8 Key Pioneers of Modern Western Education

Modern Western Education was dominated by educational philosophers and psychologists whose ideas are biased toward the active and learner-centred teaching-learning methods.

YOITANNES AMOS COMENIUS (1592-1670) IN MORAVIA (CZECHOSLOVAKIA)

He is a modern Western education philosopher. He was a bishop, a seasoned teacher. He was an experienced and educated reformer (change) he saved as a link between the old and the new ideas in education. His ideas on education represent a criticism of the practice of education in his days while most of his recommendation has spread anticipate most of the ideas of modern ideas.

Comenius’s Education Ideas

He believed that the aim of education was the development of human intellect so as to be able to study nature and know God. To support his own ideas of education as a powerful tool for achieving one’s potential. He employed the analogy of the seed. A man is like a seed full of potentialities that can be realized, stunted or (invocated) depending upon the soil it grows in and the nourishment it receives. According to Comenius, there are three elements that must be put together. 1. The capabilities of learners which Comenius existed for body in different quantities and qualities. 2. The content of the curriculum which correspond to the soil. 3. The teacher and his teaching methods which correspond to nature. A good education is one that organizes in accordance with these factors. He said that if a man worked well on curricular and teaching methods, the natural gift of intelligence is from God. He further said that education was a birth right, everyone was educable provided they had access to education provided by the state. He advocated for adult education and special education. He advocated for teaching in local languages. He was against corporal punishment or beating children. The right teaching methods where of great importance and learning was to be speedy. He advocated for the use of teaching and learning aids in the classroom. He produced orbispictus (the world in pictures) were depicted at the same time. His guidance of the teacher is contained in the pamphlets and books. The most famous are; 1.      The great didactic on teaching methods. 2.      Orbispictus the world in pictures. 1.      To translate his ideas of universal education into reality. He divided the period from childhood to adulthood into 21 age ranges each constituting six years. 3.      The period of home or part of it in the nursery training senses. ·         (0-6) the development of the ability to speak mother’s tongue ·         (7-12) elementary school which had to be provided by the state citing one school in every village. ·         (13-18) secondary grammar school which was the adolescence was fully provided by the state, the aim of education was to train intelligence and understanding through a general and liberal curriculum. ·         (19-24) Education for youth’s universities of academy provided by the state all these levels were to be all on international (collegiums lucid) whose function was to co-operate unity or learning.

Comenius suggested gilding in the classroom.

1.      Children are usually curious and willing to learn provided they see the immediate purpose of doing so. 2.      Let learning by children be without tears. 3.      Let children learn through drawing pictures and painting. 4.      Memory work should be little; teacher should explain and must be thoroughly understood by the children before they commit it to memory. 5.      Institutions must be made to fit the child’s level of understanding and development. 6.      Subjects should be graded according to progressive degree of newness and difficulty learning from known to unknown. 7.      Classroom should be well lit bright, pleasant, decorative pictures and other learning aids. 8.      The school must be made a house of joy not a place of torture it should be located in beautiful surrounding with good scenery and quite atmosphere. 9.      The whole education structure must be carefully graded so that the children are grouped according to the method appropriate to their understanding that is carefully construction of the curriculum. 10.  Attention should be paid when drawing up the syllabus.

 Maria Montessori (1870-1952) and Western Education

She was born in Italy and she was the first female to graduate from the University of Rome in 1894. After her graduation she was appointed to work as an assistant doctor at a psychiatric clinic at the same university. She was interested in the education of the mentally retarded children. In 1907 she opened the first casa dei bambini (children’s house) this was the school of the young children insane Lorenzo slum. Her success at this school led to the opening of many other Montessori schools and made her travel widely. Among the countries she went to India Europe and USA were she lectured and wrote a lot of material and established teacher training programmes. In 1922 She was appointed as government inspector of schools she failed the country in 1934 due to political tension and settle in the Netherlands. Montessori emphasized on the development of initiative and a sense of perception through physical freedom and self-help instruction materials. She also emphasized on the development of reading and writing skills in early childhood. She also said that the material used should be simple and able to arouse learners’ interest they must also be designed specifically to encourage individual effort rather than cooperative effort. Montessori also said that there was a link between mental and physical growth in individuals. She encouraged the use of small pieces of furniture that would suit the size of learners.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

