Necessity of Philosophy of Education for Teachers or Educators Essay

Necessity of Philosophy of Education for Teachers or Educators - Essay Example There are essential differences between man and animal, which makes â€Å"education’ possible for man and one can only train animal (Vargas, 1994, p.273). It makes possible The philosophy of education can be of forms as realism, idealism, existentialism or pragmatism and implications can be drawn by one for teaching, education, curriculum, learning or other important issues of education (Orteza and Miranda, 2001, p.3). There are four major educational philosophies on the properties of knowledge and the way of knowing it within the frame of epistemology. These approaches of educational philosophy are recently used in the classrooms widely all over the world. These philosophies are Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism and Reconstructionism. These philosophical issues concentrate heavily on the curriculum aspects of WHAT should be taught (Crookes, 2009, p.85). The aim of this education is to consolidate the fact that teachers or educators gain knowledge of great Western civ ilization ideas. The ways to solve problems in any era is hidden in these ideas. The aim is to share ideas that are everlasting, to search for enduring truth that are constant, as the human and natural world at the most essential level remain unchanged (Ornstein, 2012, p. 431). Essentialism: It is believed by the essentialists that there is a common cluster of knowledge that should be transmitted to teachers in a constructive way. Intellectual and moral standards are the two bases in the conservative perspective on which emphasis is given. Essential knowledge and academic rigor and skills are the major arena of the curriculum. Essentialists accept the idea of probable changes in the core curriculum (Ornstein, 2012, p.431) Progressivists: Progressivists believes that the whole child should be focused for the education, rather than focusing on the content or the teacher. Reconstructionism: Social Reconstructionism, a philosophy that put stress on the quest and addressing of social que stions to construct worldwide democracy and better society (Cohen, 1999). Teachers do teaching and the institutions where they work have a purpose that deeply concerns education (Langford, 1978, p.3). Successful teachers do have their respective philosophies and they are quite strong ones. Sometimes, the teachers themselves are not aware of their own philosophy or the reason behind their success. But it is the philosophy that affects everything they do all the day. It would be amazing if all teachers â€Å"flowed through the day† to handle all our tasks with great ease and naturally, but it is us who have to do all our appointed works. Today in several occasions, the beliefs of parents and students are really strong and presume an important influence on what a teacher can do and cannot do. A part of those beliefs are cultural, some are religious and some others are utter nonsense, but all of them must be confronted, handled and addressed individually. A teacher could face a s ituation in the class to which might have no clue and probably he is not going to learn about how to handle them. This is where an essentiality for philosophy lies for the educators. If teachers make too many hard and fast rules for which they are not willing, ready or able to back up, consequence might push them right into a corner. Because there will always be someone to test the teachers regarding their rules to see if they really mean it. A teacher will be tested everyday, in fact many a times in a day. If they do not follow through, they are not only going to lose the battle, but also a lot of respect as well. Among the first things that teachers need to do first is to determine the kind of things that are important enough to have a strong philosophy about. New teachers build up their philosophy slowly at first, as they start gaining confidence and strength they will make choices and changes in their beliefs that are well thought out, based on good judgments, innovated in exper ience and beneficial to