HILDA TABA: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Hilda Taba was a distinguished Estonian-born educator. Her work around the planning of educational curricula implied important advances; Taba's approach to educational processes was revolutionary. Her research signified a substantial shift in the previous approach: she shifted from the behaviorist gaze to humanism.

Likewise, this educator considered that educational models should start from cultural as well as social needs. This pedagogue was innovative with her model focused on the integration of different groups as a result of the social situations that arose in the postwar period.

This was vital to ensure the peaceful coexistence of students of different origins. His model was applied to students whose families came from rural areas and integrated into industrial cities such as postwar Detroit. The ultimate goal of Taba was an education based on democratic principles; her masterpiece was Curriculum Development (1962).

Biography

Hilda Taba was born in the town of Kooraste, in Estonia, on December 7, 1902. Her father was an educator named Robert Taba and her family was large, to the point that Taba was the eldest of nine siblings.

In 1921, Taba chose a teaching career after graduating from college. However, a brief period in his life began at that time that was marked by erratics and financial difficulties.

After obtaining a license as a school teacher at the Tartu didactic seminary, she began a short-lived approach to economics at the University of Tartu. This attempt abandoned her almost immediately.

Later he entered the Faculty of Philosophy, from which he graduated in 1926 with an emphasis in the area of ​​history and education. During this time, Taba had to finance his studies by giving private lessons.

Residence in the United States

In 1926, he obtained a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation and moved to the United States, where he received a master's degree at Bryn Mawr College. In 1927 she applied for a doctorate in education at Columbia University, a degree she obtained in 1932.

During her master's and doctoral studies, Hilda Taba became associated with prominent figures in the global educational and intellectual arena.

These included EL Thorndike, GC Gounts, Ralph Tyler and John Dewey, among others. However, the latter two were probably the greatest influences on his work.

After graduating from his doctorate, one of the most paradoxical events in Taba's life occurred. She returned to Estonia to try to become a professor at the University of Tartu, a position that was denied. Faced with this and the fact of not finding work at her level, she returned to North America.

Experimental study

Back in the United States, he became involved in a major research project for the reform of the educational curriculum. This was the 8-year Experimental Study.

This experiment was carried out under the sponsorship of the Dalton School and made it possible to contrast the new curricular schemes for the time with the traditional schemes that came from the 19th century.

Hilda Taba's participation in this project took place as a researcher and this allowed her to notice several of the aspects that were capital in her postulates.

Among these aspects is the fact that the educational process requires an approach towards cultural needs, and that said system must have a democratic essence whose reforms must start from its bases.

Likewise, it was in this instance that Taba met and was noted by Ralph Tyler, who hired her as coordinator of the curriculum evaluation team in the social field of the aforementioned project. It has been said that Taba's work was a continuation of Tyler's postulates.

Integration projects

Between 1945 and 1947, he was deeply involved in another of the central areas of his research: the integration of students from different groups.

This was very pertinent in the postwar era due to the mobility of groups moving to urban environments in search of work.

This project aimed at teaching groups was based in New York City and was carried out under the direction of Taba.

The precedents of social unrest made these studies a necessity. This evidenced one of the substantial postulates of Hilda Taba's research, in the sense that education must respond to the needs of society and culture.

Between 1948 and 1951, the researcher directed the Center for Teaching Between Groups at the University of Chicago, along the same lines as that of New York. Finally, from 1951, the last period in Hilda Taba's career began.

In this phase, he settled in Contra Costa County, San Francisco. The primary work carried out at this time was focused on the development of curricula for the social areas of that area. Hilda Taba passed away early on July 6, 1967.

Theoretical postulates

For Hilda Taba, education serves a triple purpose.

- It allows the transmission of culture, of the human spirit.

- Contributes to making individuals social entities.

- It allows society to be structured in a coherent way.

Likewise, the approach to education must respond to a totality and not be a mere transmission of data. The individual must be able to reason and infer about future situations.

According to Taba, it is imperative that education forms full individuals inscribed in democratic ideas. This is vital so that societies are not vulnerable to totalitarianism and the economy thrives.

Education must respond to the needs of society. Similarly, education must be centered on the processes inherent to the student. In addition, there must be an approach based on the very nature of the knowledge to be imparted.

When structuring an educational curriculum, it is necessary to consider several factors sequentially.

First, needs must be established, focused on the culture. Once that north is established, work is done based on objectives for those needs.

In this way, the contents to be taught are selected and organized in a coherent way. It is also vital to choose the type of experiences that will accompany said contents and to establish the forms and contexts of evaluation.

The work of this researcher gives her a privileged rank in the field of world education.

References

1. Galler, EH (1951). Influence of Social Class on Children's Choices of Occupations. The Elementary School Journal, 439-445.
2. Garduño, JM (1995). The consolidation of curriculum theory in the United States (1912-1949). Latin American Journal of Educational Studies (Mexico), 57-81.
3. taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: theory and practice. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
4. Taba, H. (1963). Learning by Discovery: Psychological and Educational Rationale. The Elementary School Journal, 308-316.
5. Taba, H., & Havighurst, R. (1949). Adolescent character and personality. Oxford, England: Wiley.