is developed

through a "syllogistic method of

reasoning; observations lead to

prepositional statements, which when

compounded lead to further abstract

concepts." He further argued that the

intellect itself "possesses levels of

development from the material

intellect (al-‘aql al-hayulani), that

potentiality that can acquire

knowledge to the active intellect

(al-‘aql al-fa‘il), the state of the human

intellect in conjunction with the

perfect source of knowledge."

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Ibn Tufail (c. 1105 - 1185)

In the 12th century, the Andalusian-

Arabian philosopher and novelist Ibn

Tufail (known as "Abubacer" or "Ebn

Tophail" in the West) demonstrated the

empiricist theory of 'tabula rasa' as

a thought experiment through his

Arabic philosophical novel, Hayy ibn

Yaqzan, in which he depicted the

development of the mind of a feral

child "from a tabula rasa to that of

an adult, in complete isolation from

society" on a desert island, through

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experience alone. The Latin

translation of his philosophical

novel, Philosophus Autodidactus, published

by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671,

had an influence on John Locke's

formulation of tabula rasa in "An

Essay Concerning Human Understanding".

John Locke (1632-1704)

Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education

is an outline on how to educate the

mind: he expresses the belief that

education maketh the man, or, more

fundamentally, that the mind is an

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"empty cabinet", with the statement,

"I think I may say that of all the men

we meet with, nine parts of ten are

what they are, good or evil, useful or

not, by their education."

Locke also wrote that "the little and

almost insensible impressions on our

tender infancies have very important

and lasting consequences." He argued

that the "associations of ideas" that

one makes when young are more

important than those made later

because they are the foundation of the

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self: they are, put differently, what

first mark the tabula rasa. In his Essay,

in which is introduced both of these

concepts, Locke cautioned against, for

example, letting "a foolish maid"

convince a child that "evil spirits

and devils" are linked to the night

because "darkness shall ever after

that bring with it those frightful

ideas, and they shall be so connected,

that the child can no more bear the

one than the other."

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"Associationism", as this theory would

come to be called, exerted a powerful

influence over eighteenth-century

thought, particularly educational

theory, as nearly every educational

writer warned parents not to allow

their children to develop negative

associations. It also led to the

development of psychology and other

new disciplines with David Hartley's

attempt to discover a biological

mechanism for associationism in his

Observations on Man (1749).

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Rousseau, though he paid his respects

to Plato's philosophy, rejected it as

impractical due to the decayed state

of society. Rousseau also had a

different theory of human development;

where Plato held that people are born

with skills appropriate to different

castes (though he did not regard these

skills as being inherited), Rousseau

held that there was one developmental

process common to all humans. This was

an intrinsic, natural process, of

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which the primary behavioral

manifestation was curiosity. This

differed from Locke's 'tabula rasa' in

that it was an active process deriving

from the child's nature, which drove

the child to learn and adapt to its

surroundings.

Rousseau wrote in his book Emile that

all children are perfectly designed

organisms, ready to learn from their

surroundings so as to grow into

virtuous adults, but due to the malign

influence of corrupt society, they

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often fail to do so. Rousseau

advocated an educational method which

consisted of removing the child from

society—for example, to a country home

—and alternately conditioning him

through changes to his environment and

setting traps and puzzles for him to

solve or overcome.

Rousseau was unusual in that he

recognized and addressed the potential

of a problem of legitimation for

teaching. He advocated that adults

always be truthful with children, and

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in particular that they never hide the

fact that the basis for their

authority in teaching was purely one

of physical coercion: "I'm bigger than

you." Once children reached the age of

reason, at about 12, they would be

engaged as free individuals in the

ongoing process of their own.

He once said that a child should grow

up without adult interference and that

the child must be guided to suffer

from the experience of the natural

consequences of his own acts or

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behaviour. When he experiences the

consequences of his own acts, he

advises himself.

"Rousseau divides development into

five stages (a book is devoted to

each). Education in the first two

stages seeks to the senses: only when

Émile is about 12 does the tutor begin

to work to develop his mind. Later, in

Book 5, Rousseau examines the

education of Sophie (whom Émile is to

marry). Here he sets out what he sees

as the essential differences that flow

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from sex. 'The man should be strong

and active; the woman should be weak

and passive' (Everyman edn: 322). From

this difference comes a contrasting

education. They are not to be brought

up in ignorance and kept to housework:

Nature means them to think, to will,

to love to cultivate their minds as

well as their persons; she puts these

weapons in their hands to make up for

their lack of strength and to enable

them to direct the strength of men.

They should learn many things, but

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only such things as suitable'

(Everyman edn.: 327)." Émile

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1715 –

1780)

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac was a

French philosopher and epistemologist

who studied in such areas as

psychology and the philosophy of the

mind. Condillac's collected works were

published in 1798 (23 vols.) and two

or three times subsequently; the last

edition (1822) has an introductory

dissertation by A. F. Théry. The

131


Encyclopédie méthodique has a very long

article on Condillac by Naigeon.

Biographical details and criticism of

the Traité des systèmes in J. P. Damiron's

Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire de to philosophie

au dixhuitieme siècle, tome iii.; a full

criticism in V Cousin's Cours de l'histoire

de la philosophie moderne, ser. i. tome

iii. Consult also F Rethoré, Condillac ou

l'empirisme et le rationalisme (1864); L

Dewaule, Condillac et la psychologie anglaise

contemporaine (1891); histories of

philosophy.

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Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776 – 1841)

Considered the founder of pedagogy as

an academic discipline, Herbart

established a system of pedagogy built

on the preparation and then

presentation of engaging material (for

example, using genuine works of

literature rather than school

readers), analysis with the class,

review of the material, and drawing

conclusions relevant to larger

contexts. He strongly influenced the

development of pedagogy throughout

133


Europe and beyond, an influence which

is still felt to this day.

Charlotte Mason (1842-1923)

Mason was a British educator who

invested her life in improving the

quality of children's education. Her

ideas led to a method used by some

homeschoolers. Mason's philosophy of

education is probably best summarized

by the principles given at the

beginning of each of her books. Two

key mottos taken from those principles

are "Education is an atmosphere, a

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discipline, a life" and "Education is

the science of relations." She

believed that children were born

persons and should be respected as

such; they should also be taught the

Way of the Will and the Way of Reason.

Her motto for students was "I am, I

can, I ought, I will." Charlotte Mason

believed that children should be

introduced to subjects through living

books, not through the use of

"compendiums, abstracts, or

selections." She used abridged books

only when the content was deemed

135


inappropriate for children. She

preferred that parents or teachers

read aloud those texts (such as

Plutarch and the Old Testament),

making omissions only where necessary.

John Dewey (1859-1952)

In Democracy and Education: An Introduction to

the Philosophy of Education, Dewey stated

that education, in its broadest sense,

is the means of the "social continuity

of life" given the "primary

ineluctable facts of the birth and

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death of each one of the constituent

members in a social group". Education

is therefore a necessity, for "the

life of the group goes on." Dewey was

a proponent of Educational

Progressivism and was a relentless

campaigner for reform of education,

pointing out that the authoritarian,

strict, pre-ordained knowledge

approach of modern traditional

education was too concerned with

delivering knowledge, and not enough

with understanding students' actual

experiences.

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Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)

Steiner founded a holistic educational

impulse on the basis of his spiritual

philosophy (anthroposophy). Now known

as Steiner or Waldorf education, his

pedagogy emphasizes a balanced

development of cognitive,

affective/artistic, and practical

skills (head, heart, and hands).

Steiner's theory of child development

divides education into three discrete

developmental stages predating but

with close similarities to the stages

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of development described by Piaget.

Early childhood education occurs

through imitation; teachers provide

practical activities and a healthy

environment. Steiner believed that

young children should meet only

goodness. Elementary education is

strongly arts-based, centered on the

teacher's creative authority; the

elementary school-age child should

meet beauty. Secondary education seeks

to develop the judgment, intellect,

and practical idealism; the adolescent

should meet truth. In all stages of

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schooling, learning is

interdisciplinary, integrating

practical, artistic, and cognitive

elements and emphasizing the role of

the imagination in learning. Schools

and teachers are given considerable

freedom to define curricula and

instructional methods within collegial

structures.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

The Montessori method arose from Dr.

Maria Montessori's discovery of what

she referred to as "the child's true

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normal nature" in 1907, which happened

in the process of her experimental

observation of young children given

freedom in an environment prepared

with materials designed for their

self-directed learning activity. The

method itself aims to duplicate this

experimental observation of children

to bring about, sustain and support

their true natural way of being.

William Heard Kilpatrick (1871-1965)

William Heard Kilpatrick was a US

American philosopher of education and

141


a colleague and a successor of John

Dewey. He was a major figure in the

progressive education movement of the

early 20th century. Kilpatrick

developed the Project Method for early

childhood education, which was a form

of Progressive Education organized

curriculum and classroom activities

around a subject's central theme. He

believed that the role of a teacher

should be that of a "guide" as opposed

to an authoritarian figure. Kilpatrick

believed that children should direct

their own learning according to their

142


interests and should be allowed to

explore their environment,

experiencing their learning through

the natural senses.[28] Proponents of

Progressive Education and the Project

Method reject traditional schooling

that focuses on memorization, rote

learning, strictly organized

classrooms (desks in rows; students

always seated), and typical forms of

assessment.

A. S. Neill (1883-1973)

143


Neill founded the Summerhill School,

the oldest existing democratic school

in Suffolk, England in 1921. He wrote

a number of books that now define much

of contemporary democratic education

philosophy. Neill believed that the

happiness of the child should be the

paramount consideration in decisions

about the child's upbringing, and that

this happiness grew from a sense of

personal freedom. He felt that

deprivation of this sense of freedom

during childhood, and the consequent

unhappiness experienced by the

144


repressed child, was responsible for

many of the psychological disorders of

adulthood.

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)

Heidegger's philosophizing about

education was primarily related to

higher education. He believed that

teaching and research in the

university should be unified and aim

towards testing and interrogating the

"ontological assumptions and

presuppositions which implicitly guide

research in each domain of knowledge."

145


Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental

psychologist known for his studies of

how children progressively develop

knowledge of the world, studies that

eventually described the genesis of an

exceptionally wide spectrum of human

understanding. His theory of cognitive

development, called genetic

epistemology, productively linked the

philosophical study of knowledge

formation and the psychological study

of child development. He described

146


himself as an epistemologist

interested in the qualitative

development of knowledge.

