Dewey
Dewey’s arguments in Experience and Education envisage teachers as discerning practitioners, capable of putting perceptive pedagogical insights to work in handling the demands of the practice. Make an appraisal of this claim, supporting your case by drawing in relevant ways on Dewey’s text.
It is inarguable that John Dewey’s comprehensive and carefully developed philosophy on education put forth in Experience and Education provides teachers with a set of ideas that can help them put perceptive pedagogical insights to work in handling the demands of the practice in question. In his book, he makes philosophical thought relevant to the needs of modern day teachers and no one can deny the great influence that his writings have had on theory and practice of education. Dewey makes an appraisal of Traditional and progressive education, and although he is opposed to an Either – Or system, he criticises traditional education as it places the emphasis completely on the subject content rather than the process by which the content is acquired. This, process, or the quality of the ‘experience’ of the students, is what is at the heart of true fruitful learning and forms the basis for Dewey’s theory. According to Dewey, experiences constitute two important factors; that of continuity (the impact of the experience on future experiences) and interaction (“The objective and internal factors”). In other words, one's present experience is a function of the interaction between one's past experiences and the present situation. Once the teacher is aware of the “active union” of continuity and interaction in forming and evaluating an experience, “there is incumbent upon him the duty of instituting a much more intelligent, and consequently more difficult kind of planning” that will ultimately result in a higher quality of education. The teacher must: “survey the capacities and needs of the particular set of individuals with whom he is dealing, and must at the same time arrange
It is inarguable that John Dewey’s comprehensive and carefully developed philosophy on education put forth in Experience and Education provides teachers with a set of ideas that can help them put perceptive pedagogical insights to work in handling the demands of the practice in question. In his book, he makes philosophical thought relevant to the needs of modern day teachers and no one can deny the great influence that his writings have had on theory and practice of education. Dewey makes an appraisal of Traditional and progressive education, and although he is opposed to an Either – Or system, he criticises traditional education as it places the emphasis completely on the subject content rather than the process by which the content is acquired. This, process, or the quality of the ‘experience’ of the students, is what is at the heart of true fruitful learning and forms the basis for Dewey’s theory. According to Dewey, experiences constitute two important factors; that of continuity (the impact of the experience on future experiences) and interaction (“The objective and internal factors”). In other words, one's present experience is a function of the interaction between one's past experiences and the present situation. Once the teacher is aware of the “active union” of continuity and interaction in forming and evaluating an experience, “there is incumbent upon him the duty of instituting a much more intelligent, and consequently more difficult kind of planning” that will ultimately result in a higher quality of education. The teacher must: “survey the capacities and needs of the particular set of individuals with whom he is dealing, and must at the same time arrange