Western philosophers and their contributions for ECCE

1. Contributions of John Amos Commonius (1592 – 1670)

Commonius is generally regarded as a “Father of modern education”. He wrote books

extensively on religion and education topics. One of his books called ‘The Great Didactic’ gives
hints to teachers regarding the aims of education, curriculum, text books and methods of
teaching. He wrote 6 books for children, one of his famous books was ‘The World in Pictures’.
He wrote books based on the needs of the children, including the use of pictures to arouse
interest and to catch attention.

Bibliographical note: He was born in Moravia Province of Czechoslavia. He grew up in a small

community of Moravians and was so much influenced by the religious ideas of those days and
their impact was seen on his educational ideas. When he was working as a school master in
Poland, he produced his educational writings.

His Ideas and Contributions:

1. He objected to the frightening method adopted for teaching students. He believed that
punishment was sometimes necessary but should not be associated with school work.
2. He proposed a system of schools covering the period from birth to maturity. The whole
period must be divided into 4 distinct grades - Infancy, Childhood, Boyhood and Youth,
each grade should be covered periodically with greater importance to infancy.
3. He suggested shorter school hours, longer play, sound health, better bodily development
and less strain.
4. Children should be encouraged to play games.
5. Teachers should make school work interesting and keep children relaxed. Desire for
learning must not be forced but kindled.
6. He favored group teaching- teaching comprising of ten students in each group.
7. He laid more stress on practical than theory. He said that what has to be done, must be
learned by practice.
8. He believed that learning will take place through the senses. Hence education should
stimulate the senses of sight, hearing, smell, sound and touch and develop the child’s
powers of observation.
9. He also emphasized that education should be natural and lively. There is no use in
dumping the mind with dead ideas and words.
10. The school should be a pleasant place, colorful and attractive with pictures inside and
outside.
11. The school should have an open place and a garden should be attached to it.
12. Commonius believed that the children should be told “spiritual’’ and “secular” (not
related to any religion) stories.
 2. Contributions of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1798)

Biographical note: Rousseau was a Swiss by birth. He introduced a movement in education,

called ‘Naturalism’. The basic idea of naturalism is that the natural growth of children in a
natural environment constituted an adequate education. He wrote 2 books titled “Emile " &
“Social Contract”, which gave his educational philosophy.

His Ideas & Contributions:

1. He gave importance to nature, believed that nature would take care of children. One
should not impose training over them in terms of our adult tastes and ways.
2. Make games an education and education games.
3. Teach more from life and less from books, using many objects, pictures, illustrations and
few words.
4. Teachers should try to win children’s confidence; they should stimulate the minds of
children with things which they can understand.
5. He was against harsh discipline and insisted that freedom is essential for children.
6. The child must learn from his own experience and should not be spoon fed.
7. According to him natural growth of children in a natural environment is considered as
true/proper education.

Implications:

1. The natural play materials like water, sand, clay and different types of colors used in
preschools are based on his ideas and these help in the growth of spontaneous activity in
children.
2. The current emphasis on the study of environment for children is also based on the
philosophy of naturalism.

3. Contributions of Henry Pestalozzi (1746 – 1827)

Biographical note: Henry Pestalozzi was born in Zurich, Switzerland. He wrote a manual for
mothers with the title “How Gertrude Teaches Her Children”. He said that "task of educating
child inevitably began with the mother during the preschool period. The children can learn all the
basic facts and skills during this period this saves time of their school teachers and permit them
to give more advanced education".

His father died when he was five years old. He was brought up by mother and a faithful servant.
He did not attend school until he was 9 years old. Instead of playing with children of his own age
he stayed indoors and listened to stories and did some daydreaming. He was always placed
indoors, deprived of masculine society, continually dominated by women and kept way from the
reality outside his home. His character during early years seemed to be shy, awkward, absent
minded, emotional, impressionable, impractical and intuitive. He ran an orphanage at Burgdoff
and Munchenbunch and became a founder of a school in Yourdon

His Ideas and Contributions: His basic philosophy of education emphasizes that education
should be seen from the developing mind of the child, not from the already developed mind of
the child. Education should be from within and not from without. Child should not be treated as a
subject matter, should be the centre of educational system. Growth was more important than
achievement. The aim of the education should be harmonious development of all powers–moral,
intellectual & physical.

Aids to teaching: He developed various materials and made great use of object lessons. Object
lesson- teaching children through objects. Ex. keeps an object before the child and let him tell
what he saw. Encourage the child to observe and ask him to express his observations in correct
language. Encourage the child to prepare albums containing drawings, maps, mathematical
problems using natural objects. He attached great importance to games. His idea was that the
child should not remain inactive.

Implications: Pestalozzi was the fore runner of the modern progressive education. His schools
were based on the children’s nature and the spontaneous activities have influenced the present
day preschool education which emphasizes the manipulation of objects, play and games.