Piaget placed great importance on the

education of children. As Director of

the International Bureau of Education,

he declared in 1934 that "only

education is capable of saving our

societies from possible collapse,

whether violent, or gradual." Piaget

created the International Centre for

Genetic Epistemology in Geneva in 1955

and directed it until 1980. According

147


to Ernst von Glasersfeld, Jean Piaget

is "the great pioneer of the

constructivist theory of knowing."

Jerome Bruner (1915- )

Bruner's The Process of Education and Toward

a Theory of Instruction are landmarks in

conceptualizing learning and

curriculum development. A major

contributor to the inquiry method in

education, Bruner argued that any

subject can be taught in some

intellectually honest form to any

child at any stage of development.

148


This notion underpinned his concept of

the spiral curriculum, positing that a

curriculum should revisit basic ideas,

building on them until the student had

grasped the full formal concept. He

emphasized intuition as a neglected

but essential feature of productive

thinking. He felt that interest in the

material being learned was the best

stimulus for learning, rather than

external motivations such as grades.

Bruner developed the concept of

discovery learning which promoted

learning as a process of constructing

149


new ideas based on current or past

knowledge; students are encouraged to

discover facts and relationships and

continually build on what they already

know.

Paulo Freire (1921-1997)

A Brazilian committed to the cause of

educating the impoverished peasants of

his nation and collaborating with them

in the pursuit of their liberation

from what he regarded as "oppression,"

Freire is best known for his attack on

what he called the "banking concept of

150


education," in which the student was

viewed as an empty account to be

filled by the teacher. Freire also

suggests that a deep reciprocity be

inserted into our notions of teacher

and student; he comes close to

suggesting that the teacher-student

dichotomy be completely abolished,

instead promoting the roles of the

participants in the classroom as the

teacher-student (a teacher who learns)

and the student-teacher (a learner who

teaches). In its early, strong form

this kind of classroom has sometimes

151


been criticized on the grounds that it

can mask rather than overcome the

teacher's authority.

Aspects of the Freirian philosophy

have been highly influential in

academic debates over "participatory

development" and development more

generally. Freire's emphasis on what

he describes as "emancipation" through

interactive participation has been

used as a rationale for the

participatory focus of development, as

it is held that 'participation' in any

152


form can lead to empowerment of poor

or marginalised groups. Freire was a

proponent of critical pedagogy. "He

participated in the import of European

doctrines and ideas into Brazil,

assimilated them to the needs of a

specific socio-economic situation, and

thus expanded and refocused them in a

thought-provoking way"

Nel Noddings (1929– )

Noddings' first sole-authored book

Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral

Education (1984) followed close on the

153


1982 publication of Carol Gilligan’s

ground-breaking work in the ethics of

care In a Different Voice. While her work on

ethics continued, with the publication

of Women and Evil (1989) and later works

on moral education, most of her later

publications have been on the

philosophy of education and

educational theory. Her most

significant works in these areas have

been Educating for Intelligent Belief or Unbelief

(1993) and Philosophy of Education (1995).

John Holt (1923-1985)

154


In 1964 Holt published his first book,

How Children Fail, contending that the

academic failure of learners was not

notwithstanding the endeavors of the

academic institutions, but essentially

because of the schools. Not

surprisingly, How Children Fail kindled a

blaze of controversy. Holt was

catapulted into the American national

consciousness to the extent that he

made appearances on major TV talk

shows, wrote book reviews for Life

magazine, and was a guest on the To Tell

The Truth TV game show. In his follow-up

155


work, How Children Learn, published in

1967, Holt tried to elucidate the

learning process of children and why

he believed school short circuits that

process.

AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Philosophy of Education in Africa

Introduction

Till recently books on the Philosophy

of Education hardly ever referred to

philosophical thinking about education

in the Third World, the implication

156


being that it did not exist. In the

case of the African Philosophy of

Education, there is no such thing as

the African Philosophy of Education.

Faced with this peculiar situation one

can either leave things as they are

and remain silent or try to argue the

case for the Philosophy of Education

in Africa. We have no choice; we have

no alternative but to argue the case

as well as possible. There is ample

evidence to show that the philosophy

of education has been an on-going

157


concern in Africa from time

immemorial.

This unit deals with Philosophy of

Education in Africa. We shall discuss

the principles and content of

Indigenous Education. We shall point

out the weaknesses and strengths of

Indigenous Education. We will tackle

the philosophical analysis of African

Education. We will examine the African

philosophy too. Finally, in summary

and conclusion we will deal with

158


technical philosophy of Education in

Africa.

The Principles And Content Of African

Indigenous Education

The type of education prevalent in

Africa before the coming of Western

civilizations was generally known as

African traditional education or

indigenous education of the various

communities. With the penetration of

the Christian missions from the

fifteenth century, culture – notably

British and French – had begun to

159


penetrate into various parts of the

continent.

The utilitarian nature of African

traditional education has been

realized to the extent that today, the

call in most African societies is for

a return to the indigenous education

system, albeit in a modified form.

The argument is that an education that

has the input of all members of the

community, and which prepares each

individual for a particular profession

or occupational activity, should be

160


the norm in many African societies

today.

The society determined the content of

education in the indigenous society.

The traditional African society

expected the child to grow up and

behave according to some accepted

norms. The content or subject matter

of traditional educational systems

emanated from the physical, social and

spiritual situations of pre-colonial

African societies. The physical

environment influenced the content of

161


the curriculum in that what was taught

was meant to assist the child to

adjust and adapt to the environment in

order to exploit and derive benefit

from it. Whether the child’s habitat

was dominated by mountain, plain,

river or tropical forest, he had to

learn to combat its dangers and to use

its fertility.

To come to terms with the physical

environment, the growing child learned

about landscape, the weather, and also

about both plant and animal life. As

162


the child grew, he/she learned to

understand the uses of both plants and

animals in his locality, in addition

to the taboos associated with them.

Boys and girls who lived in fishing

areas, for example, learned such

skills as were required to catch,

preserve and market fish and

manufacture and mend fish-traps, nets

and canoes.

In wooded areas where the ‘cut and

burn’ system of agriculture was the

mainstay of the economy, children from

163


the age of 6 acquired much knowledge

of trees and their household uses

(Rodney, 1972).The educational

practices of each society were

influenced by the physical environment

and were meant to prepare the learner

to live and work in and profit from

the given environment.

The content was patterned to achieve

the aforementioned aims. The society

determined the content of education in

the indigenous society. The

traditional African society expected

164


the child to grow up and behave

according to some accepted norms.

According to Nsubuga (2000), the

content grew out on the physical and

social situation of the society.

Since in Kenya the African societies

were dominated by mountains, valleys,

plains, rivers, lakes, grasslands and

forests, the child had to learn how to

use the fruitfully as well as to avert

dangers.

The child had to learn weather and

climate of his habitat since it

165


governed his economic understandings

for example agriculture, hunting,

gathering, pastoralism and fishing.

Names of trees, plants and insects and

grasses, animals, snakes and insects

as well as uses and dangers were also

learned. Boys herded livestock and

girls helped their mothers.

Boys learned how to acquire implements

and tools for example axes, spears,

pots and basketry to exploit the

environment fully. Apprenticeship was

used to select the best ore and twigs,

166


to smelt and pattern whatever shapes

and sizes were appropriate. Some

specialty was needed in making

instruments for example drums, flutes,

horns and trumpets. These were made

from animal remains, trees, reds and

other grasses. Formal instruction and

training was undertaken here.

According to Nsubuga (2000), the

learner was initiated to conform to

the manners and laws of the group and

by why his services were necessary to

its defense, propagation and

167


perpetuation. The philosophy

underlying this was that the child had

to be molded as a corporate member of

the society. He was taught decency of

speech and behavior to his seniors and

family gods and the sharing of common

tasks of the family, clan or ethnic

group. Parents and other adults in

the community ceaselessly gave their

children instruction in social

etiquette which upheld reciprocal

ties.

168


Morally, the child was taught and

governed by clearly spelt out groups

of avoidance, prohibitions and

permission or a strict code of

morality in which individuals and

ethnic groups welfare depended. These

rules and actions were aimed at

determining conduct and carried with a

spirit of discipline. Elements of

morality were taught to bring home to

the children the nature of the family

and the social contexts which they

would be operating in. Laws governing

the ethnic group became written in the

169


mid and heart of the African child and

became part of all his thinking and

feeling. This formed the discipline of

the society.

Imitative play was important in the

indigenous education. Boys made huts

and cattle pens and staged mock

battles. Girls made dolls and cooked

imaginary meals. Their roles at

family economic and defence levels

began taking shape when children

barely reached age three. Boys

internalized the facts that looking

170


after livestock, defence of their

nation and clearing forests in

preparation for cultivation were their

responsibility. Girls realize that

collecting firewood, fetching water

and cooking were their main areas of

economic operations.

There was intellectual education

according to Sorobea (1992). Clan and

ethnic group, his philosophy of life,

laws and customs and development of

reasoning were taught songs and

stories were used to recall the feasts

171


of the clan heroes who made the

physical survival of the group

possible.

The social environment

The survival of most traditional

communities was to a large measure

dependent upon a network of reciprocal

relationships which knit the family,

clan and tribe together. Traditional

educational systems were meant to

reinforce such relationships. It is

therefore not surprising that parents

172


and other adults in the community

ceaselessly gave their children

instruction in social etiquette which

upheld reciprocal ties.

Children were taught to respect

elders, to appreciate their social

obligations and responsibilities and

above all, to subordinate their

individual interests to those of the

wider community (Ocitti, 1971,

Snelson, 1974).

It may indeed be argued that a greater

portion of indigenous education in

173


Africa centered on religious training.

Religion played a key role in the life

of children and adults alike; it

provided a rallying point for the

community and backed up socially

accepted values and norms such as

honesty, generosity, diligence and

hospitality (Castle, 1966; Ocitti,

1971).

The spiritual environment; in pre-

colonial Africa, where every event

(like the birth of a child, death,

sickness, flood or drought) was

174


accorded spiritual significance,

education tended to focus on religious

teaching of instruction. Yung children

received instruction on the influence

does both malevolent and benevolent

spirits, and purification practices;

they were also taught the value of

propitiating the spirits to avert such

disasters as sickness, death and

pestilence.

Question: what was the secret of Indigenous

Education despite many obstacles that survived to

this date?

