Jean Jacques Rousseau

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Rousseau was western philosopher.

Rousseau was born in Geneva Switzerland on June 28^th 1712.

Rousseau’s school tradition has been social contract theory, political philosophy, music, his main interest are education, literature and autobiography.

He describes him self as a citizen of Geneva throughout his life. His mother Susanne Bernard Rousseau had died in nine days after his berth. And his father abandoned him in 1722 to avoid imprisonment.

In Rousseau’s childhood, he often read in the tranquility of a public garden- which he later describes as the most serene part of growing up.

Rousseau left Geneva, March 14, 1728. He met Francoise-Louise De Warens, a French catholic bareness, who later became his lover.

From 1743 to 1744 he was secretary to the French ambassador in Venice.

When he returned to Paris he lived with Therese Levasseur a semi-literate seamstress, they have had five children which they were deposited at an orphanage soon after the birth and would most likely have perished soon afterwards as the mortality rate for such children became a source of embarrassment once he became known as a theorist of education and child-rearing. In his defense, Rousseau explained that he would have been a poor father, and that the children would have a better life ate the foulding home.

In 1759 Rousseau had won the first prize in a contest and gained him significant fame. That was by answering a question in the negative “Discourse in the art and sciences’ the competition which was sponsored by the Academic de Dijon.

He has continued his interest in music and in 1752 his opera Le Devin du village was performed for King Louis XV.

In 1762 he published two major books, “Literally of the social contract, Principles of political Right. And “Emile” Rousseau set out his views on education, in ‘Emile.

The aim of education Rousseau says is to learn how to live righteously.

The growth of a child divided in to 3 sections.

1. To the age about 12 children live like animals

2. From 12 – 16 starts to develop

3. 16 onwards, child develops in to an adult.

Rousseau was a naturalist and believed that the child should be allowed to grow close to nature and he should be given the right to think in his own way.

· Rousseau believed that the child is a child and not a small adult. He also stressed that childhood is a crucial period in life.

· Rousseau also believed that the child should learn from nature and the child should not be forced to do things. He further says that the “education” comes from nature, from men and from things.

· Rousseau was the first to give the child his rightful place. And he was renowned as the liberator of the child.

He points out 4 stages in the pupil’s development.

Infancy characterized by habit and the training of emotions.

Childhood characterized by the necessity and the training of senses.

Boyhood characterized by utility and the training of the intellect.

Adolescences the stage of morality.

Rousseau views on education are very similar to Mahatma Gandhi and Pestalozzi who upheld the total development of the child.

He said that our teachers are our feet, hands and eyes.

He also points out the importance of the physical exercises.

“Give his body constant exercise make it strong and healthy in orders to make him good and wise”, let him work, let him do things. Let him run and shout. Let him be always on the go, make a man of strength he will be a man of reason”.

He also recommended the heuristic method, a method of discovery. He said “let them learn nothing from books which they can learn from experience. He introduced the “play way”.

Work or plays are all one to him, his games are his work, and ho knows no difference.

He thoroughly believed that children should never receive punishment, and they should learn the natural consequences of their fault.

He also gives prominence that the child should be trained to be self reliant.

John Amos Komensky

John Amos Komensky (Comenius) 1529-1616

Comenuis was one of the early educators who contributed to a ‘universal system of education’ which planned to teach all things to all children. Comenius had a special plan for preschoolers which was known as “mother school or nursery school” for children up to six.

According to Comenius, early childhood is the mother should be well aware of the needs of the child, give him love and care and make the child familiar with his home environment. The mother should have a special place teach children and this is known as “school at mother’s knee”.

Comenius was the”initiator” of the home based early childhood education. He stressed on protecting children’s health. Comenius was also concerned about the security and happiness essential in the earliest years.

Comenius considered that the class rooms should be provides the young children with a pleasant learning environment attractive to the eye. The rooms should be bright and clean, walls ornamented with pictures, he considered that the school should have an open area as a garden to walk run and play and it should be fest to the eye with trees, flowers, and plants.

He further suggested that education should be given step by step, from the simple to the more complex and from near to the distant and from the general to the more specific.

What Comenius believed as attributes of the true teacher are to be adopted by the preschool teacher.

