Lesson 5

1. Lesson 5 Education and Schooling Unit 2 History and Philosophy of Education

2. Common Sense Revolution • 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.

3. Reform--- was a plan to • Strengthen the curriculum • Eliminate OAC’s and bring in higher standards • Establish province-wide standards & implement accountability testing • Institute a standard report card • Reduce the number of school boards • Reduce the number of school board trustees • Eliminate 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).

4. Education Reforms:History of Legislation • 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 size • June 20th, 2000 – Bill 74, The Increase Education Quality Act • Introduced accountability with standardized assessment, testing and reporting

5. Education Reform • 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.

6. Education Reform: • 1998 • 15 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).

7. History of Education ....continuedSecondary School Reform • Revision of curriculum from grades 1-12 • Criterion referenced assessment • Design down curriculum planning • Elimination of Grade 13 • Academic ,applied and open levels • Grades 11 and 12 – Open, University, College, University/College, Workplace • Locally developed courses • Ontario Secondary School Literacy (OSSLT) requirement • 30 credits remained ;however changed to 18 compulsory

8. Secondary School Reform • Development of curriculum continuum Comprehensive and Consistent Program for Grades 1 – 12 • Development of curriculum in a Logical Sequence • Student –focused funding • Choices Into Action (career focus support document) • Funding for Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP) • Technical Education Renewal Initiative (TERI)

9. Consolidation- History of Education • Group 1 – prior to 1760 • Group 2 – 1760- 1867 • Group 3- 1867- 1919 • Group 4- 1919-1950 • Group 5- 1950-1960 • Group 6- 1960- 1972 • Group 7- 1972- 1980 • Group 8- 1980- 1999 • Group 9- 1999-present

10. History of Education Timeline • 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.

11. Unit 2: Philosophy of Education 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.

12. Philosophy of Education Your behaviour as a teacher is strongly connected to beliefs about: • Teaching and learning • Students • Knowledge • What is worth knowing • Personal philosophical beliefs

13. Personal Beliefs about.... Teaching and Learning Students Philosophy of Education Teaching Behaviour Knowledge What is worth knowing Philosophical areas

14. Beliefs about teaching and learning 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?

15. Beliefs about teaching and learning • 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”.

16. Beliefs about students 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.”

17. Beliefs about knowledge “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.

18. Beliefs about what is worth knowing • 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…

19. What are the branches of philosophy? 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?

20. Six branches of philosophy • epistemology axiology ethics • metaphysics aesthetics logic • Select a branch per group • At your table research this branch of philosophy • Ask the question, how does this relate to teaching? • Prepare to share with the whole group • Consult pages 81-84 0f your text, Becoming a Teacher, as a starting point.