Philosophy and teacher education: An african perspective

Abstract

The focus here is on the relevance of philosophy as a discipline to teacher education in Africa. The article admits that all the countries on the continent are developing and have high illiteracy rate and lack scientific and technological culture. The aticle attempts to define and explain the nature, and scope of philosophy of education and its relevance to teacher education. We argue that the theory and practice of education is concerned with ideas about human nature and the nature of reality that are ultimately philosophical in character. Philosophy of education is any reasonable coherent sets of values and fundamental assumptions used as a basis for evaluating and guiding educational practice. It is thus imperative on all teachers to appreciate it as their professional tool. Accepting the contributions of perennialism, essentialism, progressivism and reconstructionism as philosophies of education, the paper suggests that in order for Africa to benefit educationally, she should adopt eclecticism as its philosophy of education.

LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 3 () 2006: pp.53-66