Education and Schooling

Unit 2 History and Philosophy of Education

The Common Sense Revolution was the political platform of the Conservative government under Premier Mike Harris. It became the profile for his years in office.

A period of major changes in Education. Some have said that a crisis was deliberately created in order to effect change and the crisis was an attack on teachers and a major reform to the education system.

Strengthen the curriculumEliminate OAC’s and bring in higher standardsEstablish province-wide standards & implement

accountability testing Institute a standard report cardReduce the number of school boardsReduce the number of school board trusteesEliminate waste and bureaucracy Institute a provincial funding model on a per pupil

basis Fund education provincially and remove the option to

supplement provincial education dollars with local tax levies ( an equality of access model).

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June 27th, 1996 – Bill 31, The Ontario College of Teachers Act Established teachers as professionals in the province by

creating their own self-regulating body. April 23rd, 1997 – Bill 104, The Fewer School Boards

Act School Board Amalgamation and Restructuring

December 1st, 1997 – Bill 160, The Education Reform Act Created the Student Focused Funding Formula and was the first

piece of legislation in Ontario that regulated class sizeJune 20th, 2000 – Bill 74, The Increase Education

Quality Act Introduced accountability with standardized assessment, testing

and reporting

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1996 Launched the Largest Public Consultation ever

carried out by the province. Two million Excellence in Education consultation packages were sent out with over 20 000 responses.

1997 Government announces new 4 year curriculum for

Secondary School and consults 55 provincial stakeholders about new streaming models, tougher diploma requirements, coop/work education ;to come into effect in 1999.

Tough new elementary math and language curriculum is rolled-out.

New elementary report cards announced and phased in for the 1997-1998 school year.

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199815 specialist teams of teachers, professors, and

community members come together to write the new secondary school curriculum.

School Boards were given money to prepare to for new curriculum ($10M)

New elementary curriculum for science, Phys. Ed., FSL/ESL, arts, social sciences, geography and kindergarten were released.

Over 250 organizations as well as teachers, parents, universities, colleges and business leaders reviewed and responded to the new draft curriculum for grades 9 & 10

“Stepping Up” Guide is released to prepare Grade 8 students for life in high school and beyond (transition).

Revision of curriculum from grades 1-12Criterion referenced assessmentDesign down curriculum planningElimination of Grade 13Academic ,applied and open levelsGrades 11 and 12 – Open, University, College,

University/College, WorkplaceLocally developed coursesOntario Secondary School Literacy (OSSLT)

requirement30 credits remained ;however changed to 18

compulsory

Development of curriculum continuum Comprehensive and Consistent Program for Grades 1 – 12

Development of curriculum in a Logical Sequence

Student –focused fundingChoices Into Action (career focus support

document)Funding for Ontario Youth Apprenticeship

Program (OYAP) Technical Education Renewal Initiative (TERI)

Group 1 – prior to 1760Group 2 – 1760- 1867Group 3- 1867- 1919Group 4- 1919-1950Group 5- 1950-1960Group 6- 1960- 1972Group 7- 1972- 1980Group 8- 1980- 1999Group 9- 1999-present

In your groups you are to put a significant event within your given time period on a separate piece of paper

You will be asked to place the events on the timeline on the board under your assigned time period.

At the end we will have a complete visual of our history of education on a timeline.

Educational philosophy consists of what you believe about education--- the set of principles that guides your professional action.

Every teacher, whether he or she recognizes it, has a philosophy of education—a set of beliefs about how human beings learn and grow and what one should learn in order to live the good life.

Your behaviour as a teacher is strongly connected to beliefs about:

Teaching and learningStudentsKnowledgeWhat is worth knowing Personal philosophical beliefs

Teaching and Learning

Students

Knowledge

What is worth knowing

Philosophical areas

Philosophy of

Education

Teaching Behaviour

Most important component of your teaching philosophy is “how you view teaching and learning”.

What is the teacher’s primary role?Is the teacher a subject matter expert?Is the teacher a helpful adult who establishes

caring relationships with students and nurtures their growth in needed areas?

Is the teacher a skilled guide, managing the needs of many students at once?

Should there be an emphasis on the student’s experiences and cognitions.

Others stress student’s behaviours as the central component to learning.

Some believe that learning are the changes in thoughts or actions that result from personal experience; that learning is largely the result of internal forces within the individual.

Some view learning as the “association between various stimuli and responses. Here learning results from forces that are external to the individual”.

Your beliefs about students will have a great influence on how you teach:

Teachers formulate an image of what students are like....

What you believe ...based on your unique life experiences, particularly your observations of young people and your knowledge of human growth and development.

“the truly professional teacher—recognizes that, although children differ in their predisposition to learn and grow, they all can learn.”

“How a teacher views knowledge is directly related to how she or he goes about teaching”

If a teacher believes that knowledge is the sum of total of small bits of subject matter , then their students will spend a great deal of time learning in a rote manner.

Some teachers view knowledge more conceptually, as consisting of the big ideas that enable us to understand and influence the environment. Such teachers would want their students to explain reasoning behind their answers.

Teachers differ in their beliefs as to whether increased understanding of personal experiences is a legitimate form of knowledge.

Teachers have different ideas of what should be taught

Some believe that reading, writing and computation are the most important.

Others believe that it is the school’s responsibility to prepare people for the world of work.

Learning how to reason, communicate effectively, and solve problems are important to many. Students who have mastered these cognitive processes will have learned how to learn…

Six branches of philosophy and the questions they address:

Metaphysics-What is the nature of reality?Epistemology- What is the nature of

knowledge?Axiology- What values should one live by?Ethics-What is good and evil, right and wrong?Aesthetics-What is beautiful?Logic—What reasoning processes yield valid

conclusions?

epistemology axiology ethics

metaphysics aesthetics logic

Select a branch per groupAt your table research this branch of philosophyAsk the question, how does this relate to

teaching?Prepare to share with the whole groupConsult pages 81-84 0f your text, Becoming a

Teacher, as a starting point.