Educational Philosophy of Friedrich Wilhelm August Frobel
[1782-1852]
(This notes are for M.Ed. students. B.Ed. students don't need this topic in the depth covered as in this.
Prepared by
[1782-1852]
(This notes are for M.Ed. students. B.Ed. students don't need this topic in the depth covered as in this.
However B.Ed. students can go through it and understand!!)
Prepared by
SABARISH-P
M.Sc., M.Ed., JRF & NET
Assistant Professor in Physical Science, Arafa Institute for Teacher Education
Attur, Thrissur.
Introduction:
A German philosopher –educator and
founder of the kindergarten, championed the cause of infant education in
response to the inspiration that he derived from the great educationist
Pestalozzi. He ushered in a new era in child education. Today, his kindergarten
system is highly acclaimed all over the world by both educators and parents
alike. It is recognised as an effective way to deal with a highly “teachable
moment “in the life of the young child.
Life profile of Frobel
Frobel
was born on April 21st, 1782in the village of Oberweisback in the
south Germany. He lost his mother when he was only of nine months. His father
got remarried. His father was not very affectionate to him. The unfair treatment
of his stepmother made his childhood all the more miserable. His life presents
one of history’s strange paradoxes that the man whose own childhood was full of
tears should bring smiles for the children of the world. Since Frobel’s own
child hood was neglected he developed an intensive sympathy for children and
spent his life promoting their life. In fact, Frobel had to go through a long
and tough struggle before he could make his mark and garner life’s richest
harvest. Being unable to do well at a village school, he started doing odd jobs
when he was only 14 years of age.
His wandering spirit was
set at peace when he went to Frankfurt where he came in contact with the
director of a model school. He discovered the real genius of his young man and
persuaded him to join his school as a teacher. Frobel gladly accepted the offer
.But he felt the need of some professional training and he was attracted to
Pestalozzi’s school at “yverdum”. There he stayed for 4 years and later on
studied natural science at Gottingen and Berlin universities.
In 1816 he founded a small
school which became a successful institution after 10 years. Now the road to
success stretched before him. He achieved world wide fame when in 1817in 1817
he founded his first kindergarten, an institution for the children of age 4 to
6 at Blackenburg. Frobel served the cause of education for the remaining period
of his life. He died on 21st June 1852, yet he lives for the
children and as it were , continues to pour a silent whisper in the ears of
education ,”come let us live for our children”. Frobel died in 1852, in
poverty, misery and agony. His grave is marked by a slab, with a cube and
sphere on it.
Published
works
1. The
education of man
2. Pedagogues
of kindergarten
3. Mother
play and nursery songs
4. Education
and development
Aims
and targets of education
·
Give children enjoyment in
agreement with their nature.
·
Strengthen the bodies of
children .a healthy mind in healthy body. A child must grow to his maximum
physical potential.
·
Exercises their senses for their optimal
sensitivity and perceptions.
·
Awaken their minds.
·
Acquaint them with nature
and their fellows..
·
Lead them to unity.
Educational
principles of Frobel
§ The law of unity:
According to Frobel
there is one eternal law – law of unity – that governs all things, men and
nature. All things, an animate or inanimate, originate from god. Man and nature
are one. There is unity in diversity and diversity in unity. Each of these has
individuality and also a unity. Frobel considers that the aim of education is
that man only may well understand the idea of unity in diversity. He said that
the essential business of school is not so much to communicate a variety and
multiplicity of facts as to give prominence to the ever living unity that is in
all things.
§ The principle of development
:
By
development, he meant an increase in bulk or quantity, increase in complexity or
structure, an improvement in power, skill and variety in the performance of
natural functions. Educations unfold the innate powers of the child in order to
enable him to have a spiritual union with god. Education should lead to moral,
religious and spiritual development.
§ The principle of self
activity:
It is only
through self activity that real growth and development is possible. Forced
activity is artificial and unnatural. Education should develop the innate
qualities of the child .child’s own activities are the best medium of
education. Play reflected in the mind of the child and it is considered the
free and unfettered natural source of development.