He was a French political philosopher and an educationist; he was born in genera Switzerland his parents were of French protestant origin. Rousseau is referred in most cases as the father of progressivism. His views on the child were in most cases contrary to the society of his time. His works had the dippiest and vastest importance on teaching methods and education in general. His educational ideas were written in a book called Emile and they brought about a new beginning in the way children were looked up. He said that education was for the development of the child’s ability to cope with his own problems and needs and not for the preparation for some long-distance adulthood. He further said that education for the child suit forms on his own experience, interest and needs and education should be provided by the state and it should be in stages from infancy to adolescence. He rejects the image of the child as a fruit of sin as it was believed in them. He said that education was an ark in which humanity was to be saved from the flood (ignorance). he said true education is self-education and the education of children should begin at home. Parents should play their role but should not preach to the child. They should only set a good example and make the child make his/her decisions because the child will not be anything else than what he/she is destined to be. He presented that for proper education to take place, the child should have a lot of freedom and the teacher must not impose (lay on) his will on the child. Rousseau said that the teacher should be acquainted with the child. He rejected all forms of education based on the principles of authority. He also argued that children should not be introduced to pre-digested texts as doing so would be imprisoning them. He did not favour strict discipline or any form of corporal punishment. He said the teacher must accomplish his mission of teaching in such a way that all pupils believe s/he her/himself is the master while it is the teacher who is. He added that the PPIs are totally dependent on their teacher loving care. He condemned the custom of his time where were sent away to be cared for and educated by other people and that each child should be taken and treated as an individual.

 Fredrick Froebel (1782-1852) German

He was a German and a teacher for most of his active life and he was also an education reformer. He organized kindergarten (garden of children). this was a form of preschool schooling. The idea of a school for every child was originally advocated by Comenius who said that children should receive the same education in the early childhood of their lives. However, Froebel got the credit and was honoured as the founder of the kindergarten movement. He said kindergarten should have a lot of physical activities. He further said the correction of the kindergarten curriculum should be play activities for the children and that games are the children most serious occupation. He saw the play as a form that children activity looks in the quest of self-development towards the internal unity that unites all things (God). He designed most of the games that are played with the ball. He developed a sense of unity when a child played with a longer wooden cube divided into smaller cubes of equal sizes; the child learns the relationship between the whole and apart. He emphasized games in which children were arranged in circles so as to convey the idea of unity. He also said drawing; painting, paper folding and cutting and clay moulding were forms of self-activities that should be included in kindergarten. Singing should also be given attention as a self-activity. Pictures, words that match withdrawing should also be used in teaching kindergarten. He also said that larger classes should be taught using the monitorial method of teaching and that teaching should be from familiar to less familiar and teachers should always draw conclusions.

Johannes Herbart (1776-1841)

He was a German philosopher and educator and one of pioneers of modern western education. He lived between 1776-1841. He studied Pestalozzi’s ideas and methods of teaching before coming up with his own which he developed and tested at a nearby secondary school. He later founded a teacher training college to broadcast his teaching methods. He combined philosophy and psychology.