4. Contributions of Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (1782 – 1852)

Biographical note: Frobel was born in Prussia in 1782. He studied preschool education through
his perusal of Pestalozzi’s “Mother’s Book”. He started his “kindergarten” at Blankenburg. It is a
German word which means garden of children. He developed Play gifts (these are packed in
boxes with printed directions for use) and play songs (these are printed with illustrations).

His Ideas and Contributions:

 Child was the sole source of educational principles; the teacher has to simply follow
where the students lead.
 Child develops himself through his own creative activities.
 Self activity is important for the education of children. Child needs to be given freedom
of action.
 He insisted upon the necessity of a unified inner life and peace which can be brought by
play. According to him Play gives joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest, peace
with the world.

Froebel’s kindergarten centered around 3 procedures

1. Use of his gifts

 2. Singing of Songs
3. Playing of various educational games in the play circle.

Play material: The materials were of two types: Geometrical Patterns and the essentials for such
activities as modeling, drawing, sewing and coloring. The Geometric patterns were known as
“gifts” and the activities as “Occupations”. Gifts allow free play to the child which facilitates all
round development of personality.

The two other elements of Froebel’s Kindergarten were ‘Play circles’ and ‘Play songs’.

The Curriculum: Froebel’s curriculum was an active curriculum. It includes:

 Self expressive activities through play

 Rhyming and rhythm are essential to expression of language
 Hand works are an opportunity for expression
 Nature study
 Gifts and occupations to stimulate motor expression
 Co-operative play and group games

5. Contributions of John Dewey (1859-1959)

Biographical note: John Dewey was born in October 1859. His experiences form the core of his
philosophy of education. His significant books in education are “School and Society”, the “Child
and the curriculum”, “Democracy and Education” and “Experience and Education”. His
educational theory consists of following aims or principles:

 Education is life
 Education as social efficiency
 Education should combine theory and practice
 Education is experience

Dewey’s Concept of Education:

 School is a miniature society and social efficiency is the basic aim of education.
 Education is not preparation for life but life in itself.
 Education should be based on individual interests and capacities of the child.
 The child must be an active learner.
 Education must include activities and experience centered curriculum.
 His educational philosophy is called “Pragmatism”.

Pragmatism - It stresses action rather than reflection. The important principle of pragmatism is
learning by doing and the child learns much better from his own activity rather than from
instruction.
  Education should be active because activity leads to moral development.
 The important element in education is freedom.
 Education is a social necessity because it leads to development of social qualities in an
individual.
 Education should try to create a free atmosphere in which the child may remain active,
feel pleasure and do hard work and also participate in the consciousness of social life.
 The child learns most effectively when he is able to complete definite job. Therefore any
work can be divided in to a series of tasks, jobs or projects which can be finished in
reasonable time limits. Children thus get joy and pride doing such jobs and in their
completion.

6. Contributions of Maria Montessori (1870 – 1952)

Maria Montessori developed a new system of education as a joyful process of self discovery and
self realization. She tried new materials and methods for children and she succeeded in it. She
applied these materials for slum children in 1907. She created a learning environment through
her approach called the ‘Montessori method’.

Biographical note: Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in Italy. She was working with mentally
retarded children and was influenced by the work of a French Psychiatrist O. Eduoard Seguin,
who had developed didactic materials for mentally retarded children for learning of
discrimination skills.

She achieved many accomplishments as a doctor, anthropologist and educator. She was a
scientist as well as democrat. She laid stress on the development of the child’s individuality to
the maximum. She did not believe on external motivation for accelerating learning. She pointed
out that child gets satisfaction out of his work, but not through fear of punishment or hope of
reward. She advocated education as a development process.

After her post graduation in psychiatry she worked as a Directress of Rome Orthophrenic school
for mentally retarded children.

Basic Ideas in Her Educational Philosophy

 She believed that education must help in the complete unfolding of the child’s
individuality
 Suitable environment should be provided so that the child may grow and develop her
potentiality. The children needs training of different types through exercises which are
instrumental in giving them motor education, sensory education and education for
language development.
  She was against material rewards and punishments. According to her, material rewards
are unnatural incentives and punishment leads to forced efforts on the part of the child.
 She believed that every child is unique and the rate of progress is also different for each
child. Collective methods of teaching crush the child’s individuality.
 The first six years of life is the most crucial period of a child’s life when the teacher can
capitalize on the natural energy of children.
 Montessori asserted that the senses are the gateways of knowledge. Their training and
development helps in the acquisition of knowledge throughout life. She pointed out that
the senses are very active during the early years and a lot of learning takes place during
this period.
 She also attached importance to motor and physical development as a part of the early
education of children.

