Philosophical Analysis of Child-Centred Education and its Implication to Basic Education School System in Nigeria

Curriculum reforms in this 21st Century has been largely based on the child-centered approach of teaching and in many ways represented as the application of philosophy of education. Although Plato and Socrates, even Dewey reminded people long ago that learners were not empty vessels, blank slates, or passive observers, thus, much of Europe and America schooling today has been based on this premise: however, the reverse is the case in Nigeria Education system. Teachers have talked; students have been directed to listen is the basic philosophy of Nigeria education The new pattern of school life which is seen as child-centred education reflects a fundamental change that has been taking place in education in the last decades. Child-centred education derives from Rousseau’s educational theory. The paper examines the concept child-centred education as a participatory learning environment which provides the learner with sufficient opportunities to be actively engaged in the learning process resulting from teaching. Principles of the concept were also provided in order to avoid philosophical fallacies, it includes, Respect the Pace of Development of Each Child, Zone of Proximal Development. The paper also identified Conditions Logically Necessary for The Application of The Child-Centered Education, this will provide a justification and unbiased clarification of the concepts, these include: Natural Goodness of the Child, Recognition of Existing Knowledge and Experiences of the Child. Finally, recommendations were made in line with the major findings. The recommendation made include to improve on the effective teaching and learning activities, there is need for teachers to ensure that learners are not passive in classrooms but consider interaction with the natural world (active learning). Teachers also need to be re-trained through in-service courses to improve their pedagogical skills in teaching approaches. The support may come from parents, school management, national or even county government. It is evident that teacher training will develop and equip teacher trainees with a variety of skills on the use of child-centred approaches.