EDUC 604: Articulating a Personal Philosophy of Schools & Learning

This essay presents a student's personal philosophy of schools and learning, drawing on references from Gutek and Graham. The author reflects on the long-range impact of education on individuals and society, emphasizing the importance of developing disciplines, logical thought processes, and a strong sense of morality. The essay critiques contemporary classroom learning for not fostering creativity and logical thinking, referencing Behaviourism and Cognitivism theories to support this argument. It further explores pedagogical practices, including Teacher-centered, Learner-centered, and Learning-centered approaches, advocating for a balanced approach that considers the school's environment and infrastructure. The author stresses the vital role of teachers in shaping young minds, suggesting student counseling programs and inclusive education for special populations. Desklib provides a platform to access similar essays and study resources for students.

Runnind Head: OBSERVATIONS ON SCHOOL AND LEARNING
OBSERVATIONS ON SCHOOL AND LEARNING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authoor Note

1OBSERVATIONS ON SCHOOL AND LEARNING
Education casts upon several significant impact on the society. The short-term effect
of education is the ability to become qualified enough to earn livelihood and reach to a higher
level of standard of living. The long -term effect of education are the development of
disciplines, logical thought process as well as a good sense of morality. We need to educate
our society so that breaking the shell of superstitions related to race and religion becomes
easier. According to my opinion, how much education is capable to influence the society
depends on several factors, which have been revealed from the research works conducted by
proficient researchers like Nuthal Graham and Gutek.
I believe that the thinking process of the young learners can be shaped using the vital
instrument called “Education”. According to my opinion, contemporary classroom
learning are not at all fruitful to construct a creative as well as logical mind. Nuthal
Graham realised the urgency to estimate the effectiveness of classroom learning in the
formation of reasoning abilities of the students and conducted a research in order to study
the thinking process of the students during their participation in the classroom. He had
taken some students elementary schools as his sample size and had taken an interview,
which was opened ended and equipped with video clips. The result revealed that
sometimes the thinking process is affected due to inappropriate communication as well as
the incapability of transforming a learning strategy verbally (Loeb et al., 2018). Another
thing, which was observed that the student attempted to imitate whatever instruction was
given by the teacher or written in the textbook. This thing can be related with the
Behaviourism Theory of Learning, in which the learners are considered passive. It is true
that the ideas of the learners are shaped through learning, but they should inculcate
reflective thinking too, which is not possible through imitation. Again, the result indicated
that the problem solving capacity of the learners were very low. In fact, the conventional
framework designed for classroom learning does not follow the Cognitivism Theory of

2OBSERVATIONS ON SCHOOL AND LEARNING
Learning properly which focuses on the assessment of the learner’s ability to solve
problem by applying the new as well as prior knowledge gathered in the classroom. This
proves the futility of the education system. Such education system is incapable of leaving
long-term effects like developing a sense of morality, integrity, realising the need to
abolish superstitious thinking (Graham, 2017). This indicates the need for appropriate
pedagogical practices to create long lasting effect through learning.
Pedagogical practices refers to the instructional approaches used by the teacger while
interacting with the student in the classroom. In case of Teacher-centred Pedagogy, the
teacher remains at the centre of the process of learning. In this practice, conventional methods
of teaching are followed which includes- whole-class lectures, Chorus answers etc. This
approach lacks the opportunities which student need to know their potentialities (Edward,
Waite & Passy, 2018). In case of Learner-centred Pedagogy, the learner are expected to play
an active role in the learning process. In this approach the students use their previous
l=knowledge to solve problem related to learning. This learning system gives the student the
chance to develop reflective thinking. There exists another kind of Pedagogy called Learning-
centred Pedagogy. Which is actually the conglomeration of both the previously discussed
pedagogy. This approach suggests the active participation of both the teacher and the student
in the learning process. According to this approach, the teacher should carefully adapt
pedagogical approaches depending environment and infrastructure of the school (Gutek,
2014). Along with adopting an appropriate pedagogy, there is a need to apply technical
methods of assessment to know how much each students are learning. Also, the students with
low concentration power should be trained with meditation techniques so that they can focus
on their studies more.
I always support the fact that, a teacher plays a vital role in the process of casting a
good impact on the tender minds of the students. The teacher should have enough knowledge

3OBSERVATIONS ON SCHOOL AND LEARNING
about student psychology will help them to communicate with an individual in a way the will
easily understand and revert. According to my opinion, this will be possible if the institutions
engaged in enlightening the tender minds, arrange programs like student counselling. I
believe that, patience and care on the part of the teacher will strengthen the teacher student
bonding which will make the learning process effective too. Also, the special population of
the society should never be ignored while improvising the education system, as they are also
an essential part of the society. The number of schools that provide an environment love and
empathy to the specially, abled students and assist them to spread their wings gently, should
be increased (Hagenauer, Hascher & Volet, 2015).

4OBSERVATIONS ON SCHOOL AND LEARNING
References
Edwards-Jones, A., Waite, S., & Passy, R. (2018). Falling into LINE: school strategies for
overcoming challenges associated with learning in natural environments
(LINE). Education 3-13, 46(1), 49-63.
Gutek, G. L. (2014). Philosophical, Ideological and Theoretical Perspectives on Education.
Pearson Central Pub..
Hagenauer, G., Hascher, T., & Volet, S. E. (2015). Teacher emotions in the classroom:
associations with students’ engagement, classroom discipline and the interpersonal
teacher-student relationship. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 30(4),
385-403.
Loeb, S., Christian, M. S., Hough, H., Meyer, R. H., Rice, A., & West, M. R. (2018). School
effects on social-emotional learning. Findings from the first large-scale panel survey
of students. Policy Analysis for California Education, Stanford, CA.