175


Mode of transmission

In pre-colonial Africa, initiation

ceremonies were common for education

purposes. The initiation activity

enjoyed a high degree of formalism; it

was characterized by teaching and

learning of predetermined material in

a specific physical setting where

there was a clear-cut distinction

between pupils and teachers

(Tiberondwa, 1978; Datta, 1984).

As in the training of young people for

specialized occupations, initiation

176


ceremonies lasted for varying periods.

They were meant to offer specific

instruction in a wide range of areas,

including farming, weaving, fishing,

diplomacy, and history and mother

craft.

Female initiates underwent

physiological, social and moral

education to become capable mothers

and wives. Male children who were

initiated were trained to become

defenders of their villages and good

177


providers for their families (Kalusa,

1998).

In most societies which practiced

initiation ceremonies, the end of the

initiation itself was marked by

circumcision for boys and

clitoridectomy for girls which in turn

symbolized the transition of the

initiated from childhood to adulthood

(Kenyatta, 1961, Datta, 1984, Rodney,

1972)

In the majority of non-literate

African societies, however, the

178


greater portion of education was

informal. This kind of education was

acquired by children from the example

and behaviour of elders in the

society. Under this system of

education, methods of teaching were

less formal and the line between the

teacher and the pupil was thin.

Learning was by initiation,

observation and repetition of what

parents and other adults did and

encouraging the young to do it. It

was also done through oral literature

and play through which boys and girls

179


learned about the history of their

tribe and enhanced their mental

development. They also acquired such

qualities as perseverance, self-

control, courage and endurance. In

this informal way, children developed

an aptitude to perform their masculine

and feminine roles.

In societies where education was

largely informal, parents were

predominantly responsible for teaching

their children. They inculcated good

manners, norms and values into their

180


offspring, using their household as

the school. This household education

covered practical skills and continued

as long as the child lived with

his/her parents. The educational

efforts of parents were supplemented

by those of the other adults in the

community.

All elders in the society were

expected to play mother and father

roles in teaching, scolding, advising,

rewarding and punishing children in

the village or community.

181


Indigenous education took place almost

everywhere; for example at home, in

the fields, law courts and grazing

ground. The home was the first

avenue. According to Shiundu (1992),

the parents acted as the first

teachers, but gradually these

responsibilities went to other family

members and eventually to the entire

community. For instance, if an adult

member of the community came across a

child who he believed was irreverent

or disrespectful to the elder, the

adult was allowed to punish the child

182


in the same way the child’s parents

would have done.

Initiation ceremonies were common for

education purposes. Each community

had its own initiation ceremonies.

The solemnity with which rituals were

conducted and accomplished varied from

community to community. In most Bantu

communities, major initiation ceremony

was circumcision. Some Bantus like

the Kikuyus and the Kisii, Shiundu

(1992), says that they carried out

clitoridectormy of their female

183


initiates. The Luos removed a number

of the lower front incisors to mark

this transition. Some Kalenjins also

removed lower front incisors in

addition to circumcision and

clitoridecotmy of the boys and girls

respectively. Some communities

carried out a decorative incision of

the face or did some tattooing of the

face and hands to mark this

transition. Initiation ceremonies and

rituals marked a stage of transition

from a child’s life to a dependency,

and were organized in such a way as to

184


have an in-built method of testing

endurance and resistance to suffering.

Final training for adult life was

given to the initiates. Boys were

given specialized duties of a man

especially in matters of his role and

responsibilities to the family and in

defence of the clan or tribe. They

were let into certain cherished

secrets of the clan, which they were

expected and exhorted to guard

jealously as part of the store of

knowledge of their society. The girls

were tutored in the decorum befitting

185


women in society as well as their

responsibilities in marriage to their

spouses and in the rearing of their

children. From the initiation camp,

the young initiates were absorbed into

their respective communities as fully

fledged adults and were admitted to

the various social institutions in

which their services would be

required. They joined the other

adults in the clan or tribe in the

education and apprenticing of the

youth. And so, education continued as

process of systematic enculturation

186


much along the same lines as took

place pre-literate western societies.

Evening fireside, grindstone and beer

parties also did initiation.

A further approach to pedagogy in

African traditional education involved

the imitation of adult activities in

the first stages childhood. This was

followed by emulation of adult

activities as the youth gained

confidence and increased skills. The

boys imitated the moral skills and

killing wild animals for their meat

187


and skins for shelter. They had

learned through both observation and

practical environment, the intricacies

of providing housing for themselves

and their families in adult life. It

was also done through oral literature

and play through which boys and girls

learned about the history of their

tribe and enhanced their mental

development. They also acquired such

qualities as perseverance, self-

control, courage and endurance. In

this informal way, children developed

188


an attitude to perform their masculine

and feminine roles.

The methodology of indigenous African

education comprised the provision of

opportunities for the youth to listen

to and observe the elders at community

discussions or debates. Children also

learned knowledge and skills by taking

part in different aspects of social

life to which they were admitted.

Most of the training was accomplished

through peer alliances as well as

through interaction with older people

189


who would have had orientation in

various aspects of community laws,

values and morality.

The sages were also used to impart

knowledge. These sages would have

achieved prominence and a high degree

of respect within the community by

virtue of their proven practical

wisdom in dealing with the problems of

the society. They provided

intellectual training for the youth

through a variety of approaches.

Devices used in intellectual training

190


included general knowledge quizzes in

a number of areas related to the

experience of the community and its

life styles. For instance, the youth

were expected to be able to show

knowledge of clan history, the

geography of their clan in relation to

others, the properties of certain

plants including their economic and

medicinal worth. The quizzes helped

the youth to develop a good sense of

reasoning and judgment as well as

gaining ability in philosophical

thinking.

191


Boys staged miniature fights and

learned how to wrestle. Boys

activated such qualities as courage,

determination, bravery and endurance.

Boys learned to make miniature shields

and spears. Grazing grounds were

important for play. Boys learned

practical skills for example hitting

targets. Aspects of ethnic group were

taught through common discussions,

legends, poems, songs, lullabies and

stories. Abstract thought was evoked

through riddles, sayings, folktales

ranging from the astronomical world.

192


Various games also involved arithmetic

combination, geometry, property of

numerical and the ability of the eye

and hence developed the intellect of

the children.

Organization Of Indigenous Education

Indigenous education has no schools or

any of the formal organizational

systems. Teachers are for the most

part unpaid yet they prepare young

people for such essential skills as

the provision of food, shelter,

clothing and general mastery of

193


environment, they introduce nature,

the seasons and their effects; they

also instil those values that provide

each society with its own unique

character.

Discipline is instilled by the use of

rewards and punishments with the

objectives of making each individual

self-controlled yet conforming to the

accepted standards of the community.

Nsubuga (2000) sees it as having clear

goals whereby education is for every

child and exists for the purpose of

194


strengthening the community. There

are no dropouts because steps are

taken to ensure that promotion from

one stage to the next in the child’s

education is not based on selection

but is automatic. Technical skills are

learned on the apprenticeship

principle and the teacher – pupil

rations are very good.

Aims of Indigenous Education

It aimed at transmitting and

conserving from one generation to the

next the accumulated wisdom and

195


knowledge of the clan and ethnic

group. The youth were expected to be

able to show knowledge of clan

history, the geography of their clan

in relation to others, the properties

of certain plants and their economic

and medicinal worth the quizzes

helping the youth to develop a good

sense of reasoning and judgment as

well as gaining ability in

philosophical thinking.

Indigenous education aimed at adapting

children to their relevant environment

196


which was so crucial to their

survival. It acclimatized children to

their relevant areas since environment

in Africa was not similar everywhere

and since most of livelihood differed

from one region to the next. For

instance, the Maasai, Rendille and

related pastoralists adopted to the

ecology of steeps or grasslands and to

the economy related to the livestock

rising. The Abaluhya, Abagusii and

Akamba were mixed farmers who needed

to be knowledgeable about physical

197


elements pertinent to their

livelihood.

The education was shaped to help

people know that the future of their

community depended on the

understanding and perpetuation of

ethnic institutions, laws, language

and values handed down to them from

their ancestors. Children were to

gain knowledge and take part in

different aspects of social life to

which they were admitted. Character

was to be shaped in the right

198


direction as well as the provision of

acceptable moral qualities. The

traditional African society expected

the child to grow up and behave

according to some accepted norms.

It inspired to inculcate in children a

diligent sharing of common tasks of

their groups. This was for the

physical survival of the society,

family and ethnic group. Collective

responsibility was the philosophy

underlying Indigenous African

Education.

199


Weaknesses and Strengths of African

Traditional Education

African traditional education focused

almost exclusively on the clan or

tribe and hardly prepared its

recipients for outside contact.

Practically, this meant that the

skills and knowledge possessed by a

given ethnic group could not be easily

transmitted to another tribe.

The absence of literacy implied that

the accumulated knowledge and skills

could not be preserved in a written

200


form. This prevented the transfer of

the same from one locality to another

and from one generation to the next.

Many wise Africans have died with

their own wisdom!

Among some tribes in pre-colonial

Uganda, for example, there was too

much reliance on inculcation of fear

and punishment as a means of teaching.

Among the Ankole, ‘slow learners and

offenders were killed to discourage

slow learning and scare young people

from committing similar offences.

201


This means of teaching could only

produce learners who, out of fear,

were obedient and submissive. They

committed to memory ideas that they

did not understand and the values they

had no right to question. Indigenous

education thus tended to kill the

spirit of initiative, innovation and

enterprise, all of which are (or

should be) promoted by modern

education in Africa.

In spite of its shortcomings,

traditional education was an effective

202


way of preparing young people for

their future. It was a successful

means of maintaining the economic,

social and cultural structures and

stability of the societies in which it

was practiced. Without doubt,

indigenous education prepared both

boys and girls to come to terms with

the physical, social and spiritual

world of their time; it also prepared

them for the world of work.

Pre-colonial education was effective

because no able-bodied person in

203


traditional African society was

unemployed. Children were trained in

skills which made them become

productive and useful to themselves

and to the society. Similarly, the

absence of social tension (which today

manifests itself in various crimes and

divorce rates) points to how

successful indigenous education was in

promoting and enhancing sound human

relations with pre-colonial African

societies.

204


Through traditional education, young

people acquired a communal rather than

an individualistic outlook. Education

was instrumental in helping people to

subordinate their personal interests

to those of the wider community and to

appreciate the values, norms and

beliefs of heir society. Thus,

indigenous education prepared children

t play their roles in the family, clan

and the tribe as whole.

