Assignment -02
Q.1 Define Reconstructionism”. Explain its main factors as an emerging movement in philosophy.
Ans.
Social-reconstructionist education
Social-reconstructionist education was based on the theory that society can be reconstructed through the complete control of education. The objective was to change society to conform to the basic ideals of the political party or government in power or to create a utopian society through education.
In the first half of the 20th century, communist education was possibly the most pervasive version of operational social-reconstructionism in the world. Originally based on the philosophy of Karl Marx and institutionalized in the Soviet Union, it reached a large proportion of the world’s youth. In the 1950s much attention was paid to the ideal of “polytechnization.” The human being, so the argument ran, is not simply Homo sapiens but rather Homo faber, the constructor and builder. He attains full mental, moral, and spiritual development through entering into social relations with others, particularly in cooperative efforts to produce material, artistic, and spiritual goods and achievements. The school should prepare pupils for such productive activities—for instance, by studying and, if possible, sharing in the work done in field, farm, or factory.
A different social-reconstructionist movement was that of the kibbutzim (collective farms) of Israel. The most striking feature of kibbutz education was that the parents forgo rearing and educating their offspring themselves and instead hand the children over to professional educators, sometimes immediately after birth. The kibbutzim type of education developed for both practical and economic reasons, but gradually four educational considerations gained prominence: (1) that the kibbutz way of life makes for complete equality of the sexes, (2) that the education of children in special children’s houses is the best way of perpetuating the kibbutz way of life, (3) that collective education is more “scientific” than education within the family, inasmuch as children are reared and trained by experts—i.e., qualified nurses, kindergarten teachers, and other educators—in an atmosphere free of the tensions engendered by family relationships, and (4) that collective education is more democratic than traditional education and more in keeping with the spirit of cooperative living.
Major trends and problems
The idea of social-reconstructionist education was based on a 19th-century belief in the power of education to change society. In the last quarter of the 20th century there was considerable pessimism, but the idea that schooling could influence either society or the individual was widely held, affecting the growth of tertiary-level alternatives, management strategies, and education of disadvantaged people, in both industrialized and developing countries
Q.2 What types of interaction emerge among various institutions of socialisation?
Ans.
Socialisation: The Meaning, Features, Types, Stages and Importance
Every society is faced with the necessity of making a responsible member out of each child born into it. The child must learn the expectations of the society so that his behaviour can be relied upon. He must acquire the group norms. The society must socialise each member so that his behaviour will be meaningful in terms of the group norms. In the process of socialisation the individual learns the reciprocal responses of the society.
Socialisation
Socialisation is a processes with the help of which a living organism is changed into a social being. It is a process through which the younger generation learns the adult role which it has to play subsequently. It is a continuous process in the life of an individual and it continues from generation to generation.
Meaning of Socialisation:
The newborn is merely an organism. Socialisation makes him responsive to the society. He is socially active. He becomes a ‘Purush’ and the culture that his group inculcates in him, humanises him, and makes him ‘Manusha’. The process indeed, is endless. The cultural pattern of his group, in the process gets incorporated in the personality of a child. It prepares him to fit in the group and to perform the social roles. It sets the infant on the line of social order and enables an adult to fit into the new group. It enables the man to adjust himself to the new social order.Socialisation stands for the development of the human brain, body, attitude, behaviour and so forth. Socialisation is known as the process of inducting the individual into the social world. The term socialisation refers to the process of interaction through which the growing individual learns the habits, attitudes, values and beliefs of the social group into which he has been born.From the point of view of society, socialisation is the way through which society transmits its culture from generation to generation and maintains itself. From the point of view of the individual, socialisation is the process by which the individual learns social behaviour, develops his ‘self.The process operates at two levels, one within the infant which is called the internalisation of objects around and the other from the outside. Socialisation may be viewed as the “internalisation of social norms. Social rules become internal to the individual, in the sense that they are self-imposed rather than imposed by means of external regulation and are thus part of individual’s own personality.
Q.3 What are the psychological considerations for the teacher and the taught in education? Elaborate in the light of teaching strategies and learning experiences
Ans.
Educational Psychology – Importance for Teachers & Education
Teacher is like a philosopher who guides his student. He is responsible to be aware about growth and development of the students. It is educational psychology which enables the teacher to use various techniques. The importance of educational psychology and teachers has the following points:
Educational Psychology helps teacher to know that how learning takes place.
· It enables a teacher that how learning process should be initiated, how to motivate, how to memorize or learn.
· It helps teachers to guide the students in right direction in order to canalized student’s abilities in right direction.
· It informs a teacher, about the nature of the learners and his potentialities.
· It helps a teacher to develop a student personality because the whole educational process is for student’s personality development.
· It helps a teacher to adjust his methodologies of learning to the nature / demand of the learner.
· It enables a teacher to know the problems of individual differences and treat every student on his / her merit.
· It helps a teacher that how to solve the learning problems of a student.
· It helps a teacher that how to evaluate a students that whether the purpose of teaching & learning has been achieved.
Importance of Educational Psychology in Education
Following are the points which show the importance of education psychology in education. It also show how educational psychology and education have importance for another another.
