Progressive Education in Canada

Susan Muir Visual Artifact #5

Progressive education is a pedagogical movement that began during the late 19th

century.

It came about as a result of a protest against simple pedagogy using standardized textbooks and

teaching by ‘filling the vessel’ (child) with knowledge. A new way of thinking about the child

occurred, as well as a democratic education including equality towards the individual. It was a

time of renewed hope and change.

Figure 1.Progressive education in the 1940’s. This video from the 1940’s shows the practical

value of teachings during the progressive movement. Progressive education taught the children

through projects, studying multi-subjects through hands on, child-centred projects. This was a

teaching philosophy that modeled the philosophy of progressive thinkers such as John Dewey.

http://youtu.be/opXKmwg8VQM . Public Domain.

Figure 2 Peddiwell (1939) wrote a satiric fictional story in “The Saber-Tooth Curriculum” about

few radicals called progressive educators who saw traditional education not delivering the

needed skills for the changing world. Peddiwell, A. A. (1939). The saber-tooth curriculum. New

York. Personal Photo.

If we teach today as we taught

yesterday, we rob our children of

tomorrow…”

- John Dewey

Progressive Education in Canada

Susan Muir Visual Artifact #5

Figure 3. Progressive Education over the years. This video displays how education and the

classroom have developed over the years. http://youtu.be/_nvci3aMmQM Public Domain.

Traditional Teachers Progressive Teachers

Stern/Strict Facilitative

In-charge Allow student discussion

Authoritative Project oriented

Alone Co-operative

*note only a partial table was extracted for this assignment

Figure 4. Difference between progressive teachers and traditional teachers. This chart notes the

differences between traditional and progressive education A more child-centred approach to

education had the teacher become facilitator of learning.

http://www.wingraschool.org/who/progressive.htm Public Domain.

The term progressive came from a period of changing economic, political and social

reforms. Progressive educators addressed the needs such as a broader curriculum that matched

the needs of the workforce. Immigration from Europe brought children of diverse learning needs

and a need for a more democratic curriculum where children have a voice (Itin, 1999;Lewis &

Williams, 1994). During the 1930’s the ‘new’ education in Canada, often referred to as

progressive education, represented “learning by doing and building child-centred curricula out of

the interests of children” (Baldwin, 2008, p. 291). Post World War, education during the mid-

1950’s found provinces such as Alberta and Ontario experimented with experiential education

(Lemisko & Clausen, 2006; Axelrod, 2005). A more child-centred approach to education was

influenced by a revolt against traditional education and more towards freedom for each

individual as a learner. This movement had the teacher become facilitator of learning.

Central to the philosophy of the progressive movement are the actions of the teacher. Itin

(1999) and others shared the idea that the teacher “is responsible for presenting opportunities for

experiences, helping students utilize these experiences, establishing the learning environment,

placing boundaries on the learning objectives, sharing necessary information and facilitating

learning” (Itin, 1999, p.93). This comparison of traditional versus progressive teacher (Our

Future Schooling, ND) illustrated conflicting qualities of each movement. Translating the theory

into practice has been a challenge for Canadian teachers. Educators must come to realize that

curriculum and instruction are not based on a textbook, but more importantly on the outcomes

students must achieve through differentiated instruction.