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Three Basis of Education:
The educational
process is decided on the basis of three questions: ‘Why’, ‘How’, and ‘What’. Here, the
question of ‘Why’ is most important. This is
answered by philosophy. The ‘How’ is decided
by the psychology and ‘What’ is decided by
the social needs. Hence, education is based
on the basis of philosophical, psychological,
and sociological basis.
The important approaches in education are
discussed below:
1. Behaviourism: This assumes that learner
is a passive organism who may be
conditioned to learn new behaviours.
Therefore, learning could be explained
by change in observable behaviour. E.L.
Thorndike postulated the law of exercise
and the law of effect.
(a) Law of exercise: Repeating a conditioned response would strengthen the bond between the stimulus and the response. In other words, practice makes a man perfect.
(b) Law of effect: Law of effect is the
principle of reinforcement and punishment. Any behaviour followed by pleasure would strengthen the behaviour and any behaviour followed by pain would decrease the behaviour.
2. Gestalt psychology: It believes that the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
For example, in the human body, there
are cells, tissues, bones, etc., yet the sum
of all these components (human body) is
greater than the sum of its parts. This is
because the parts are interrelated to each
other. Gestalt psychology demonstrated
the significance of perception. It also
showed that complex learning need not
occur gradually through lengthy practice
but may develop through insight.
3. Constructivism: The learner actively
constructs knowledge. Jean Piaget
and J. S. Bruner believed that learning
involves an active processing of information and that each individual activity
organizes and constructs knowledge for
itself. Educational psychology believes
that there are developmental stages for
knowledge organization. According
to Jean Piaget, ‘accommodation’ and
‘assimilation’ are basic to learning. A
learner developes new ‘schema’ through
accommodation. New experiences are
assimilated into already existing schemas
or they may be accommodated by creating new schemas.
4. Idealism: The mind is central in understanding the world. The idealists emphasize the spiritual aspects of learning. God
is the source of all creation and knowledge; spirit and mind constitute reality.
Values are absolute, eternal, and unchanging. Man has a superior nature, and it
is expressed in the form of intellectual culture, morality, and religion. The
main thinkers are Froebel, Kant, Plato,
Swami Dayanand, Vivekananda, and Sri
Aurobindo.
5. Naturalism: It considers nature as the
whole of reality. Our senses are the gateway to knowledge, and nature is the source
of all knowledge. Mind is subordinate to
nature. The educative process must be
pleasurable and set in natural surroundings. The main protagonists are Tagore,
Rousseau, and Herbert Spencer.
6. Pragmatism: It focuses on activity or
doing. According to pragmatists, there are
no absolute values of life. Truth is created
during the course of experience. Humans
are active being and have the ability to solve
their problems through the logic of experiments and scientific methods. The main
thinkers are C. S. Pierce and John Dewey.
7. Humanism: It is a reasonable balance
in life and regards humans as the centre
and measure of all activities. Humanism
believes in the interests and welfare of all
human beings. Thus, the life of a human
being should be transformed so that the
welfare of all becomes the goal. The
form of learning is on self-actualization.
It advocates cooperation, mutual tolerance, and social understanding.
8. Rationalism: Rationalists claim that
there are significant ways in which our
concepts and knowledge are gained
independently of sense experience.
Empiricists claim that sense experience
is the ultimate source of all our concepts
and knowledge.
9. Existentialism: It is a philosophy that
emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice. This emphasizes the
uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or in different universe, regards human existence as
unexplainable, and stresses freedom of
choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts.
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