The concept of Children’s House: The Montessori house / school consisted of a set of rooms
for intellectual work for individual play and a club room for play games and music, a dining
room, a dressing room and a garden.

 The Montessori system is child centered. The child is free to choose the activity his or her
desire. Yet, there is structure with freedom.
 The educator structures the activities so that their performance leads to a certain
development.
 The child is free to proceed through the activity at his/her own pace.
 Individualized teaching is the focal point of the Montessori Method i.e. the teaching
strategy is evolved individually for each child, based on her needs and interests. This
enables the child to progress at his or her own pace and promotes optimal development.

The Role of Teacher: Montessori replaces the word ‘teacher’ by the word ‘directress’, as she
thinks that the function of the teacher is to direct and not to teach.

Materials: She developed her own material by borrowing ideas from both Froebel and Seguin.
These are 3 types –

1. Designed to train senses

2. Teach practical skills
3. Adapt to the needs of school room life.

Montessori exercises are arranged in series from easy to difficult. Creating a learning
environment is essential for self realization of the children.

Her Contributions

 She believed that senses are the gate ways of learning. She stressed realistic methods of
learning through direct sense experience.
  She put more emphasis on freedom of the child. Self education or auto education is a
unique feature of her method. Environment should contain the means of auto education.
 Spontaneity is an essential characteristic of her education. She infused a spirit of respect
for the child and his personality
 She pursued child’s learning through activities that are interesting and challenging for
them.
 Emphasized upon careful observation of children by teachers and utilization of children’s
behavior as criteria for determining the validity of educational procedures.

7. Contributions of Susan Issacs (1895 – 1948)

Biographical note: Susan Issacs was born in 1895, was a pioneer in Early Childhood Education.
She studied a group of children in school setting at Malting House in England and published her
findings on the social, emotional and intellectual development of the children. Even now, her
books are useful for students of early childhood education. She believed that learning should be
linked with experiences. Susan was greatly influenced by the movement of Froebel’s psycho
analysis.

8. McMillan Sisters

Biographical note: The first nursery school was established in England by McMillan Sisters in
1911. They were born in New York.

Nursery curriculum: According to McMillan sisters’ nursery curriculum should include the
following six aspects –

1. Caring Aspects: includes eating, sleeping and outdoor activities.

2. Learning Activities: The younger children should be provided activities to teach self
caring skills and form boards. Older children should be given alphabet boards.
3. Perceptual Motor Activities: - Activities for self expression like clay modeling, building
blocks etc.
4. Garden Activities: planting trees, beds of flowers and vegetables, herbs were given to
provide sensory experiences of taste, smell and vision. Animals were kept for nurturing
activities like care, concern and sympathy.
5. Movement Activities: Include movement to extend their physical ability and way of
studying music.
 6. The knowledge of 3 ‘R’s: As the children grow older they were introduced to reading,
writing and arithmetic. The prerequisite skills / basic skills required for these 3 R’s
should be given in the nursery.

9. Waldorf Education

According to this, education is an art. Its goal is to present or give life to the children’s
experience with wonder and enthusiasm. The presentation of subject matter must be alive and
should be to the child’s experience.

To truly educate a child, the HEART and WILL must be reached as well as the MIND.

The intention is not merely to instruct, but to inspire and motivate each child’s creative forces
from within; to lead the child to a balanced development of clear and precise thought, a rich and
healthy emotional life, and a developed power of will which allows worthy application of his or
her thoughts and feelings to practical challenges in the world.

Children pass through basic stages of cognitive development and the Waldorf curriculum is
designed to engage the abilities of the growing child during each of these stages. In the preschool
this is accomplished through guided creative play; in the elementary school through the
imaginative and artistic presentation of material by the class teacher; and in high school through
challenging the student’s awakening capacity for independent thought.

Arts are an integral part of this curriculum. All students learn to paint and draw, beginning in
kindergarten. Sculpture also begins in kindergarten with the modeling of figures out of colored
beeswax and progresses to working with clay in the elementary school, stone and metal in high
school. All the children sing, play the recorder, learn to read music, and in third year begin
stringed instruments. Each year, every grade presents a play that relates to its academic
programme.

Each art follows a sequence of development from year to year and all of them supplement and
reinforce the main lesson curriculum. Artistic activity is woven into the entire fabric of each
subject and is used to teach all subjects.

Class teacher: One unique aspect of a Waldorf grade school is the class teacher. The class
teacher ideally remains with his or her students from first through eighth grade, facilitating a
strong bond of trust between students, parents and teacher. The class teacher presents the main
academic subjects, coordinates with the special subject teachers, and provides the link between
home and school. The class teacher is able to bring continuity to the curriculum. Through
intimate knowledge of the group of children. The class teacher is also able to select, emphasize,
and draw upon those aspects of a discipline that best address the needs and interests of the class.