Introduction
Philosophy of education is a research area of philosophy that analyzes the foundations of pedagogical activity and education, its goals and ideals, the methodology of pedagogical knowledge, and methods of designing and creating new educational institutions and systems (Noddings, 2018). Modern philosophy in various countries has its disciplinary status and well-established academic traditions maintained in schools, colleges, and universities. Throughout its history, the philosophy of education has often been associated with other philosophical movements, identifying education goals with political, social, and even economic goals.
Basic Provisions
Educational Mission
The primary fundamental educational mission of my philosophy is multi-criteria, respectively, including many provisions affecting each aspect of education. Pedagogy began to have a social bias only in the 1960s, thanks to K. Popper’s critical rationalism (Carr, 2021). The philosophical movement has resulted in criticism of long-term planning and design of educational programs and the proliferation of democratic institutions within educational administration. Firstly, this is the development of social pedagogy, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of students, the processes of mutual communication, and the social climate within the educational team. Secondly, it is an emphasis on critical thinking, which, as a result, opposes pedagogical totalitarianism in the field of theories and accepted paradigms of specific scientific fields.
From this, the educational mission focuses on students, not on a product that should be ideal according to specific criteria. It views students as individuals with their interests, problems, scientific biases, and opportunities. This fact refers to the progressive postulates of J. Dewey (Williams, 2017), who argued that education is based on the needs and interests of students. Further, following in the footsteps of T. Kuhn and his concept of scientific paradigms and revolutions, he confirms the need for critical thinking, not limited by the usual laws adopted by the current scientific community. The educational function fosters different scientific views in students, and the possibility of a new scientific revolution depends entirely on future generations passing these stages of education.
Nevertheless, the change of paradigms has always occurred among highly educated people. Therefore the direct function of education in the form of delivering knowledge to students should remain unchanged. Here the status of theoretical knowledge is communicated with descriptive pedagogy. It means that students receive knowledge but do not receive value judgments in any form. Accordingly, they can critically perceive theories known to the scientific world, thereby developing logical intuition and erudition. This interpretation of pedagogy later led to the emergence of pedagogical anthropology, which emphasizes the biological insufficiency of a person and the importance of upbringing and education. In my personal philosophy of education, the thesis put forward that the center of the educational mission is the student, who, due to his interests, needs and capabilities, must comprehend the fundamental foundations of the sciences, leaving a broad scope for creativity and critical thinking even of established and proven laws.
Teachers and Students
Nowadays, science and technology are developing rapidly, which requires an appropriate pace of development of education. The emergence of such a phenomenon as the information society has entailed many social and state changes that directly affect society, including students. In the age of robotics, labor automation, creativity, and humanity of future generations are required more than ever. It should be noted here that pedagogical anthropology must undergo convergence with the dialogical philosophy of education. The importance of developing practical communication skills, the ability to smooth out conflicts, and the upbringing of universal norms of behavior in interpersonal relationships directly affect the student’s becoming a full-fledged member of society.
One of the possible ways of applying the dialogical features of the philosophy of education is the example of a teacher. The role of the teacher is determined by a wide range of functions that contribute not only to professional educational skills but also to communicative, creative, and modern ones. Reducing the educational process demands goes back to Illich and Freire’s ideas (ZbrzeĹşniak, 2019). The idea of conviviality, which determines cooperation and self-esteem of communication between people and between man and nature, has an empathic character. Nevertheless, too radical anti-pedagogical ideas do not echo either modern education or my personal philosophy.
School Environment
The educational process, with its structure and hierarchy, has certain advantages. Students learn a discipline within which they learn more about themselves and their capabilities and streamline any of their activities. These organizational skills are essential in almost any profession. In some, they are even critical. In addition, students develop respect for the other person’s time, respect for elders, and social norms. This model is fundamental in the upbringing of students of my personal philosophy. However, the educational function is much more accessible and presupposes a plurality of pedagogical theories, which is consistent with the most recent postmodern philosophy of education (Peters et al., 2018). Its representatives are D. Lenzen, W. Fischer and W. Doll.
This philosophy, in turn, has something in common with the critical-emancipatory direction, showing a nihilistic attitude towards the institution of the school. The school is a fundamental institution in society, as graduates, using these social and institutional relations, are guided by the principles adopted in the school structure (Hodgson et al., 2018). Students’ behavior within a class group is governed by the norms of universal human values in the upbringing of which teachers are involved. Given the current policy of respectful and tolerant attitude in the world, eradicating discrimination and structural racism only emphasizes the need to create a comfortable learning environment.
