Essay - Ideology/philosophy Impacts on Approaches to Program Planning This Work Will...

IDEOLOGY/PHILOSOPHY IMPACTS ON APPROACHES

TO PROGRAM PLANNING

This work will consider how ideology/philosophy impacts on approaches to program planning and will do so through considering the similarities and differences in approach to educational intervention based on differing philosophical assumptions: (1) liberal; (2) progressive; (3) humanist; and (4) radical libera*****ry education ideologies. Part II of this work will express ***** personal ***** ***** planning reflections of the writer in relation to basic assumptions of human nature, learner's role, teacher's role and ***** purpose of adult education.

***** I

The Liberal philosophy acknowledges the Western canon as ***** source of authority in adult learn*****g ***** holds that learning is for the sake ***** learning and that this should take place through lectures, study groups as well as critical reading and discussion. In contrasts the Progressive school of thought holds ***** learning is derived from ***** experiences of the learner through problem-solving ***** ongoing learning. The Human*****t ***** of ***** views ***** source of learner to be the ***** and that learning takes place experientially. The Radical school of though ***** the *****s ***** learning to ***** the imbalance existing socioeconomically and socio-politically and holds that noncompulsory ***** and autonomy combined with critical thinking skills are the optimal learning methods.

***** II

Elias and Merriam (*****980) identified six philosophies of adult education: (1) Behaviorist: Behavior modification; (*****) Liberal: Organized knowledge for intellectual development; (*****) Analytic: Logical and scientific positivism; (4) Progressive: Social reform; (5) Humanistic: Personal growth; (6) *****: Radical social change (Strom, *****996) It was ***** belief of Elias ***** ***** that ***** education is influenced greatly by "progressive, *****istic and ***** philosophies" and ***** "the *****s and contexts of specific fields ***** practice will often determine ***** philosophic influence..." in adult *****. (*****, 1996) It was the position of Elias and Merriman that the ***** of adult education can assist adults in their attaining "education-for-*****" in ***** the progressive and humanistic philosophies of adult education" have been found to be useful in the design and implementation for "certain learning situations, like diversity ***** and training in business and industry and the institutional classroom." (Strom, 1996) From ***** view ***** adult education the purpose of the liberal thinker is development of intellectual powers of ***** mind. Within this framework the learner is a seeker of knowledge on the conceptual and *****oretical base ***** the teacher ***** ***** expert which transmits *****. The Progressive view holds that transmission of cultural and societal structure is the path ***** promoting change on a ***** level there*****e the provision of pr*****ctice knowledge ***** skills for problem-solving are necessary if society is to be reformed. From this ***** the learner needs, interests and experiences are primary factors in ***** ***** ***** teacher is the organizer and learning experience guide, instigator and evaluator. The ***** philosophy holds that ***** ***** those who are open to change ***** ongoing learning and enhancing the ***** growth and development of ********** individual is the path to societal reform. From ***** view