Pre-colonial Africa, educations served

as an important tool for preserving

205


and passing on time-tested skills,

customs and knowledge from generation

to generation. It was indeed through

their education that young people

learned to appreciate and value the

heritage of their forebears; their

language, norms and such attributes as

chastity, honesty, diligence, velour,

hard-work, generosity and hospitality.

Once children understood and

appreciated their cultural heritage,

they too passed it on to their

offspring who in turn did the same to

their own children. In this way, the

206


continuity of the tribe’s pattern of

life was assured.

African Innovations

Most eloquent of African’s leaders who

suggested an alternative way of

education is Julius Nyerere of

Tanzania; he advocated for self-

reliance, Ujamaa, which means

brotherhood and family hood. He saw

education not only as a means of

teaching the principles but of doing

so through real experience. Ujamaa

schools are an expression of the

207


Tanzanian Philosophy of self-reliance.

Through these schools, education is

taken into the community in fulfilment

of the policy of education for service

to the community. The community

contributes to education much in the

same way as craftsmen share their

skills with children. Behind the

philosophy lies the goal of equality

achieved through self help and

cooperation within the community.

The spirit of self-help is evident

Kenya’s, “Harambee Schools”. These

208


schools have managed to draw upon

common aspirations; skills and

determination to fulfil their

objective. National Youth Schemes

enhance the energy and enthusiasm of

young people in national

reconstruction, hence fostering

national unity and purpose.

Development of education outside

school system for example village

polytechnics which help young people

with providing education who lack the

training and resources for setting up

209


business is important. The government

is trying to enhance by building youth

polytechnics at least one in every

constituency through the ministry of

the youth. All kind of vocational

skills are to be offered, the range

reflecting directly the market

opportunities that exist in each

particular area.

Essentials for Successful Innovations

For there to be success in innovating

our African indigenous education,

there needs to be adequate

210


participation in planning by all those

who will be involved at various levels

and stages in implementing a project.

All concerned in the innovations must

be brought into planning how are you

doing; otherwise it will be received

with suspicion.

There should be support in principles

from those in authorities where

responsibility for education in the

area in which an innovation will

operate. When contemplating

innovation, it is necessary to get

211


more than general permission from the

authorities to proceed. A clear

statement as to how far they are

prepared to support it in terms of

cash and material assistance is

needed.

Sufficient preparation to ensure that

the teachers who will be involved and

facilities at there disposal will be

capable of meeting the demands placed

upon them. One collapse of otherwise

promising strategies for change is

failure to provide either adequate

212


training for teachers and

administration or sufficient equipment

and facilities for the programme.

Lastly there should be clear

identification of the limits within

which an innovation may operate and

the extent supporting services that

can be provided. The problem with

developing countries is that many

innovations are not home grown but

important because of lack of books,

equipment or trained teachers. This

posses the danger of adopting

213


innovations that will prove irrelevant

to their needs.

Note: Education is a tool to fight ignorance,

disease, and poverty. That means our innovations

should be home grown not imported otherwise it

will be irrelevant to the society.

Examples of Innovations

These are schools that break with

connections in their arm, organization

or methods instruction. Some

emphasize their independence to choose

what is taught and the way the school

is run.

214


Competency based education

It identifies competencies or skills

that have to be mastered by pupils.

It measures pupils’ progress and

achievement against set standards so

as to assess the effectiveness of

teaching.

Continuous Assessment

It is identifies of recording a

pupil’s record without using exams.

215


It depends on carefully kept

assessments as the child’s work

throughout his course, building up

gradually into a profile of

performance.

Question: What do you say about continuous

assessment verse the final exam?

Credit system

Farrant (1980) explained credit system

as accumulation of a specified number

of credits which allows a pupil to

obtain whatever learning certificate

the school grants. The system can

216


allow bright pupils to collect the

necessary number of credits in a

shorter time than others and therefore

leave school sooner.

Individualized learning

It allows pupil to pursue his own

learning in his own way and at his own

pace. In certain case especially at

higher levels of learning, the child

can choose what he wants to specialize

in hence each child can progress at

the pace suited to him and get

individual help from the teacher when

217


he needs it. It helps bright children

to accelerate ahead and prevent slow

children fro being pushed too far.

The teacher must ensure that there are

sufficient learning materials for all

the children to work with and

carefully prepared assignment cards to

guide each child’s studies.

Modules

They are self-centered units of study

materials. Each modular course makes

218


its own contribution, gradually

building up an accumulation of related

knowledge. They are reasonably cheap

to produce a flexible use since they

allow the pupils to choose what they

want to study.

Open plan teaching

It attempts to obtain the most

flexible allocation of teaching space.

Walls that divide classes can be

removed; teaching groups can be varied

in size; merging when desired. It is

a way of manipulating the knowledge

219


and skill of the teacher and

encouraging bright pupils to exercise

their gifts. It should be restricted

to informal lessons only, but can

include practical skills, such as

tying shoelaces and social behaviour

such as relating events accurately and

road safety.

Multi-grade teaching

Multi-grade teaching refers to the

teaching of different grades in the

same classroom setting. Other

terminologies used to describe multi-

220


grade teaching are: Combination

classes, Split class teaching, Multi-

level teaching and Multiple class

teaching.

In multi-grade class, teachers teach

more than one and sometimes as many as

four or five grade levels in the same

room. A successful multi-grade class

should not have more than twenty-five

pupils.

Mobile schools

This is a situation where teachers

follow the pupils where they are

221


located. The nomadic communities move

looking for pasture carrying their

family members along. The concept of

mobile schools is therefore to follow

the children where the parents camp.

These kinds of schools are found in

ASAL Districts for example in Wajir

District in Kenya. The mobile school

project has inhabited and has proved

to be workable.

Double shift teaching

This is teaching approach where pupils

of the same level attend lessons in

222


two sessions. That is morning and

afternoon.

Distance learning

It refers to learning taking place

outside a classroom situation and

without necessarily coming face to

face with the teacher or instructor.

All cadres/groups of learners can

benefit. Teaching can be carried out

from near or far through various ways

such as: Correspondence, Radio

broadcasting, E-learning,

223


Teleconferencing, Tape recording and

Mass media etc…

Accelerated learning

This refers to learning where a child

moves to one or two grades in the same

year. Accelerated learning is applied

in cases where: A child is very bright

and goes beyond that level. An older

child is in the same level then the

learner moves and joins the next

level.

The Implications Approach

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The view that these are several

philosophies of education and each

gets inspiration and is derived from a

specific philosophical system of

thought. The starting point of a

philosophy of education is a

particular coherent world view from

which is derived implications for the

theory and practice of education.

Implications approach proposes that

valid principles for determining

educational theory and practice can be

reality inferred straight from pure

225


philosophical thoughts. If

philosophers differ on the man,

reality, knowledge and so on, then

they must necessarily offer on the

kind of education ideal for men. A

particular philosophical system of

thought defines aims of education and

evaluates education against their

established theoretical frame of

reference which defines its world

view. Each system of though proposed

how education should be organized and

structured not only to resolved issues

226


in education but also to maximize the

quality of an educated person.

Implication approach in emphasizing

the content of philosophy regards

philosophy itself as a primary

activity and education as a by product

and forum that implements the

theoretical principles of a

philosophy. Implication approach

removes the apparent dichotomy between

philosophy and education. Implication

approach has a number of assumptions.

A system of assumption produces and

227


influences a philosophy of education.

Principles of a philosophical system

of thought can be incorporated in

curricular and are implement able

through education. Each system of

thought is capable of interpreting

education in its own special way. A

system of education propagates belief

of a certain philosophical stand

point.

Question: Where is the starting point of Philosophy

of Education?

228


Implications approach was started by

John Dewey believed to be the founder

of philosophy of education under the

influence of a philosophical system of

thought called pragmatism.

Customary education in Africa was

based on sound philosophical

foundations. These foundations of

principles have been rightly

identified by Ocitti (1971) as

preparationism, functionalism,

communalism, perennialsim and

wholisticism.

229


Note: The content of Indigenous education in Africa

is full of philosophy and critical thinking.

The principle of preparationism, which

underlined both formal and informal

educational practices, implied that

the role of learning and teaching was

to equip boys and girls with the

skills appropriate to their gender in

preparation for their distinctive

roles in the society.

Pre-colonial education, even in the

most centralized and stratified

230


societies, was gender-based, with boys

and girls receiving the kind of

education that enabled them to fulfil

masculine and feminine

responsibilities respectively.

Male education thus produced farmers,

warriors, blacksmiths, rulers and

other male-dominated occupations from

which women were excluded

Female education was predominantly

designed to produce future wives and

mothers. The principle of

preparationism further meant that male

231


and female education prepared its

recipients to adjust to the community

and to play a useful role in it.

Children developed a sense of

obligation towards the community and

grew to appreciate its history,

language, customs and values. This is

perhaps one of the greatest attributes

of indigenous education as opposed to

Western education which tended to

alienate young Africans from their

cultural heritage.

232


Functionalism: pre-colonial African

societies were predominantly

utilitarian (Ocitti, 1971). It was a

participatory kind of education in

which people learned through

imitation, productive as he/she

learned and was smoothly integrated

into the community, the gap which

today exists between study and the

world of work was absent in pre-

colonial society. Indeed, there was

no unemployment in African traditional

societies.

233


Note: There was no unemployment for the

graduate of Indigenous African Education

Communalism: all members of the

society owned things in common and

applied the communal spirit to life

and work. Children belonged to the

community and every member of the

community had a stake in their

upbringing. For example, if a child

misbehaved while the parents were not

around, any other adult member of the

community could discipline and correct

him/her on the spot. Cleaning,

234


planting and harvesting were done in

group, on a shift basis. Complement

the ‘trade by barter’ system, whereby

farmers and craftsperson exchanged

their products for other goods and

services they needed.

Question: What do you say the advantages and

disadvantages of Communalism education?

Perennialism constituted the fourth

philosophical foundation of indigenous

education. Most traditional

communities in Africa perceived

education as a vehicle for maintaining

235


or preserving the cultural heritage

and status quo. This party accounts

for why traditional teachers

discouraged pupils from experimenting

with the unknown and imposed heavy

sanctions on those who tried to do so.

In short, education in indigenous

African communities was conservative

in nature.