Educational Ideas

He said the mind at birth is a tabula rasa (a clean state) without any innate or inborn powers and without tendencies towards goodness or badness. He said a mind is a unity with conscious and sub-conscious parts and that all knowledge is derived from impressions and ideas which enter the mind and get processed by it (knowledge is due to the environment). He believed, advised and argued that whatever inequalities arise in knowledge, education and other qualities of a person are due to the environment. He objected to the genetic doctrine which proposed that learning traits are inherited by children from their parents at birth. He emphasized the importance of a conducive and well-structured learning environment. He also stressed the indispensable role of a teacher in education. According to Herbart the aim of education is to produce a morally good person with an urge from the inside to do what is right and good, with knowledge of what is good and right. Education should also enable an individual to possess the will and determination to do what has been learned. Instructions that are given must fulfil two important functions which are; impart the knowledge of what is good and develop the will to do. Knowledge will only be adequate if it encompasses physical, moral, aesthetic and emotional interest as such care must be taken when preparing the curriculum so that all interests are intergraded. Subjects should bring out an interrelation and be broken down to syllabi and into learning tasks logically. Learning must be from known to unknown, simple difficulty. Children should not be left alone to learn over themselves because they have insufficient experiences. They must be introduced gradually to the existing store of culture. The teacher must first arouse the interest of the child in the topic of instructions. He greatly emphasized that for instructions to be properly presented five steps must be followed. 1.      Preparation; this step involves planning what to teach and review what the pupils learnt previously. 2.      Presentation; this step involves considering what has been prepared is going to be presented (methods of teaching) it emphasizes doing things logically and clearly analysing bits of information and explaining foreign terms (words). 3.      Association; in this step pupils make comparisons between new knowledge and old knowledge with the guidance of the teacher. 4.      Systemization; here there is reviewing or recapitulating what has been learnt drawing summaries and conclusions. 5.      Application; this step involves trying out and applying knowledge in solving problems.

 John Dewey (1859-1952)Role on Modern Western Education

 He was an American philosopher and educator. He was born in 1859 in Vermont, he is said to be the major contributor to the philosophy of pragmatism which is also referred to as experimentalism, instrumentalism or empiricism. He wrote two books in which ideas of education are summarized and these are; democracy and education (1916) and experience and education (1938) He presented that man is capable of infinitely progressing through education. He came to this conclusion after examining Darwin’s biological theory of evolution which suggests that man gradually evolve through natural processes of development from the simplest cell to the complex structure of what he is now. It is believed that man with his intelligence will continuously come up with ways and means of improving his ability in order to survive. Dewey modified and improved the child-centred concepts in education which were originally developed by Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel. Dewey focused his attention on the principle of taking action immediately there is a need in order to solve a problem instantly. He presented that there are four steps in solving problems which are; 1.      Identifying the problem; this stage involves being aware that there is something that requires attention. 2.      Formation of the hypothesis; this involves a close study of the cause of the problem so as to come up with a solution. This stage also involves critical thinking so as to see the effectiveness of every protocol and the outcome of the suggestions. 3.      Collection of data; this stage involves the collection of suitable information or tools required to try out the hypothesis. 4.      Testing the hypothesis or idea; this stage is about trying out all the identified ideas (hypothesis) in order to finally arrive at the solution.

Education Ideas

Dewey advances that learning takes place through daily experiences as such education should aim at helping someone to cope with life daily. He also discouraged where the teacher exercises great authority. He also says the school should be an extension of the home where learning-related and continues. He presents that the child should not be removed from its environment but be helped to get equipped with the intelligence that will help reform the society. The school should provide the child with experience for both group living and cooperative activities. Learning should be logical; beginning with the child current experience to new experiences, all subjects should uphold the child’s centeredness. Learning should be by doing through group work. Learners should consult the teacher freely when faced with difficulties that they are unable to solve or deal with. Learning should focus on problem-solving and not information storage.

  John Locke (1532-1704)

He was born in 1632 and his father was a lawyer. His education ideas are contained in his major works, “thought on education” and the “essay” in these works John Locke aimed at examining and determining the nature and possible extent of human knowledge in the essay, he opposed the theory of tabula rasa (innate ideas), he presented that experience was the basis of all knowledge. Locke said that mental activities are primarily concerned with either the object of the external world or with the operation of the mind. Knowledge of the external is arrived at through activities of the sense organs. He further presents that children get ideas from sensation and experiences. The way the children grow older they begin to contemplate on the operation of their own. The ideas that enter consciously from these two sources are termed simple ideas.

EDUCATION IDEAS

Locke argued that since man’s facilities and abilities can develop in any direction it is important to ensure the exercise only those powers which give individuals experience and skills in the right direction (powers of the body and mind) he suggested that children should be protected from factors of the environment which are harmful to the physical development like Rousseau. He believed in the use of controlled environment and that all knowledge that could be harmful to the child should not be given.