The Progressive Education Fallacy in Developing Countries

Gerard Guthrie

ISBN 10: 9400718500 / ISBN 13: 9789400718500

Published by Springer Netherlands, Springer Netherlands Jun 2011, 2011

About this Item

Neuware -This book provides a provocative but carefully argued addition to the theory and practice of education in developing countries. The book provides an ethical and empirical justification for support of formalistic teaching in primary and secondary schools in developing countries. It also refutes the application of progressive education principles to curriculum and pre- and in-service teacher education in such contexts. The central focus of this book is the formalistic teaching prevalent in the classrooms of many developing countries. Formalistic (¿teacher-centred¿, ¿traditional¿, ¿didactic¿, ¿pedagogic¿) teaching is appropriate in the many countries with revelatory epistemologies, unpopular and old-fashioned though these methods may seem in some western, especially Anglophone, ones. Formalism has been the object of many failed progressive curriculum and teacher education reforms in developing countries for some 50 years.Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg 292 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9789400718500

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Progressive Education Fallacy in Developing Countries
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands, Springer Netherlands Jun 2011
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9400718500
• ISBN 13: 9789400718500
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu

About this title

Synopsis

This book provides a provocative but carefully argued addition to the theory and practice of education in developing countries. The book provides an ethical and empirical justification for support of formalistic teaching in primary and secondary schools in developing countries. It also refutes the application of progressive education principles to curriculum and pre- and in-service teacher education in such contexts. The central focus of this book is the formalistic teaching prevalent in the classrooms of many developing countries. Formalistic (‘teacher-centred’, ‘traditional’, ‘didactic’, ‘pedagogic’) teaching is appropriate in the many countries with revelatory epistemologies, unpopular and old-fashioned though these methods may seem in some western, especially Anglophone, ones. Formalism has been the object of many failed progressive curriculum and teacher education reforms in developing countries for some 50 years.

About the Author

 Dr Gerard Guthrie is an educationalist with 40 years experience. His career has had two main parts. As an academic, he has been a staff member of four universities in Australia and Papua New Guinea, including as Foundation Professsor of Education at the University of Goroka. As an Australian governmental aid official, he held management positions involving training, corporate management, aid delivery in China and Africa, and rural development. He has also worked as a consultant for AusAID and the World Bank in Asia, Africa and the South Pacific. Dr Guthrie has a wide background in development and practice and in social science research, which he has applied primarily to education in developing countries, particularly teaching and teacher education.