The fifth philosophical foundation of

customary education was holisticism or

multiple learning. A child destined

to become a fisherman, as already

236


noted, learned not only to catch fish

but also to preserve and market it; to

make and mend nets; to manufacture

canoes and to erect temporary fishing

puts. The holistic nature of

customary education enabled young

people to acquire a variety of skills

which made them productive in many

ways. An individual in most non-

literate communities could, therefore,

embark on a variety of occupations

without difficulty. He could work as

a builder, farmer or fisherman, while

a woman was a gardener, housewife and

237


cook, besides being a nurse to her

children, etc.

Philosophical Analysis of African

Education

Three types of Educational Thought in

Africa

The African Tradition in Education

African Indigenous Education

originated in Africa, it owes little,

if anything at all, to factors

external to Africa. Although African

Indigenous Education points to

educational practice, it also includes

238


educational theory, albeit of a

general character. African Indigenous

Education was thought to be an empty

concept; it referred to educational

practice that was seen as devoid of

meaning and lacking theory or thought

to justify it.

With regard to African traditional

thought, Robin Horton, of Ife

University, Nigeria has made an

important study of the relationship

between African thought and western

science. According to Horton, whose

239


view has found strong support among

many African scholars, traditional

ways of thinking were not irrational

or emotional expressions of simple

minds; on the contrary, they resemble

the modes of thought that are usually

associated with scientific theories.

In spite of several problems, several

African educationists have during the

last few decades embarked on the study

of African Indigenous Education. A

recent appraisal of what has been

achieved in this area can be found in

240


the book by Brown and Hiskett (eds.)

Conflict and Harmony in Education in Tropical

Africa (1975). Although much has been

written in recent years on African

Indigenous Education, the emphasis has

generally been on educational practice

rather than on educational theory. One

can explain this one-sided emphasis on

educational practice by referring to

the great difficulty of tracing

educational ideas.

We find then that are very few studies

that have analyzed the educational

241


ideas of Africa’s past. One of the few

studies, and perhaps the most

comprehensive one to date, is Pierre

Ern’s essay on traditional education,

published in French in 1972 an

translated into English by G. Wnjohi

in 1981; it is entitled The Child and his

Environment in Black Africa. Erny argues the

case for what he terms a traditional

pedagogy, and calls for an elaborate,

explicit, coherent and systematic way

of thinking about traditional

education providing detailed evidence

from all over Africa, Erny makes a

242


strong case for a traditional

educational theory that is both

philosophical and scientific in

content, if not in form.

We cannot go into details here but

generally speaking one may state that

African Indigenous Education was

highly value-oriented, in as far as it

deliberately transmitted a well-

defined social ethic. Being the

outcome of a closed society which

emphasized social integration,

traditional education was not merely

243


concerned with survival values, which

centre around man’s basic needs, such

as food, drink health and sex; it was

equally, if not more, concerned with

trans-survival values, which touch

directly on the quality of life. Here

we refer to values, both social and

moral, such as respect and dignity,

mutual help and social responsibility

and law and order. These values,

reinforced by the large number and

great intensity of social bonds, e.g.,

the lineage, the family, the age-

group, and internalized by what Erny

244


calls ‘initiation pedagogy’, formed

the personality of the African child.

Given this concern with social and

moral values, not to mention a similar

concern with knowledge as social and

personal power, one must conclude that

African Indigenous Education points to

a true philosophy of education.

Question: African Indigenous Education has

contributed to the growth of African society. State

some of its contribution

The Islamic Tradition in Africa

245


Although not indigenous to Africa, it

is a tradition of long standing,

particularly in west and east Africa,

not to mention North Africa.

Traditionally, Islamic Education has

always been greatly concerned with the

transmission of Islamic religious

values; as such it provided the

required socialization and initiation

into the Islamic way of life that is

similar all over the Islamic world. In

this respect the Islamic tradition

resembled African Indigenous

Education, which also emphasized

246


social integration. But unlike the

African tradition, Islamic Education

was by tradition distinctly literate

in character. Accordingly, it sowed a

great concern with literacy, albeit

mainly for religious purposes;

furthermore, it placed great emphasis

on literary and legal authority. Here

one finds that the Islamic tradition

of education resembles the Christian

tradition of medieval Europe. Both

emphasized the authority of the sacred

scriptures, be it the Quran or the

Bible. Both considered theology and

247


the study of divine law as the basic

disciplines which provided educational

theory and practice with the first

principles, fixed and not to be

questioned. In the final analysis, the

Islamic tradition of education was

highly value-oriented, where the

values were mainly religious and moral

values, as derived form the Quran, the

Prophetic Tradition and Islamic law.

One may thus speak of an Islamic

philosophy of education, which

encouraged the development of Islamic

248


virtue through education and which

fostered the pursuit of religious

knowledge, guided throughout by divine

authority.

Note: Islamic education has always been greatly

concerned with the transmission of Islamic

religious values.

The Western Tradition in Africa

The western tradition encouraged the

idea of Seven Liberal Arts, namely

Logic, rhetoric, Geometry, Arithmetic,

Music, Poetry and Astronomy. Liberal

education, which valued knowledge for

249


knowledge’s sake, was at the time

greatly encouraged in academic

institutions.

Not surprisingly, this kind of

academic learning was pursued and

enjoyed mainly by those who could

afford the time, i.e. by the

aristocracy, by the free citizens of

Athens, and later, by those of Rome.

Hence the term schole, from which our

term ‘school’ has been derived; in its

original meaning schole meant free time

or leisure. Liberal education, seen as

250


the pursuit of knowledge for its own

sake and not for material gain, was a

matter of spending one’s leisure time;

schooling in this sense was a

privilege of the few, of the

aristocracy, of the elite.

By contrast, the slaves and the common

man had to be satisfied with laborious

instruction in useful skills and

crafts, for which the ancient Greeks

used the term techne. Hence the idea of

technical or practical education, that

is education in techne, in skills,

251


which in Greek society was considered

to be entirely different from, and

definitely inferior to, ‘academic

education’.

At this point we will try to indicate

how the western tradition had a

twofold effect upon English –speaking

Africa and how this tradition provided

the Colonial Governments with a well-

defined philosophy of education.

Firstly, secondary schools were

established in the British colonies

which strongly resembled and were in

252


fact modelled on the English public

schools. In east Africa we find

examples in Budo college, Uganda and

in the Alliance High School, Kenya;

similar schools were established

elsewhere in Africa, notably in Ghana

and Nigeria. Within these schools

academic education for the Christian

elites was the overall goal, where the

pursuit of ‘true’ knowledge included

the study of western civilization and

of Christianity. These schools were to

provide the Colonial Governments with

a small, selected group of loyal civil

253


servants, imbued with a western

mentality.

Secondly, at the elementary level of

education a different policy was

adopted by the Colonial Government.

This policy reflected the idea

underlying elementary education in

England by the turn of the century,

which in turn can be traced back to

the old Greek idea of technical or

practical education for the slaves and

the common man. Industrial England

required workers with some elementary

254


skills; hence the need for practical

education, designed specifically for

the working class. Likewise, Colonial

England required ‘native’ workers with

some elementary skills; practical or

technical education was therefore to

be imposed on the ordinary African.

The Phelps-Stokes Commission (1925)

reiterated this policy in very

specific terms. What is important here

is that underlying this policy is a

different but equally reflects the

western tradition in elementary

education.

255


Trends in African Philosophy

The expression “African Philosophy”

often calls forth the question “What

is African Philosophy?” In an attempt

either to answer this question various

proposals and findings have sprung up.

A deeper analysis of them reveals the

idea that there are generally two

radically distinct senses of the usage

of the expression. In one sense

African Philosophy is explained or

defined in opposition to philosophy in

other continents but in particular to

256


Western or European philosophy. It is

assumed that there is a way of

thinking or a conceptual framework

that is uniquely African and which is

at the same time radically un-

European. So African philosophy is

perceived as a body of thoughts and

beliefs produced by this unique way of

thinking. To the extent that European

philosophy is known to manifest

critical and rigorous analysis, and

logical explanation and synthesis,

African philosophy is considered to be

innocent of such characteristics. It

257


is considered to be basically

intuitive, mystical and counter-or

extra rationalistic.

Philosophy is taken as a discipline

that, in the strict sense employs the

method of critical, reflective and

logical inquiry. African philosophy

then is not expected to be an

exception to this meaning of

philosophy. The talk of a uniquely

African philosophy is seen to exist

not as an essentially African

phenomenon (for most philosophical

258


problems transcend cultural and racial

confines) but only as a corpus of

thoughts arising from the discussion

and appropriation of authentic

philosophical ideas by Africans or in

the African context. African

philosophy in this sense is considered

in terms of Africa’s past, current or

potential contribution to philosophy

in the strict meaning of the term.

Philosophy as a discipline that

employs analytical, reflective and

ratiocinate methodology therefore not

seen as a monopoly of Europe or any

259


one race but as an activity for which

every race or people has a

potentiality.

Besides the two road senses, one is

likely to detect a third sense, i.e.

one which consists of aspects of each

of the two but which nevertheless is

not yet clearly explicit or

articulated. There are significant

differences within each of the senses.

Question: What is African Philosophy?

From the myriad of differences on the

issue of meaning and existence, four

260


significant trends can be delineated:

1) Ethno-philosophy, 2) Philosophic

Sagacity, 3) Nationalist-Ideological

Philosophy and 4) Professional

Philosophy.

Ethno-Philosophy

The first trend in African Philosophy

is that whose father is Placid Templels. This is

designated Ethno-Philosophy School. Paulin

Hountonghi regards this trend as

something other than philosophy in his

African Philosophy: Myth and Reality. This is,

for him, nothing other than people's

261


ways of doing things, which is in

reality cultural. Tempels realized

that the Abaluba had their own system

within which they had solutions to

their problems. He noticed that there

some basic principles known by all

Africans to which they resorted in

times of crises. This system of

principles is what Tempels called

Bantu Philosophy. This was thus a

communal philosophy.

John S. Mbiti, a Kenyan born scholar

and a long time Lecturer, also

262


believed in Ethno-Philosophy. He held

that it was difficult to distinguish

between religion and philosophy in

Africa. He held that for an African

the religious attitude permeated the

whole of his life so much so that an

African is notoriously religious. In

his book, Religions and Philosophy, he

analyses the African concept of time.

He contends that the African concept

of time is two-dimensional: a long

past and a present. The future is very

limited. The past (zamani) is the

final storehouse where everything must

263


move. For an African therefore,

history is backward. Folktales always

make reference to the past: "Hapo

Zamani za kale..." Therefore it is not

eschatological. He demonstrates this

fact through consideration of African

languages, which he held do not have a

word for future. His case studies are

Kikuyu and Kamba languages. Like

Tempels, Mbiti demonstrates a

hierarchy of forces: the living, the

living dead, the zamani (ancestors),

and God.