1. Learner
Educational Psychology studies various factors which have impacts upon students, which may include home environment, social groupings, peer groups, his / her emotional sentiments, and mental hygiene etc. Various methods are used in order to get the desired data about the learner in order to know about him / her mentality and behavior and its manifestations.
2. The Learning Process
Here educational psychology investigates that how information and knowledge be transferred and what kinds of methodologies should be used for that purpose.
3. Learning Situation
Educational Psychology studies the factors which are situational in nature that how environment like of classroom be managed and how discipline be maintained. Besides it, it studies various Audio Video Aids & its role in facilitating the teaching learning process.
Q.4 Discuss “Education as investment”. Also explain “Who pays for Higher Education in Pakistan” keeping in view the exiting situation in the country.
Ans
Education as investment.
Despite having the second highest number of out-of-school children in the world, the financing and governance of education in Pakistan has seen little improvement.
Approximately 22 million children are out of school, yet no significant improvement in enrolment has been seen in the last five years. To address this complexity, investments made by international financial institutions such as the World Bank were aimed at bringing horizontal and vertical change by establishing education foundations such as the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) and Sindh Education Foundation (SEF).
It is pertinent to mention that the World Bank is one of the largest external funders of education in developing countries. In Punjab, the World Bank has invested around $1.7 billion in the last 10 years in the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) to bring children back to school and offer education with the core vision of “better quality education through the private sector to low-income households”.
The PEF claims that it currently sponsors 8,700 private schools, which cater to 2.4 million students through its four programmes. However, a recent study by Oxfam shows that despite this investment, there is little growth in enrolment, equity, quality and access to education. Investment in the Punjab Education Foundations (PEF) by the World Bank show various lacunas at the levels of policy, implementation, compliance, equity and access to quality education, consequently raising questions about the sustainability of the programme.
Some of the areas which require immediate attention include the governance of the PEF, which operates as an independent governing body. The School Education Department (SED) has a massive setup at the provincial level for teacher training and the monitoring and evaluation of schools, while the PEF operates outside this structure. Similarly, PEF schools are not accessible to students from low-income backgrounds as the tough admission tests in these schools are not designed for children with little or no exposure to early education. Due to an incentive-based approach which is not sustainable, children from poor or low-income families transfer from public schools to nearby PEF sponsored low-fee private schools. This leads to low retention and enrolment rates in public schools.
Oxfam’s study notes that the quality of education in PEF-sponsored schools is low, with most teachers in these receiving low salaries, sometimes even below the minimum wage. Additionally, little investment is made in training teachers. PEF-sponsored schools are also exacerbating gender disparities with few girls enrolling in their co-ed schools. The study also finds that the public education system is relatively more responsive than the PEF programme in Punjab. School councils in public-sector schools ensure a degree of social accountability, while no such mechanism has been established for PEF-sponsored schools despite public funds having been spent on the programme.
There is a need to urgently bring improvements in the PEF programme to ensure inclusiveness, accountability, accessibility and quality of education. Some of the steps which may be taken include merging the PEF with SED to ensure accountability and minimise overlaps in mandates. This would also ensure a more uniform framework for measuring learning achievements at the district level.
Accessibility may also be improved by creating more realistic admissions tests, which also allow students with limited exposure to early education to enrol. To address the gender disparity, a gender unit may be established which provides technical assistance to the PEF to improve gender responsiveness within planning and budgeting
Q.5 Differentiate between humanistic and scientific thinking. Further explain the art of scientific basis.
Ans.
Understanding and explaining the difference between humanistic and scientific communication is a challenge. While the first has yet to be formally defined, the second encompasses a wide range of subcategories and is even an academic discipline of its own. However, one major difference distinguishes the two.
human communication
Human communication can be categorized as verbal or non-verbal and formal or informal. Verbal communication is achieved through speech and written characters, while non-verbal communication comprises all other methods of communication, such as images, facial expressions, body language and gestures. Formal communication is bound by rules and often associated with professional or academic settings and most business interactions. In contrast, informal communication generally occurs within intimate interpersonal relationships, that is, interactions with friends and family members.
humanistic psychology
Although our knowledge of human communication is vast, the term “humanistic communication” has yet to be formally defined. The term “humanistic” can refer to the psychological perspective, which approaches human existence through the exploration of values, personal responsibility, spirituality and self-actualization. Humanistic psychology is a theoretical framework and therapeutic approach that focuses on people’s uniqueness and their power over their own destiny.
The term “humanistic” can also simply refer to the humanities (e.g., psychology, anthropology, sociology, history, and politics). So “humanistic communication” can mean communication within or about one of these topics.
scientific communication
Scientific communication generally involves the public media’s informing the general public about matters related to science. However, scientific communication also refers to interactions between practicing scientists and academics. The general public obtains scientific information through documentaries, televised news segments and newspaper and magazine articles, while the scientific community interacts mainly through scientific journals, networking events, workshops and conferences. Scientific communication is also an academic discipline in its own right, due to the high demand for professional training from scientists who want to learn how to communicate with the general public about scientific research and development.