Welcome back
bloggers!
Today’s blog
will be based on the meaning of pedagogy and what is the purpose of education. According to Webster (no date), pedagogy is “the art, science, or profession of teaching”, Donaldson provides a way more in depth meaning of the word pedagogy. He believes that “the review’s ambitions can only be translated into reality for children and young people through teachers’ and other education practitioners’ professional skill and judgement in selecting appropriate teaching methods” (Donaldson, G, 2015).
The national curriculum was introduced in 1985, and has now been reviewed by Professor Graham Donaldson. He has proposed immense changes that should be made, as the current national curriculum does not provide pupils with enough support that prepares them for the future. This is because the national curriculum can be viewed as outdated because we have come such a long way regarding technology since the 1900’s, and technology will now be one of the main uses and skills learned within education, and will be known as ‘Digital Competence'.
Donaldson (2015) suggests that education is all about giving the pupils “fresh opportunities to provide interesting and challenging learning experiences”. In keeping with this quote, I believe that the purpose of education is to develop autonomous and creative thinkers. A theorist that can relate to this statement is Maria Montessori who stated the importance of intellectual, behavioural, and emotional autonomy. She believed that if a child could develop all three; then they are capable or becoming in-charge of their own life (Montessori, M,1965).
Montessori (1965) suggested that the purpose of the Montessori education is to “foster autonomous, competent, responsible, adaptive citizens who are life-long learners and problem solvers”. This quote links to the above statement, but also links to the statement “Education is the development of skills, knowledge, and self-discipline” that I believe is the second most important statement as to what I think the purpose of education is. Noddings (2013), also agrees with this statement and said that “A primary purpose of schooling in a democratic society is to produce thoughtful citizens who can deliberate and make wise choices".
Even
though I don’t believe that a main priority of the education system should be
to prepare students to earn a living, I have found academic literature that
states differently. Whilst undergoing some research related to this statement, Anonymous
(2015) stated that “rather than to promote a passion for learning and developing
the mind, education led to a job that would augment the nation's economic power”.
This quote suggests that the child’s emotional well-being may well not be as
important as preparing them for the competitive work-life ahead of them in the
future. However, Engle (2015) completely disagrees with the previous quote by
stating how education should be for happiness and not for money.
To
summarise this blog, please read the following quote and reflect within the
comment box below:"Earning a decent wage in adulthood... should not define our thinking about what and how children should learn" (Engle, S, 2015).
Reference List
Anonymous
(2015). Purpose of education. Journal of
Developmental Education, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 36. Available from: https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.cardiffmet.ac.uk/docview/1689343058?rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo [Accessed: 14th November
2017].
Donaldson,
G (2015) ‘Successful Futures – Report on
the Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales’ Available at: http://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/media/uwtsd-website/content-assets/documents/wcee/successful-futures.pdf [Accessed: 5th November
2017].
Engel,
S (2015). The End of the Rainbow: How Educating for Happiness Not Money Would
Transform Our Schools, The New Press. ProQuest Ebook Central. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cardiffmet-trial/detail.action?docID=1792345 [Accessed: 14th November
2017].
Noddings,
N (2013) Education and Democracy in the
21st Century. New York: Teachers College Press North American Montessori Center (2017) ‘Why Choose Montessori: Intellectual, Behavioural, Emotional Autonomy’ Available at: http://montessoritraining.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/why-montessori-part-ii-autonomy.html [Accessed: 13th November 2017].
Webster,
M (no date) ‘Definition of EDUCATION’ Available
at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/education [Accessed: 22nd October 2017].
This is a great blog! I agree with Engle (2015) that earning a decent wage should not define what or how children learn since there are a lot of other factors that influence the curriculum and pedagogical practices however, I feel that if children have a sense of understanding about what future lifestyle or profession they want then this will have a significant impact on education. By understanding children's interests a teacher with an effective pedagogical approach will personalise the curriculum in order to meet the needs of their learners (Johnson, 2004).
ReplyDeleteReferences
Engle, S. (2015) The End of the Rainbow: How Educating for Happiness Not Money Would Transform Our Schools, The New Press, London.
Johnson, M. (2004) Personalised Learning- an Emperor’s Outfit? Available at: http://www.ippr.org/files/uploadedFiles/projects/PL%20paper%20for%20publication.PDF (Acessed: 25th November)