264


Question: Define the meaning of Ethnophilosophy?

Criticism Of Ethno-Philosophy

The critics hold that philosophy

requires critical, systematic

thinking. It has to be discursive,

individual, independent, etc. For

Tempels and his followers, these

qualities are lacking, because it is a

communal philosophy, which is an

expression of a Weltanschauung. It is

a collective wisdom for each member of

a given community. The critics hold

that Tempels and company is not

265


different from Hegel and Levy-Bruh.

Tempels denied African Philosophy but

euphemistically. Therefore his is not

philosophy but Ethno-Philosophy

because the method he uses is similar

to that used in cultural anthropology

in which he applies a philosophical

language. Therefore the method is

anthropological and the language

philosophical.

Wamba-dia-Wamba a history professor at

Dar Es Salaam University criticizing

ethnophilopshy stresses that

266


philosophers are separate entity from

the rest of society. He writes:

“Philosophy doing as a relatively

autonomous social activity emerged as

a historical outcome of that

separation. In pre-class divided

communities where intellectual work

was not fundamentally separated from

manual labor philosophy as a social

activity did not exist. This does not

mean, however, that people were not

thinking. But most likely they were

not thinking systematically about

thinking.” Wamba continues to say that

267


African Philosophy as a philosophizing

enterprise came out of philosophy

which was more and more complex. This

is traceable from colonial and neo-

colonial forms of separation between

manual and intellectual labor in

Africa. This separation was very

important for colonial and neo-

colonial times. First the European did

the intellectual and Africans manual

labor. Later colonialists introduced a

few Africans in the intellectual class

to act as African ideological askaris

to be watchdogs of intellectualism.

268


These since were watchdogs; their work

was to manipulate others for the

Western interests. African Philosophy

was born in that manner. People like

Mbiti, Kagame, etc. are intellectual

askaris of this kind, not therefore,

to be taken seriously, He writes:

Ethno-Philosophy is a philosophy of a

dominated African. It does not matter

whether or not actual ways of thinking

of some real Africans fit in this way

of viewing things. The fact is that

this specification is discovered

theorized in the face of a humanity

269


that dominates it and requires it to

be so dominated.

Professional Philosophy

Professional Philosophy is regarded by

some as the only correct form of

philosophy. The scholars in this camp

argue that philosophy is a universal

activity. Therefore African Philosophy

is as philosophical as European

philosophy. The Proponents of this

school are Kwasi Wiredu, Paulin

Hountodgii, Peter Bodunrin and Odera

Oruka. Philosophy is, for instance,

270


according to Hountondjii, a rigorous,

critical and independent thought

activity.

Philosophy is not acquired by living

or sharing common experiences. It is

rather through dialogue and

discussion. For some adherents of the

Professional Philosophy School African

Philosophy is written texts by

Africans. This does not touch on the

content. If the content is what they

should have stressed then even an

American could write African

271


Philosophy. Hountondgii argues that

African Philosophy consists of texts

written by Africans and qualifies as

philosophy by Africans themselves. And

for Bodunrin any philosophical work

written by an African is African

Philosophy.

Wiredu and Odera Oruka hold that

philosophy is African according to if

the subject matter is African. Odera

Oruka states that we have no grounds

for thinking that African philosophy

need to be unique to Africans neither

272


is Western Philosophy unique to

Europeans. African Philosophy for him

should be defined in a sense which it

does not mean that only Africans are

and can be capable of a philosophy of

this kind. For Wiredu philosophy is

supposed to govern people's day-to-day

life and any belief, dogma is

philosophy. Therefore philosophy need

not be technical. But philosophies in

the sense of world-views are not

fitting for Africans of today because

the social milieu has changed.

Nowadays we need philosophy in the

273


technical academic sense. Therefore he

gives philosophy in two senses: the

academic, technical sense and the

popular sense (weltanschauung). He

insists that when comparing Africa and

the West Philosophically we should

compare their popular types and their

technical types separately. Those who

denied Africa philosophy compared

wrongly.

Note: Professional philosophy is a philosophy but

not African. This was the criticism of Professional

philosophy.

274


Sage Philosophy

Because of the criticism labeled

against even Professional Philosophy

Odera Oruka decided to get involved in

a search for a really African

Philosophy among the wise Africans

with no European and Christian

backgrounds. He came up with this view

because there was strong argument that

ethno-philosophy though African is not

Philosophy and Professional Philosophy

though Philosophy is not African. This

Sage Philosophy tries to merge the two

275


by going around criticisms of both and

coming up with what is genuinely

philosophy and what is genuinely

African.

Odera Oruka wanted to find out, in

traditional African setting, people

who have no Western education and yet

exhibit a critical thinking. He makes

distinctions as follows:

a) A mere sage is a person who is

well-grounded in beliefs, customs and

traditions of his people which he can

reproduce without a critical mind.

276


b) A philosophical sage is one who

besides knowing tradition transcends

them by trying to give them a rational

explanation independently and

individually.

Sage Philosophy has fallen under

attack as much as the other trends if

not more. Lansana Keita thinks this

Sage Philosophy is a fall back to

ethno-philosophy. Bodunrin Peter

contends that Philosophic Sagacity is

a joint effort such that it is wrong

277


to attribute the end-result to the so-

called sage.

Dismas Masolo criticizes Odera Oruka

for basing the difference between

Ogottemelli as a mere sage and Mbuya

as a philosophic sage on the idea of

the equality of men and women as

trivial. But Masolo does not

disqualify Sagacity in the search for

African Philosophy.

Note: Sage philosophy was invented in Kenya by

Kenyan the late Odera Oruka.

Nationalist-Ideological Philosophy

278


It is sometimes conceived that in the

modern world African philosophy, like

African culture, can only be revived

or authenticated on the basis of a

truly free and independent African

Society. Thus, in this sense the exact

nature and existence of African

philosophy would remain obscure unless

we seek for it on the basis of a clear

social theory for independence and the

creation of a genuine humanist social

order. Since colonialism was built in

the ruins of what was supposed to be

the cardinal ethical principle of

279


traditional humanist Africa-

egalitarianism- the required social

theory, it is argued, should embrace

the basic tenets of traditional

Africa. In traditional Africa the

individual and society are said to

have egalitarian, mutual obligations:

no individual would prosper at the

expense of the society, and the

society would not ignore the

stagnation of any of its members. In

traditional Africa, Julius Nyerere

argues that the individual was rich or

poor only to the extent that the

280


society was rich or poor and vice

versa.

Most of the contributors to this trend

of African philosophical literature

have been politicians or statesmen.

Some of the works do not pretend to be

philosophical. But this trend differs

from ethno-philosophy in several

important respects. Unlike the latter,

it does not assume or imply that

European thought or philosophy is

radically different from or irrelevant

to African thought. Secondly, the

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authors of this trend do not give the

impression that the philosophy they

are expounding is that of a whole

African community or continent. It is

clear that this philosophy is claimed

to be rooted in the traditional or

communal Africa, but it is explicit

that it is actually a philosophy of

the individual authors concerned.

Thirdly, this philosophy is practical

and has explicit problems to solve,

namely: those of national and

individual freedom, whereas ethno-

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philosophy appears as a political and

free for all metaphysics.

Ethnophilosophy of Education

Ethnophilosophy, as explained earlier,

refers to the attempt by scholars to

interpret African traditional systems

of thought in contemporary

philosophical terms. The famous work

by P. Tempels, Bantu Philosophy (1945),

may be called the classic example of

Ethnophilosophy. The world-views or

‘philosophies’ that have been re-

constructed from the traditional past

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through Ethnophilosophy form the

starting point for an Ethnophilosophy

of Education let us explain.

The early anthropological works on

African traditional education, notably

Jomo Kenyatta’s Facing Mount Kenya (1938)

and O. Raum’s Chagga Childhood (1940),

had laid the foundation for an

Ethnophilosophy of Education, but it

was not until 25 years later-during

the 1960s- that it became an area of

concern for African educationists by

that time it was found that the

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Implications Approach, so

characteristic of the Technical

Philosophy of Education, was not to be

restricted to western philosophies but

could also be applied to African

traditional philosophies. From then

onwards African educationists began to

study Ethnophilosophy so as to

acquaint themselves with the

traditional African ‘philosophies of

life’. Taking these traditional

systems of thought as their starting

point, they then tried to derive

educational systems implications from

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them. Here lies the formal beginning

of the Ethnophilosophy of Education

which during the 1970s developed into

a ‘popular’ area of study. As a result

many books and articles were published

on the topic; we mention here, by way

of example, A. Wandira’s Indigenous

Education in Uganda (1972) and J.

Ocitti’s African Indigenous Education

(1973).

It must be noted here that the term

‘Ethnophilosophy of Education’ was not

used at the time; it is in fact of

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recent origin. Today it is used to

draw attention to the philosophical

dimension of educational thought, as

expressed by African educationists

such as Wandra, Kajubi, Indire,

Ocitti, etc… in their writings about

African Indigenous Education. Being

educationists, they were primarily

interested in the practice of

traditional education, but in their

search for values in Othis end they

tried to identify the philosophical

foundations of African traditional

education, and in doing so they used

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the methods and technical language

commonly employed by educationists so

as to give their writings a

philosophical character. In view of

the philosophical dimension of their

thought, we speak in this respect of

‘The Ethnophilosophy of Education’.

A clear example of the approach used

is provided by J. Ocitti in the book

mentioned earlier having identified

the philosophical foundations of

African Indigenous Educaiton, Ocitti

then arrives at five distinct

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‘philosophies of education’ to be

discerned in traditional education,

namely Communalism, Perennialism,

Functionalism, Preparationism and

Wholisticism. However one evaluates

Ocitti’s study in philosophical terms,

the point we wish to make here is that

this is an attempt to use the

speculative or Implications approach

in an original manner this attempt,

like many others by African

educationists, provides a concrete

indication of what is meant by the

Ethnophilosophy of Education as a

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specific area of concern. Needless to

say, much more is required to develop

this area into a specialized field of

study within the African Philosophy of

Education.

Note: Ocitti comes with five philosophies of

education in Africa namely Communalism,

Pernnialism, Functionalism, Preparationism and

Wholisticism.