He suggested three types of preschools

Mother’s school, infant school and nursery school.

Comenius was a teacher, scientist, educator, and a writer. He was one of the earliest champions of universal education. Comenius became known as the teacher of the nations.

Life and work

The birth place of Comenius is unknown. There are three possible locations. Komna, Nivnice, or Uhersky Brod. Komna is a small village where his parents lived. Comenius had spent his childhood in a small village called Nivnice. He has moved to Uhersky Brod. There is a museum devoted to him there.

He had studied in Herbon(1611-13) and Heidelberg(1613-14) He returns to Latin school as a teacher of the school.

Comenius became a pastor at age 24 and led the Brethren in to exile when the protestants where persecuted under the Counter Reformation. He worked and lived in many different countries in Europe, Including Sweden, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, the Holy Roman Empire, England the Netherlands, and Royal Hungary.

After being lived in somany countries, Comenius then lived in Transylvania till 1654, He was the professor of the first Hungarian protestant college. And he wrote some of his most important works there. Then Comenius had been to Leszno and during the northen wars in 1655 declared his support for the protestant Swedish side, for which his house, his manuscripts, and the school printing press were burned down by Polish partisans in 1670. For nuclear reasons he was buried in Naarden where his grave can be visited in the museum devoted to him.

Comenius was the author of the “labyrinth of the world and paradise of the heart”, which was known as the reflection of his experience.

Comenius was the author of numerous publications, such as”Janua linguarum Reserta”, “world in pictures” and the “protestant hymn book”

During the nineteenth century Comenius became idealized as a su\ymbol of the Czech nation.

His birthday March 28^th is celebrated as teachers’ day in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic.

The Comenius medal one of the UNESCO’s most prestigious awards honoring outstanding achievements in the fields of education research and innovation is named after him.

In 1919 the Comenius University was founded in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.

A European Union school partnership program (Comenius European cooperation on school education) has been named after the teacher of nations.

Frierich Froebel

Friedrich Frobel

Best known for his work on kindergarten and play Frobel has a lot to say for internal educators.

Wilhelm August (1782-1852)

Friedrich Froebel, the German educationalist, is best known as the originator of the “Kindergarten” system. Froebel had a difficult child hood. His mother died when he was a baby. And his father a pastor left him to his own devices. He grew up, it said, with a love for his nature and with strong Christian faith and this was central to his thinking as an educationalist. He saw and sought to encourage, unity in all things.

He came in to teaching via a school run along Pestalozzi an lines ( and spent time at Yverdon) Friedrich Frobel’s enduring significance was through his for change of the “kindergarten” system with his emphasis on play and its use of ‘gifts’ (play materials) and occupations (activities).

Friedrich Froebel believed that humans are essentially productive and creative, and fulfillment comes through developing these in harmony with god and the world. As a result, Froebel soughs to encourage the creation of educational environments that involved practical work and the direct use of materials through engaging with the world, understanding unfolds, also playing is a both creative and activity and through it children become aware of the place in the world.

He developed special materials as shaped wooden bricks and balls. A series of recommended activities and movement activity his original concerns was the teaching of young children through educational games in the family. In the later years of his life this became linked with a demand for the provision of special center for the care and development of young children outside home.

Froebel's abiding influence has come in part from the efforts of followers such as Bertha von Marenholtz-Bülow and the thinkers such as Diesterweg. We have seen the development of kindergartens, and the emergence of a Froebel movement. For informal educators, Friedrich Froebel's continuing relevance has lain in his concern for learning through activity, his interest in social learning and his emphasis on the 'unification 'of life.

The Educational Philosophy

The Educational Philosophy Relevant to Early Childhood

Numerous Philosophers, educators and social scientists had their views on the child’s nature, needs, aptitudes, and interests and they found that child’s total behavior is different from adult.

Early childhood education started as result of ideas exerted through educators as, Pestalozzi, Froebel and Montessori. In the nineteenth century those philosophers ‘ideas were spread among European countries happen to be arousing of an education for young children.

The pre-school educates centers can be recognized as two ways. That is child center education and the teacher centered education. Philosophers like Maria Montessori came to believe that the best way to develop a child in the early years is to let the child communicate through the environment.