The Aims of Education:
The aims of education serve as broad guidelines to align educational processes to chosen ideals and accepted principles. The aims of education simultaneously reflect the current needs and aspirations of a society as well as its lasting values, and the immediate concerns of a community as well as broad human ideals. At any given time and place they can be called the contemporary and contextual articulations of broad and lasting human aspirations and values.
Educational aims turn the different activities undertaken in schools and other educational institutions into a creative pattern and give them the distinctive character of being ‘educational’. An educational aim helps the teacher connect her present classroom activity to a cherished future outcome without making it instrumental, and therefore give it direction without divorcing it from current concerns. Thus, an aim is a foreseen end: it is not an idle view of a mere spectator; rather, it influences the steps taken to reach the end. An aim must provide foresight. It can do this in three ways: First, it involves careful observation of the given conditions to see what means are available for reaching the end, and to discover the hindrances in the way. This may require a careful study of children, and an understanding of what they are capable of learning at different ages. Second, this foresight suggests the proper order or sequence that would be effective. Third, it makes the choice of alternatives possible. Therefore, acting with an aim allows us to act intelligently. The school, the classroom, and related learning sites are spaces where the core of educational activity takes place. These must become spaces where learners have experiences that help them achieve the desired curricular objectives. An understanding of learners, educational aims, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of the school as a social space can help us arrive at principles to guide classroom practices.
The guiding principles discussed earlier provide the landscape of social values within which we locate our educational aims. The first is a commitment to democracy and the values of equality, justice, freedom, concern for others’ well-being, secularism, respect for human dignity and rights. Education should aim to build a commitment to these values, which are based on reason and understanding. The curriculum, therefore, should provide adequate experience and space for dialogue and discourse in the school to build such a commitment in children.
Independence of thought and action points to a capacity of carefully considered, value-based decision making, both independently and collectively.
A sensitivity to others’ well-being and feelings, together with knowledge and understanding of the world, should form the basis of a rational commitment to values.
Learning to learn and the willingness to unlearn and relearn are important as means of responding to new situations in a flexible and creative manner. The curriculum needs to emphasise the processes of constructing knowledge.
Choices in life and the ability to participate in democratic processes depend on the ability to contribute to society in various ways. This is why education must develop the ability to work and participate in economic processes and social change. This necessitates the integration of work with education. We must ensure that work-related experiences are sufficient and broadbased in terms of skills and attitudes,that they foster an understanding of socio-economic processes, and help inculcate a mental frame that encourages working with others in a spirit of cooperation. Work alone can create a social temper.
Appreciation of beauty and art forms is an integral part of human life. Creativity in arts, literature and other domains of knowledge is closely linked. Education must provide the means and opportunities to enhance the child’s creative expression and the capacity for aesthetic appreciation. Education for aesthetic appreciation and creativity is even more important today when aesthetic gullibility allows for opinion and taste to be manufactured and manipulated by market forces. The effort should be to enable the learner to appreciate beauty in its several forms. However, we must ensure that we do not promote stereotypes of beauty and forms of entertainment, that might constitute an affront to women and persons with disabilities.
The aims of education serve as broad guidelines to align educational processes to chosen ideals and accepted principles. The aims of education simultaneously reflect the current needs and aspirations of a society as well as its lasting values, and the immediate concerns of a community as well as broad human ideals. At any given time and place they can be called the contemporary and contextual articulations of broad and lasting human aspirations and values.
Educational aims turn the different activities undertaken in schools and other educational institutions into a creative pattern and give them the distinctive character of being ‘educational’. An educational aim helps the teacher connect her present classroom activity to a cherished future outcome without making it instrumental, and therefore give it direction without divorcing it from current concerns. Thus, an aim is a foreseen end: it is not an idle view of a mere spectator; rather, it influences the steps taken to reach the end. An aim must provide foresight. It can do this in three ways: First, it involves careful observation of the given conditions to see what means are available for reaching the end, and to discover the hindrances in the way. This may require a careful study of children, and an understanding of what they are capable of learning at different ages. Second, this foresight suggests the proper order or sequence that would be effective. Third, it makes the choice of alternatives possible. Therefore, acting with an aim allows us to act intelligently. The school, the classroom, and related learning sites are spaces where the core of educational activity takes place. These must become spaces where learners have experiences that help them achieve the desired curricular objectives. An understanding of learners, educational aims, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of the school as a social space can help us arrive at principles to guide classroom practices.
The guiding principles discussed earlier provide the landscape of social values within which we locate our educational aims. The first is a commitment to democracy and the values of equality, justice, freedom, concern for others’ well-being, secularism, respect for human dignity and rights. Education should aim to build a commitment to these values, which are based on reason and understanding. The curriculum, therefore, should provide adequate experience and space for dialogue and discourse in the school to build such a commitment in children.
Independence of thought and action points to a capacity of carefully considered, value-based decision making, both independently and collectively.
A sensitivity to others’ well-being and feelings, together with knowledge and understanding of the world, should form the basis of a rational commitment to values.
Learning to learn and the willingness to unlearn and relearn are important as means of responding to new situations in a flexible and creative manner. The curriculum needs to emphasise the processes of constructing knowledge.
Choices in life and the ability to participate in democratic processes depend on the ability to contribute to society in various ways. This is why education must develop the ability to work and participate in economic processes and social change. This necessitates the integration of work with education. We must ensure that work-related experiences are sufficient and broadbased in terms of skills and attitudes,that they foster an understanding of socio-economic processes, and help inculcate a mental frame that encourages working with others in a spirit of cooperation. Work alone can create a social temper.
Appreciation of beauty and art forms is an integral part of human life. Creativity in arts, literature and other domains of knowledge is closely linked. Education must provide the means and opportunities to enhance the child’s creative expression and the capacity for aesthetic appreciation. Education for aesthetic appreciation and creativity is even more important today when aesthetic gullibility allows for opinion and taste to be manufactured and manipulated by market forces. The effort should be to enable the learner to appreciate beauty in its several forms. However, we must ensure that we do not promote stereotypes of beauty and forms of entertainment, that might constitute an affront to women and persons with disabilities.
