Lesson 5 - Theories of Learning
20. Learning by Being: The Nurturing and Social Reform Models of Teaching:
20.2. The Social Reform Perspective
Pratt (1998, p. 173) states:
Teachers holding a social reform perspective are most interested in creating a better society and view their teaching as contributing to that end. Their perspective is unique in that it is based upon an explicitly stated ideal or set of principles linked to a vision of a better social order. Social reformers do not teach in one single way, nor do they hold distinctive views about knowledge in general…these factors all depend on the particular ideal that inspires their actions.
This then in some ways is less a theory of teaching as an epistemological position, that society needs change, and the social reformer knows how to bring about this change through teaching and education. Indeed, as Figure 29 below illustrates, the social reform model of learning can be driven as much by the passions and concerns of learners as by those of their instructors.