Phenomenology of African Education

‘Phenomenology’ is a technical term

which refers to the philosophical

study of human phenomena like

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education, culture, history, etc.,

this kind of study attempts to

describe and explain these phenomena

in existential terms, thereby trying

to discover the deeper meaning and

significance of these phenomena for

man in the world today. Phenomenology

points to the existential function of

Technical Philosophy, explained

earlier.

With regard to African Philosophy we

have referred to the existential

function in the context of Cultural

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Philosophy. This reference was

justified since African Philosophers

have for many years now shown a

special interest in the phenomenon of

African culture. Being comprehensive

and existential in character, this

interest has often included a definite

concern with the phenomenon of

education. Even so, the expression

‘phenomenology of African education’

has not been used in this context,

mainly because of technical reasons.

Despite their genuine concern with

education as a human phenomenon,

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African scholars lacked the technical

approach, so typical of

phenomenological thinking in modern

philosophy. All this is not surprising

considering that Existentialism and

Phenomenology are relatively recent

trends in contemporary philosophy.

Today the situation is slowly

beginning to change so that we may

begin to speak of the Phenomenology of

African Education.

Within the Third World Paulo Freire is

one of the first educational

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philosophers to have used the

phenomenological approach in a

consistent manner, e.g. in his books

Cultural Action for Freedom (1970) and

Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972). Of

special interest is Freire’s view of

education as a cultural phenomenon, as

cultural action for freedom. Like

African philosophers Freire is

interested in culture, but unlike them

he defines ‘culture’ in dynamic terms,

as an actual process rather than as a

product of the traditional past.

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Note: Culture is not static but dynamic.

We have mentioned Paulo Freire here,

not only because of his approach but

also because of his direct influence

on philosophical thinking on education

in Africa. Firstly, Freire himself has

been directly involved in African

education and as a result of this

involvement he has expressed his

thoughts on African education in a

phenomenological manner. We refer here

to Pedagogy in Process (1978), a recent

book in which he describes his

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experiences of education in Guinea-

Bissau. Secondly Freire’s ideas and

his approach are reflected in several

publications on education in Africa.

We mention here a recent article by

Ocaya-Lakidi on ‘African Philosophy of

Education’ (prospects, 1980) where the

writer stresses the need for

philosophical thinking in Freire’s

style.

Influenced by Freire, but presenting

his philosophical thought on African

education in his own unique manner, is

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former president Julius Nyerere of

Tanzania. Although well known for his

Educaiton for Self-Reliance, where

education is viewed in the light of

Ujamaa or African Socialism, Nyerere

is less known for his more recent

educational writings, as found in The

Tanzanian Experience (1980) edited by

Hinzen and Hundsdorfer. Here Nyerere

develops a phenomenology of African

education, as derived from his own

philosophical insight into the African

experience. Regarded primarily as a

statesman and as a political

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philosopher, Nyerere is also an

educational philosopher in his own

right. No longer satisfied with the

traditional definition of education,

as being the transmission of

knowledge, wisdom, values from one

generation to the next, Nyerere

proposes a new definition. The primary

purpose of education in Africa today,

according to Nyerere, is the

liberation of man. Education-in

Nyerere view-must liberate both the

mind and the body of man; it has to

make him more of a human being by

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making him aware of his potential as a

human being. Education-in Nyerere’s

view-must liberate man from the

restraints of ignorance and dependency

and must increase man’s freedom that

is his control over himself, his life

and his environment. Nyerere advocates

education for creators, not for

creatures.

Mention must also be made of the

writings of Pierre Erny, a French

scholar with a long-standing interest

in African education. In Childhood and

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cosmos (1973) he describes traditional

thought on the child in Black Africa;

in doing so he explicitly uses a

phenomenological approach.

In The Child and His Environment in Black Africa

(1981), referred to earlier, he uses

the same philosophical method to

develop a phenomenology of African

Traditional Education. In short, there

are definite indications that this new

approach to educational thinking is

beginning to bear fruits, also in the

African context; obviously, this is

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not more than a beginning but it is a

significant one nevertheless.

Note: It is useful and relevant to read the book by

Paulo Freire entitled The Pedagogy of the

Oppressed.

Critique of African Education

Philosophical thinking about

education, using the critical

approach, has found different

expressions in Africa. Here we

distinguish two important trends, the

radical and the liberal one.

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Radical criticism of African education

is often an expression of Political

Philosophy, in the radical sense of

the word. An ideological perspective,

often leftist or Marxist in

orientation, is at the basis of this

type of philosophical thinking about

education in Africa. Critical

Philosophy of Education claims to go

beyond philosophy as an academic

discipline and instead proposes a

‘philosophy of action’. Critical

thinking about education in this sense

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is revolutionary in character, as it

advocates ‘revolution by education’.

A concrete example of such radical

criticism of African education is to

be found in Samora Machel’s Mozambique;

Sowing the Seeds of Revolution (1974). From

the start, Machel distinguishes three

types of education: African

traditional education, colonial

education and Revolutionary education.

The first type, traditional education,

aims at passing on old ideas and

values and leads-in Machel’s view-to

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‘the paralysis of society’. The second

type, colonial education, is a tool of

exploitation and seeks to de-humanie

the African. Both these types should

be condemned because they perpetuate

the old order. Only the third type is

to be recommended because

revolutionary education helps to

create a new mentality, an attitude of

solidarity, a healthy and

revolutionary morality, as well as

respect for manual work, for science

and technology. In short, through

revolutionary education the New Man

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will be created and the New Society

will be born.

This kind of critical thinking about

education, as expressed here by Samora

Machel, is to be found in the writings

of several other political leaders,

e.g. in L’Arme de la Theorie, by

Amilcar Carbral. Radical social

scientists, like W. Rodney, M.

Mbilinyi, J. Saul, think along similar

lines; at this point, the distinction

between Critical Philosophy and

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Critical Sociology of Education is no

longer easy to draw.

Liberal Criticism of African education

the second trend, is often expressed

by a number of educationists, be they

African or otherwise, as well as by

social scientists. These scholars

provide a critique, which often stems

from a normative concern that is a

concern with norms, values, ideals to

be realized or transmitted through

education. Given a scientific analysis

of educational situations, the

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established facts are criticized in

the light of a normative concern that

is, to some extent, philosophical in

character. Subsequently, educational

reforms or innovations are proposed to

meet this basic concern. Many studies

on education and development in Africa

may be mentioned as examples of

liberal criticism.

This criticism is liberal in the sense

that it does not start from a definite

political ideology but reflects a wide

variety of philosophical theories,

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i.e. ‘philosophies of education’, and

a wide variety of normative concerns.

The distinction between the general

and technical philosophy of education

is not always clearly spelled out in

most cases. As a result this kind of

critics appears to be less

philosophical than it actually is.

Obviously, here lies a task for the

educational philosopher: to make

explicit the philosophical thinking

underlying critical studies of African

education. In doing so, the

educational philosopher enhances the

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philosophical character of this area

of concern.

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION IN KENYA

The philosophy of education in Kenya

is clearly spelt out in Sectional

Paper No.I of 2005 on policy framework

for Education, Training and Research.

The provision of education and

training to all Kenyans is fundamental

to the success of the Governments

overall development strategy.

First, the long term objective of the

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government is to provide every Kenyan

with basic quality education and

training including 2 years of pre-

primary 8 year of primary and 4 year

of Secondary or Technical Education.

Education also aims at enhancing the

ability of Kenyans to preserve and

utilize the environment for productive

gain and sustainable livelihoods.

Second, development of quality human

resource is central to the attainment

of national goals for industrial

development.

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Third, the realization of universal

access to basic education and training

ensures equitable access to education

and training for all children,

including disadvantaged and vulnerable

groups.

Fourth education is necessary for the

development and protection of

democratic institutions and human

rights.

Question: What is Philosophy of Education in

Kenya?

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The Vision and Mission of Education In

Kenya.

VISION: The Government’s Vision for

education is: To have quality Education and

Training for Development. This is

translated to Kiswahili as “Elimu Bora

Kwa Maendeieo”; it makes the purpose of

our education and training focus on

the development of an individual

personality to enable him or her to

fit into society as a productive and

civil individual. Education and

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Training, therefore seeks to offer

equal opportunity to all learners.

MISSION: Consistent with the Vision

above, the mission of the Ministry of

Education together with the Ministry

of Science and Technology is: To work

with the other education stake holders

to provide, promote and coordinate

qualify, training and research for

Kenyans sustainable development and

responsible citizenry.

The Ministry is responsible for

providing an appropriate regulatory

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framework, developing policies and

guidelines, providing educational

support services, mobilizing resources

for education sector inputs and

coordinating human capital development

through education and training. To

meet those challenging tasks, the

Ministry of Education and the Ministry

of Science and Technology continue to

fulfil its mandate and objectives

through strong partnerships. With

stakeholders including community Based

Organizations NGOs, religious

organizations, other Government

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institutions, developing partners and

the private sector.

Note: The aim of education in Kenya is to make an

individual fit and be responsible citizenry.

Goals And Objectives Of Education In

Kenya

The overall goals of education in

Kenya are to achieve Education For All

(EFA), by 2015, in tandem with the

national and international

commitments. In line with the EFA

goal, which has been internationally

agreed upon, the sector is to attain

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universal primary Education, UPE by

2005.

The Ministry has, therefore, set the

following specific objectives in full

cognizance of the national and

international goals.

1) To develop a comprehensive ECDE

policy paying special attention. To

gender, vulnerable and disadvantaged

children by 2005.

2) To ensure that all children

including girls, children in difficult

circumstances and those from

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marginalized and vulnerable groups

access to and complete free and

compulsory primary education by 2010.

3) To enhance access, equity and

quality at all levels of education and

training by 2010.

4) To eliminate gender and regional

disparities in primary and secondary

education by 2005.

5) To improve the quality of all

aspects of education and training so

that recognized and measurable

learning outcome are achieved,

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especially in literacy numeracy and

essential life-skills relevant to the

world of work by 2010.

6) To ensure that the learning needs

of all young people and adults are met

through equitable access to

appropriate learning and life-skills

program by 2015.

7) To achieve universal adult

literacy, especially for women by 2015

8) To promote and popularize ICT as

well as science and technology

education by 2008.

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9) To promote and popularize open and

distance education (ODE) at all levels

of education and training by 2010.

10) To improve the quality and

relevance of teaching, learning and

research at universities and TVET

institutions by 2010.

11) To increase the proportion of

woman in teaching, administration and

research at all levels of higher

institutions by 2010.

