John Dewey’s Progressive Education
John Dewey: Progressive Pedagogy (1859-1952)
His written work includes 37 volumes covering philosophical, social, psychological, and educational issues. Practical, moral, and civic commitment permeates a vital career devoted to social reform in education. He showed that it is possible to reconcile theoretical and research work with a playful and open practice.
Pragmatism: Key Concepts
Pragmatism is located within American philosophy (an alternative to German philosophy). It is characterized by a dynamic conception of intelligence and knowledge. His work develops subject-object relations. He rejects the theory of truth as correspondence.
Key pragmatic features include:
- Anti-fundamentalism (fallibilism)
- Sensitivity to the radical contingency (random character) of the self
- Need to encourage critical inquiry within the community
His work is located in the orbit of Froebel.
Epistemology and Experience
Epistemologically, he criticized the classical approach to knowledge and contrasted it with his experimental and scientific perspective. His related concept of knowledge is that experience is the exchange between a living being and its physical and social environment. It represents an effort to change what is given and, in this sense, has a projective dimension.
Critique of Society and Traditional Education
Dewey moved away from Marxism. He criticized industrial society because people should be able to participate freely in determining their objectives for the realization of a common project.
Pedagogically, he rejected:
- Education as preparation
- Education as mere development
- Education as training of faculties
- Education as simple training
Progressive Education Principles
He suggested that progressive education is the reorganization of experience. The school is seen as a reconstructive social order. Education is correlated with the common good, has a social function, and implies growth, direction, and control. He opposed dualisms, viewing experience and thought as integrated.
Dewey’s Pedagogical Approach
He aimed to formulate new pedagogical proposals in opposition to the old and traditional school. He believed the new school would have to overcome the traditional one. However, Dewey’s work does not present a rigid teaching approach; there are no closed methodological ‘recipes’ to be simply transmitted to school practice.
He trusted in the development of science and its contribution to human life. He considered that the educational method should be derived from the scientific method. He distinguished between a general method, which is guided by intelligent action towards an end, and a specific method, which refers to the unique actions of the teacher and learner.
The Five Stages of Inquiry
His proposal is based on 5 stages:
- Consideration of any actual and real experience of the child
- Identification of any problem arising from that experience
- Inspection of available data and the search for variable solutions
- Formulation of possible solutions
- Checking hypotheses through action
The Laboratory School
His most important methodological contribution was the laboratory school. The school began operating in 1896 with 16 students and 2 professors. It showed the possibility of building a curriculum based on what he called ‘occupations’. Activities centered around wood, accommodation, food, and clothing were the core of the school work. Areas of study were derived from theoretical and practical activities related to these four topics. The school was successful in achieving its objectives, particularly the development of an open curriculum.