Ideas for organizing the educational process are often expressed in the form of compensatory and remedial programs. These programs imply the differentiation of the educational process, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the students, division into interest groups while maintaining contact with other groups. Although these programs are still considered elements of additional extracurricular education, their implementation has shown promising results in student performance and the development of communication skills and respect among students of different social words of society, ages, and races (Villamarin & Benson, 2020). The possible integration of interest-based groups and subjects, creating an environment for open discussion, and the support of individuality are the basis for my personal philosophy of education.
In a sense, this concept echoes the ideas of P. Feyerabend, a supporter of anarchist views on the process of scientific cognition (Niaz, 2020). However, successful trends in the use of other generally accepted techniques have contributed to many scientific discoveries. Therefore, the difference between the ideas of P. Feyerabend and my personal philosophy of education lies in the scale of radicalism about methodologies. My personal philosophy of education determines the complete openness of all methods, known or unknown, for their use by students in the process of cognitive or creative scientific activity. It is possible to achieve such goals by applying H. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Music and picture smarts promote creativity. People, self, and nature smarts develop human values, understanding, and respect. Finally, the last two smarts are the basis for the student’s scientific activities (Chen & Gardner, 2018). Consequently, students should be taught a basic, generally accepted set of subjects and sciences and arts, in which the curriculum is creative. All subjects are accompanied by open discussions and the creation of interest groups that also communicate with each other.
Children with special needs often have their own learning pace, which is different from that of the general group. Therefore, the educational process should be organized for them separately. However, within the framework of open discussions, and additional interest groups, they are included in activities along with all children, which develops their communication skills and adapts them to activities in society.
Conclusion
Thus, my personal philosophy of education takes various aspects and functions from other philosophical concepts, collecting them into a single shell of provisions. My philosophy combines the ideas of such philosophers as K. Popper, J. Dewey, T. Kuhn, and W. Doll. The critical-rationalistic direction is combined with the critical-emancipatory one. The ideas of pedagogical anthropology, dialogical philosophy of education, and postmodern trends are used. This set of areas largely influences my personal philosophy of education.
The main goals and objectives of education are to convey a wide range of knowledge to students, develop erudition and scientific intuition, leaving space for critical thinking and creativity. Openness and freedom of expression in discussions mean individually understanding different theories and developing respect for other points of view. The teacher’s role and effectiveness are determined by their competence in educating universal human norms of behavior and maintaining the quality necessary in a modern information society. The pluralism of pedagogical practices opens the possibility of a constant search and improvement of the direct educational function, the obligatory criterion of students’ participation in discussions on the development and increase of interest in the educational process. Encouraging creativity in science and art, a variety of activities, and freedom of the educational process while maintaining the educational function of discipline and respect, in general, creates a favorable learning environment and determines the basic principles of the provisions of the institution of education.
References
Carr, W. (2021). Introduction What is the Philosophy of Education?. In The Routledgefalmer Reader in Philosophy of Education (pp. 1-14). Routledge.
Chen, J. Q., & Gardner, H. (2018). Assessment from the Perspective of Multiple‑Intelligences Theory. Contemporary Intellectual Assessment: Theories, Tests, and Issues, 164.
Hodgson, N., Vlieghe, J., & Zamojski, P. (2018). Education and the Love for the World: articulating a post-critical educational philosophy. Foro de EducaciĂłn, 16(24), 7-20.
Niaz, M. (2020). Understanding Epistemological Anarchism (Feyerabend) in Research Reported in the Journal Science & Education (Springer). In Feyerabend’s Epistemological Anarchism (pp. 39-69). Springer, Cham.
Noddings, N. (2018). Philosophy of Education. Routledge.
Peters, M. A., Tesar, M., & Jackson, L. (2018). After postmodernism in educational theory? A collective writing experiment and thought survey. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(14), 1299-1307.
Villamarin, A., & Benson, G. (2020). Adaptive/Assistive Technology & Compensatory/Remediated Instruction. University of the People Press.
Williams, M. K. (2017). John Dewey in the 21st century. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 9(1), 7.
Zbrzeźniak, U. (2019). Materiality of body, materiality of world—remarks on emancipatory education: Illich, Freire and contemporary political philosophy. ARGUMENT: Biannual Philosophical Journal, 9(2), 237-251.