What is Progressive Education

What is Progressive Education?

Progressive education is a response against the customary style of educating. It is an academic development which esteems understanding over learning realities to the detriment of understanding what being educated. It is based on the idea that we should teach children how to think and that a test cannot measure whether or not a child is an educated person.

Progressive Education

Importance of Progressive Education:-

Learners have different capabilities and interests, so they develop in different ways. Thus Progressive education is more important, since it deals with this variety by –

a) Giving children full opportunity to develop by providing an environment for development.

b) Do not allowing any discrimination between learners.

c) Educating learners by cooperative learning.

d) Making education more practical with emphasis on self-learning.

e) Making children work on projects, so that they develop self-confidence, maturity and independence.

f) Making children learn how to work together with others, which instills discipline in their personalities.

g) Developing their moral character.

Characteristics of Progressive Education:-

The characteristics of progressive education are given below:

a) Curriculum is designed according to the interests of children.

b) The approach to education is developmental, meaning that each child has unique needs for its own development.

c) Collaborative learning is used for developing social values and skills.

d) The teacher works as a facilitator.

e) Rote learning is discouraged and there is less emphasis on text books.

Types of Progressive Education:-

1) Humanistic:- This is also called person-centered education. It is an approach to education based on the work of humanistic psychologists like Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. It focuses on the arts and social sciences. Here empathy, caring about students and genuineness on the part of the learning facilitator or teacher were found to be the key traits of the most effective teachers.

Important objective include building children’s self-esteem, their capability to set and achieve appropriate goals and their development towards full autonomy.

2) Constructivist:-

This is a way of thinking of learning established on the reason that, by considering our encounters, we build our own comprehension of the world we live in. The guiding principles are as follows:

a) Learning starts with the issues around which students are actively trying to construct meaning. Thus it eliminates a standardized curriculum.

b) The learning process focuses on primary concepts, not only isolated facts. Thus, the educators focus on making connections between facts and fostering new understanding in students.

c) The only effective way to measure learning is to make the assessment a part of the learning process, so that it provides students with information on the quality of their learning.

3) Montessori:-

The Montessori concept is a child-directed concept or approach for primary level school children. It is based on the scientific observation of individuals from their birth to adulthood. It is focused on allowing children to make their own choices in learning. Here teacher guiding the process rather than leading it.

Many of this education concept relies on hands on learning, self-directed activity and many. The difference between the Montessori concept and early childhood education is the adoption of elements of the multiple intelligence theory.