12) To introduce new modes of

operation that will provide linkages

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between all higher education and

training institutions with

communities, by 2010

13) To ensure quality management

capacities amongst education managers

and other personnel involved in

education at all levels by 2010.

Through pursuit of these objectives,

the youth and adult learners will be

prepared and equipped with knowledge;

skills and expertise to enable them

play effective roles in the life of

the nation. The ministry of Education

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and the Ministry of Science and

Technology aims at providing

conditions for full development of

talents and personalities, promotion

of social justice, ethics and

morality, social obligations and

responsibility, fostering positive

attitudes and consciousness towards

others, including addressing gender

issues in order to serve the needs of

national development and above all,

foster national unity.

Activity

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1. The Ministry of Education had as an

objective to enhance access, equity and

quality at all levels of education by 2010.

Do you think, the ministry is fulfilling the

objectives it had set?

Monitoring and Evaluation Targets

To monitor and evaluate progress

towards the achievement of the above

objectives, the Ministry has set

specific targets as follows:

Attain UPE by 2005 and EFA by 2015

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Achieve a transition rate of 70

present from primary to secondary

school level from the current rate of

47 percent, paying special attention

to girls education by 2008 without

adversely affecting the boy child.

Enhance access, equity and quality in

primary and secondary education

through capacity building for 45,000

education managers by 2005.

Construct /renovate physical

facilities /equipment in public

learning institutions in disadvantaged

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areas particularly in ASAL and urban

slums by 2008.

Develop a national training strategy

for Technical, Vocational and

Educational Training (TVET) in 2005

and ensure that TVET institutions are

appropriately funded and equipped by

2008.

Achieve 50 percent improvement of

levels of adult literacy by 2010.

Expand public universities to have a

capacity of at least 5000 students

each by 2015 and increase the

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proportion of all students studying

science related courses to 50 percent,

with at least one third of these being

women by the year 2010.

Philosophical Analysis of Education in

Kenya

The development, management,

organization and delivery of education

and training services in Kenya is

guided by the philosophy of:

“Education and Training for social

cohesion as well as Human and Economic

development”.

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Note: Education is for social cohesion first and

foremost.

This philosophy is in turn guided by

the following:

National Unity: Education and training

inculcates patriotism and nationality

without compromising responsibility on

global issues. To achieve these

objectives the ministry ensures that

the Kenyan linguistic heritage serves

these values. For this reason, the

three categories of languages, i.e.

mother tongue, the national language,

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Kiswahili and English the official

language continue to play their

respective roles in education.

However, special emphasis is given to

the role of the national language as a

tool of national unity. In addition,

admissions into provincial and

national schools keeps into account

the need to enhance national

integration.

Question: Since Africa is made up of so many

nations it would make tings easier if we could use a

few common African languages. Do you think time

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will come for Kiswahili will be the continental

language, since it is most widely spoken?

Unity of purpose: Teamwork and

striving for the national common good

forms an integral and critical

component of the education and

training system. To achieve national

integration and cohesion, our

institutions must be the media for the

promotion of the values of mutual

respect and tolerance.

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Social Responsibility: Education and

training integrates social

responsibility, including nurturing

our cultural heritage, spiritual

values, combating drugs and substance

abuse, sensitivity to the spread of

human calamities like HIV/AIDS,

developing positive attitudes to work,

promoting gender equity, as well as

care for the vulnerable regions and

groups.

Moral and ethical values: Education

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and training inculcates such values as

peace, integrity, handwork, honesty

and equity. In pursuit of these values

our education and training

institutions will be the instruments

for the fight against unethical

behaviours and pursuits through the

educational curriculum.

Science and Technology: Technology is

a critical, form of wealth to any

nation. For this reason, innovation,

research, development, Information and

Communications Technology, ICT, arid

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science and Technology will form one

of the key pillars of education and

Training.

Equity: Education and Training must

embrace equity issued such as equal

opportunities for all access,

retention and completion.

Quality: in order to meet the demands

for the 21St century, our education

and training programmes must be of the

highest quality to compete favourably

with the international standards.

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Environment: Education and training

must empower our people to conserve,

sustain and exploit our environment

for sustainable development. To serve

this purpose our schools and other

education and training institutions

must serve as the foundations for the

building of community capacities for

environmental conservation and

sustainability. As such schools should

be the channels through which

knowledge and skills are transmitted

to the communities. For this reasons,

institutional managements are required

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to ensure that their institutions

maintain clean and sustainable

environments.

Activity 2

1. To achieve national integration and

cohesion, our institutions must be the

media for the promotion of the values of

mutual respect and tolerance. Identify

some tools that make the national

integration successful.

2. Science and technology provide us with the

capacity to possess systematic knowledge

of natural and human realities and to

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improve the conditions of our material

life. Ethics helps us to identify moral

values whose application improves our

internal existence and balances our

individual and social lives. Science and

ethics are two necessary components man

uses to enjoy a good life and well being,

to realize his own essence, and to work

toward perfection. Discuss the relevance

of science and ethics in Kenya.

National Goals Of Education In Kenya

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Every nation has its own educational

objectives clearly stated to transmit,

perpetuate and develop according to

its needs. In Kenya the fundamental

goal of Education is to prepare and

equip the youth and adult learners to

be happy and useful members of

society. From this fundamental needs

arise eight specific goals of

education.

Question: What is the National goal of education in

Kenya?

Written Exercise 9

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1. What are the goals and objectives

of Education in Kenya?

2. Discuss the Philosophy of

Education in Kenya.

Education In Kenya Should:

Foster nationalism, patriotism and

promote national unity.

Kenya people belong to different

communities, races and religious, but

these differences need not divide

them. They must be able to live and

interact as Kenyans. It is a paramount

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duty of education to help the youth

acquire this sense of nationhood by

removing conflicts and by promoting

positive attitudes of mutual respect,

which enable them to give together in

harmony, and foster patriotism in

order to make a positive contribution

to the life of the national.

Promote the social economic,

technological and industrial needs for

national Development. Education should

prepare the youth of the country to

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play an effective roles and productive

role in the life of the nation.

Note: Education should help the youth of the

country to be good and helpful citizen.

Social Needs: Education in Kenya must

prepare children for the changes in

attitudes and relationships, which are

necessary for the smooth process of a

rapidly development modem economy.

There is bound to be a silent social

revolution following in the wake of

rapid modernization. Education should

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assist our youth to adapt to this

change.

Economic Needs: Education in Kenya

should produce citizens with skills,

knowledge, expertise and personal

qualities that are required to support

a growing economy, which is in need of

adequate domestic manpower.

Technology and industrial needs:

Education in Kenya should provide the

learners with the necessary skills and

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attitudes for industrial development.

Kenya recognizes the rapid industrial

and technological changes taking place

especially in the developing world.

Promote individual Development and

self—fulfilment.

Education should provide opportunities

for the fullest development of

individuals’ talents and personality.

It should help children to develop

their potential interests and

abilities. A vital aspect of

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individual development is character

building.

Promote sound moral and religious

values

Education should provide for the

development of knowledge, skills and

attitudes that will enhance

acquisition of sound moral values and

help children to grow up into self —

disciplined, self-reliant and

integrated citizens.

Promote social equality and

responsibility.

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Education should promote social

equality and foster a sense of social

responsibility

with an education system, which

provides equal educational

opportunities for all. It should give

all children varied and challenging

opportunities and corporate social

service irrespective of gender,

ability or geographical environment.

Promote respect for and development of

Kenyans rich and varied Cultures.

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Education should instil in the youth

of Kenya an understanding of past and

present cultures and their valid place

in contemporary society. The children

should be able to blend the best of

traditional values with the changed

requirements that must follow rapid

development in order to build a stable

and modern society. Promote

international Consciousness and foster

positive attitudes towards other

nations. Kenya is part of the

international community. It is part of

the complicated and interdependent

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network of peoples and nations.

Education should therefore lead the

youth of the country to accept

membership in this international

community with all the obligations and

responsibilities, rights and benefits

that this membership entails.

Promote positive attitudes towards

good health and environmental

Protection. Education should inculcate

in the youth the value of good health

in order to avoid indulging in

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activities that will lead to physical

or mental ill health. It should foster

positive attitudes towards

environmental development and

conservation. It should lead the youth

to appreciate the need for a healthy

environment.

Note: Kenyans are Kenyans not because they are

human but because they have their own unique

culture that makes them Kenyans. Our education

system should help us to be more Kenyans.

Politics And Education In Kenya

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The provision of education and

training to all Kenyans is fundaments

overall development strategy. Since

independence, the Government has

addressed various matters related to

education.

Political Commitment To Education

At independence in 1963, the New

Government recognized education as a

basic human rights and a powerful tool

for human resource and national

development. Since them policy

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documents have reiterated the

importance of education in eliminating

poverty, disease and ignorance.

To overcome various challenges facing

the education sector Kenyan education

governments have worked with various

commissions, committees and task

forces, some of which are outlined

below.

1. The Ominde Commission of 1964

2. Weir Agricultural Education

Commission of 1967.

3. Bessay Commissions of 1976

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4. Gachathi commission of 1976

5. Mackay Commission of 1981

6. Kamunge I Commission of 1988

7. Koech Commission of 1999

8. Kamunge 11 Commission of 2006

9. Gachukia Task force of 2007

These Commissions and taskforces have

taken an important part in bringing

about curriculum changes in the

country.

Activity 3

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1. Culture and education are words

that are often placed side by

side in any order of preference.

Point out and criticize from our

educational curriculum that

despise or not encourage our

culture.

2. Though stricken with poverty and

hardships, the people of Kenya

are generally literate. It's

estimated that approximately 90%

of adult males, and 80% of adult

females are able to read and

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write. While the basics are

covered, more advanced education

is not as widespread. On average,

children go to school for only 9

or 10 years. Suggest or find

solution to these problems.

Summary

Historically, the Kenya educational

system underwent drastic and rapid

changes within a short period. As in

most African countries, Kenya has been

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faced with a fast population growth

rate and low economic development that

contribute to an environment where the

educational system is very competitive

and high educational attainment does

not guarantee occupational mobility

(Buchmann 2000).

In this unit, we have discussed the

philosophy of education in Kenya and

also the vision and mission of

education in Kenya. We examined too

that Kenya having its own objectives

and goals of Education. Its goals are

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to equip the youth to be responsible

citizens.

PHILOSOPHY BY MR. OKUMU

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