Why is it important to have a Teaching Philosophy?

*Originally posted on my previous blog www.mrbowkerinlmalaysia.com in September 2021*

What is a teaching philosophy?

A teaching philosophy statement is;

“a systematic and critical rationale that focuses on the important components defining effective teaching and learning in a particular discipline and/or institutional context” (Schonwetter et all, 2002).

Essentially, this is the reasons why we do what we do in the classroom. If you are an educator chances are you already have one. You may have one written down and have it clearly articulated, you may just think about it, or you may not even realise you have one and yet use it daily to support your rationale in teaching pedagogy. Think about it for a moment, what comes to mind? For my part I find my teaching philosophy is constantly evolving as I learn new information and approaches to teaching. I also find that although I have core beliefs about teaching, the fact that some of these are to be adaptable to the needs of the class and to be a lifelong learner means that my approaches can vary dramatically depending on my situation and my expanding understanding of a concept. As such different aspects of my philosophy come to the fore. As an example, I believe in, and enjoy, integrating technology into the classroom, but if this isn't possible in the school I'm working in then this aspect of my philosophy is naturally limited - it remains an ideal but is maybe not always realistic in practice.

Do we really need a teaching philosophy?

Following on from the above point that the 'ideal' isn't always possible, is it really important to have a teaching philosophy, especially when sometimes it is more aspirational than based in reality? Further, is it really important for teachers to take time to think about a 'teaching philosophy' when so much information is already internalised and embedded in practice? You may even ask what good does it do to be able to explain the 'why' of teaching, when just 'doing' can result in learning? I would say to all of these that it is more important than ever to not only have a teaching philosophy, but also to be able to articulate it, enhance it, evolve it and share it. I will try to outline the reasons why below. 1. Having a teaching philosophy gives the foundations upon which to build new knowledge around; Over my (relatively short) experience in teaching I have found defining the rationale behind my decision making and articulating what I believe to be the most effective teaching method to be increasingly important. This level of self reflection gives one a constant anchor point from which to analyse ones teaching, or decide upon which approaches to use or avoid in the classroom. As a life long learner I find having a philosophy gives the foundations upon which to build new knowledge around. When completing professional development in whatever form, an individual philosophy provides a framework to navigate new information and place it not only within the objective realms of current teaching knowledge, but also in a subjective way in terms of how it affects my own beliefs and more importantly how it could alter the teaching and learning in my classroom. In terms of cognitive science the teaching philosophy creates a schema and this helps to organise all new knowledge relative to it.

2. There are multiple purposes to having a teaching philosophy; Brookfield (1990) identified four different purposes in developing a teaching philosophy. These purposes are:

Personal purpose; it is good that your teaching philosophy reflects why you are doing what you are doing.

Political purpose; your teaching philosophy needs to show that your position is grounded in a well-developed philosophy of practice and in a political sense gain respect for potential career development in this area.

Professional purpose; your teaching philosophy identifies the professional goals you wish to develop. This is a huge part of modern teaching and the more we are all clear in these the more we can support each other.

Pedagogical purpose; teaching is about growing and finding new ways to develop your lessons according to the learners’ needs, so your teaching philosophy should show what effect you are having on students and on their learning. Looking at these different aspects of a teaching philosophy allows us to break our philosophy down into smaller chunks. Essentially a philosophy should explain why a teacher does what they do in the classroom, having this knowledge will support career development, professional development and also ensure pedagogical development in the classroom and in turn enhance learning. As a modern teacher these are all elements of our lives and our jobs. As professionals our decisions on how we teach should be based on well thought out and defendable positions. Personally, I would go further and suggest that this should be evidence based. Some of us may have higher aspirations on career development than others, and that is perfectly fine; but, in terms of being the best and most effective teachers we can be, and supporting our pupils to the highest standard, there is no doubt we should all be holding equally high expectations of ourselves. A teaching philosophy supports all of this. 3. Being aware of your own teaching philosophy not only helps you, but also others around you; If we hope to improve as teachers and work collegially to support each other's development then I would suggest a good place to start is to understand what drives ourselves. Once we have this, we can share more clearly with others to further develop everyone's knowledge base. A starting point to understanding ourselves is to attempt to understand and explain why we teach the way that we do and what pedagogical approaches, research evidence, and philosophies we are following. For instance, if a teacher following an inquiry based pedagogy was to discuss teaching with an instructional, evidence based, teacher, then being able to broadly define themselves under these umbrella terms could be very helpful. Being aware of their own and each other's philosophies puts both in a stronger position to support each others' development and understanding. Should these two teachers, with wildly differing approaches to teaching, start discussing teaching without this mutual understanding then this is unlikely to be a productive meeting. Indeed, in the latter I could envisage to two falling out rather quickly rather than having the kind of pedagogical conversation that could be of great value to both. The essence of this is that having and being able to explain your teaching philosophy enables you to share it with others, and vice versa. In terms of learning it is often these open professional dialogues that can really lead to drastic improvements in teaching and learning. Indeed, professional dialogue is crucial for teachers because it is embedded in the complex nature of teaching. Professional dialogue can reflect important assumptions about teaching and explore the nature of student learning (Grey, 2011), being able to articulate a teaching philosophy only enhances this. As the famous philosopher, Aristotle once wrote;

"We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then, is not an act, but a habit"

If we repeatedly think about, discuss and enhance our understanding of best pedagogical practice, then teaching excellence should become habitual for us all. Thanks for reading.

Laurence