§ Developments through social
institutions:
According to
Frobel school is a miniature society. He remarked, “No community can progress
while the individual remains behind”. He believed that the individual is not
apart from the life of the society. The child should develop his individuality
through social atmosphere. All the social institutions like home, school,
church are the agencies of education.
Kindergarten
In the form of
kindergarten, Frobel has made an important contribution to the theory and
practice of education. He realized the paramount importance of childhood and
opened the first kindergarten, an institution of children of age 4 to 6, at
Blackenburg in 1837. Kindergarten or KG is a German word meaning, “garden of
children”. Frobel had a special love and concern for the children and wanted to
introduce system which could benefit the small children in learning .he was the
first to give the call, “come, let us live for our children”.
To Frobel school is
like a garden, where children play and dance like flowers and teacher protects
them like a gardener. Child like a little tender plant grows and teacher makes
his efforts to beautify the garden with the proper growth, care and looking
after the plants.
Practice of kindergarten
Frobel’s is a miniature
state for children where the watch words are freedom, play, and joyful living.
Here no books are prescribed. The learning is activity oriented. Education is
imparted through songs, movements and construction. Whatever is narrated in a
song is followed by its dramatization in movements and construction. Whatever is narrated in a song is followed by
its dramatization in movements and gestures. The same is afterwards represented
with the help of construction work in blocks, paper clay, drawing or other
materials. This three fold procedures stimulates thought, vivifies imagination,
trains and coordinates physical muscle of hands, eyes etc. And ultimately strengthens the moral nature
of child. For convenience sake, we may divide the teaching procedure in two
parts, i.e. teaching through songs, teaching through gifts and occupations.
Teaching through songs
The various songs which Froebel
employed for the purpose of teaching are included in Mother Play and
Nursery songs [1843]. Froebel regarded these songs as the best means to
familiarise the child with surroundings and to exercise his senses, limbs and
muscles.
Froebel gifts and occupations
These gifts are in the form of educational
toys. Those gifts are carefully graded and are to be presented to the child in
the definite order. Spenser comes first, followed by crystal, cube, cylinder
etc. The activities connected with these gifts are called occupations. The
purpose of these gifts is to train child’s senses of touch and sight and to
give him an idea of sizes surface and number. Froebel designed about 20 such
gifts but only seven are now usually called by this name.
Seven known Gifts
First
gift: - It consists of six balls of difference
colours, contained in a box. Three balls are of primary colours –red, blue and
green and three are secondary colour-orange, green and purple. The occupation
consists in rolling them about in play accompanied by little rhymes.
Second
gift:-it consists of three objects a sphere, a
cube, and a cylinder made of hardwood. While playing with them child notices
the difference between their stability and mobility
Third
gift:-it is a big wooden cube, subdivided into
eight wooden cubes. The children have an elementary idea of addition and
subtraction through these.
Essentials of kindergarten
v Self
activity: - Self activity or self expression is
imparted in three ways –through songs, through movements and through
construction.
v Creativeness:
- When the child is given certain material, he tried to create always new
things and satisfies his urge for construction.
v Social
participation: - School is a miniature
society. What we learn in school influences our behaviour in our later life.
The best education of child is possible in the school where he participates in
the maximum number of social activities.
v Discipline:
- Children are always free to work, play, sing, or dance in a kindergarten
school. A teacher has important responsibilities to perform. He has to
inculcate sympathetically values like love, sympathy, humility cooperation and
obedience to elders. He has to avoid external restraint and bodily punishment
.the child should be made to realize that discipline depends upon his love for
order, goodwill and mutual understanding.
v Curriculum:-
The divisions of the curriculum are :
Ø Manual
work
Ø Religion
and religious instruction
Ø Natural
science and mathematics
Ø Language
Ø Arts
and objects of arts
v The
place of teacher: - The teacher is not
remaining passive. The teacher has to suggest the idea of occupation when the
gifts are offered to children. He is also required to demonstrate certain activities
to them. He also sings a song with a view to help the child to form appropriate
ideas.
Frobel’s philosophy of education
1. Creativeness
of childhood: - Frobel derives a new conception of
childhood. Childhood is not merely preparation for adulthood; it has a value in
itself and possesses its own creativeness.
