Philosophies in Education Teacher-centered and student-centered are two categories philosophies of education can be broken into. Teacher-centered philosophies emphasize transferring knowledge and skills from one generation to another. Student-centered philosophies focus on individual needs and prepare students for their future. Together teachers and students work on what and how the students will learn. There are two main teacher-centered philosophies, essentialism and perennialism. Essentialism and perennialism are similar in their methods of teaching. Both are “back …showed first 75 words of 495 total…

…showed last 75 words of 495 total…what they want to be. Existentialists learning is self-paced, self directed and includes individual contact with the teacher. Essentialism, Perennialism, Progressivism, Social Reconstruction, and Existentialism are all different philosophies of education. The teacher-centered philosophies are conservative and emphasize on curriculum that has survived through the ages, while the student-centered philosophies focus more on individual needs and preparing students for the future. These philosophies answer the questions to what school means, and how to approach curriculum.