2. Inner
relatedness of all education: - this means that
the educator ought to lead the child through such situations as will help him
to relate his experiences originally one with another. Only thus can the child
realize his own personal unity inherent in the diversity of life.
3. Totality
of educational endeavour: - In order to realize the
divine character of the universe and his part in it, man needs senses and
emotions as well as reasons. They are all windows of the soul.
4. Concept
of play: - It is the most important phase in
the spontaneous development of the child, because it allows him to exercise
harmoniously all his physical, emotional and intellectual qualities. Play combines
attention with relaxation, purpose with independence and rule with freedom.
5.
Education of the preschool
child: - Frobel reveals an astounding insight into
the importance of the early experiences of childhood for the future development
of the personality. This anticipation of modern analytical psychology, which he
shares with Pestalozzi and Herbert, led him naturally to emphasize the
importance of preschool education.
Frobel’s influence on modern education
Frobel invited us to
live for our children and to love them. The
schools for young children are no more jails and the children are no
more passive learners. He helped him to make the society conscious of education
for very young children. The chief field in which he influenced the modern
education are as under:
·
Emphasis on pre basic or pre
primary education:-
The present educator
fully recognizes the importance of the education in the early ears. Today we
find a large number of schools catering to the needs of such children. Frobel
had also realised that until the education was reformed nothing solid and
worthy could be achieved.
·
New conception of school:-
His school was a
society in miniature. The present tendency in education is to regard school as
a society in miniature. Dewey also regarded school as social institution. The
present school is being regarded as a cooperative institution.
·
Respect for the child’s
individuality:-
Frobel lived for
children, worked for children and died for children. He had profound love and
sympathy for children.
·
Stress on the study of the
child:-
Frobel stressed
the need for the study of the nature of the child, his instincts and impulses.
Modern education is very careful to see that adequate scope is provided for the
free play of the impulses and instincts of children.
·
Education through play:-
Froebel believed
that play is the highest phase of self development. He introduced play way in
the activities of the school. Today we find that the principle of play way has
been accepted by every educator. We teach children through songs, movements,
gestures, dramatization, handwork etc.
·
Sense training:-
Frobel introduced gifts
for the training of the senses of th children, with the help of these gifts he
wanted to give the idea of shape, form, colour, size, and number. Audio-visual
aids form and integral part of the present system of education.
·
Activity in education:-
Frobel was the first educator
to make self activity as the basis of education. “Learning by doing “is the
slogan of today. We provide activities to students so that they may satisfy
their instincts of construction, manipulation, curiosity and acquisition.
·
Nature study in education:-
For Frobel nature study
was a means of bringing the child nearer god. He advocated a syllabus of nature
study to enable the child to understand the world in which he lived and to develop habits of careful
observation.
·
Women teachers at the
nursery stage:-
It will not be wrong to say
that it is due to the influence of Frobel that we find a trend to entrust the
education at the pre primary or pre basic stage to women teachers who are
considered to be more suited for this task of instruction at this stage.
Limitations of Frobel’s philosophy
§ Frobel’s
philosophy was a complicated philosophy .because Frobel expects too much of the
child. it is not possible for the child to understand abstract ideas of organic
unity while playing with gifts.
§ In
kindergarten, too much stress has been laid on the development from within. The
importance of environment has not been fully recognised.
§ Songs
as given by him are out of date.
§ The
gifts of Frobel formal in nature. The order of presentation of gifts is
arbitrary. They do not serve much purpose of sense training.
§ The
kindergarten of Frobel does not provide for the study of individual child.
§ There
is little of correlation in the teaching of various subjects.
§ The
scheme is not applicable to grown up children.
§ Too
much emphasis on social aspect.
Conclusion
In the words of Frobel the objectives of
kindergarten is to give the children enjoyment in agreement with their whole
nature, to strengthen their bodies, to exercise their senses, to engage their
awakening mind and through their senses to make them acquainted with nature and
their fellow creatures . Frobel is no doubt one of the greatest exponents of
child education. He regarded education more as a process working from within.
The 19th century came to be known as the century of the child, only
because of Frobel.
REFERENCES
v Theory and principles of
education –J C Agarval
