Education is a lifelong journey, and as such the role of an educator is continually evolving and adapting. It is imperative that as a future teacher I take the time to truly understand my own strengths and weaknesses as both a learner and educator. Through this process of recognizing my own passions and beliefs I have come to develop my own pedagogical philosophy of teaching. Certain aspects within some of the preexisting philosophies that I resonate with me are realism, progressivism, and social reconstructionism. I think that my outlooks on education are closest related to progressivism.
Progressivism is described within the text Educational Foundations in Canada as, “A child-centered philosophy emphasizing problem solving while capitalizing on students’ curiosity and creative self-expression” (Edmunds, Nickel, & Badley, 2015, p.223). This definition speaks to me both as a learner and educator. I have always found that I have been able to do my best learning when I am able to explore aspects of material on my own and be creative with my approaches to this. I understand progressivism as seeing the student as a whole and allowing their interests and passions to help drive their learning. This resonates with me as I believe that learning and creating real understanding is most effective when a student is engaged and or excited by their learning. This also lends itself to scaffolding teaching practices that allow for guidance, but eventually lead to student learning autonomy and, ideally, mastery through own experience. Progressivism highly values the trait of curiosity in students, as well as aspects of inquiry and problem-based learning as being highly useful and important. I strongly believe that utilizing curiosity is vital to a students’ education. By allowing students to be curious in learning, educators give students the chance to create a real connection with the material and promotes further development of various subject matter. Progressivism also stands to promote collaborative work within the classroom. This is a core value of mine, because for me as a learner I have found that group work lends itself to a greater understanding of material. I also believe that it is important to allow students the opportunity to learn how to positively interact and work with others, as this is a very valuable skill to have in the real world. I think collaborative work promotes the use of external support and resources to further understanding and knowledge and as such, should be encouraged. Although there are many aspects of progressivism that I agree with, there are also some that I do not. Personally, I do not support the notion that student education should be solely driven by student interest and not by teacher’s goals. I think a more positive approach to this would be for a teacher to develop a goal they wish their students to achieve through learning and then utilize and incorporate the students’ interests to help facilitate a lesson and or unit plan. This outlook is similar to that of the philosopher John Dewey who helped to shape progressivism.
John Dewey was one of the founders of the progressivism philosophy in education. Dewey advocated that students’ learning should be related to their own lives in some form, otherwise the material proved less relevant (Gibbons, 2019). This relates back to experience-based learning and building understanding through doing. This also reflects Dewey’s belief that rote memorization was not beneficial for learning and did not help to develop real understanding of information. I agree with this outlook as when students are simply required to learn facts the information they are acquiring has no real use to them, resulting in this information being easily forgotten. This form of learning is therefore ineffective and frankly, quite useless. Experience-based learning, when compared to this, holds much more potential for true understanding as well as lasting knowledge of the material.
I have come to greatly value the positive effects of reflexive practice and its effect on one’s teaching. Through many of my classes within this program I have been asked to reflect on my own experiences, personal beliefs, and abilities. When discovering my pedagogical philosophy, I have come to a more in-depth understanding of how I see myself as a future educator. During the observational practicums, I have found myself highly valuing teachers that exhibit genuine emotions of compassion, love, and respect for their students. I am drawn to this as I personally believe that each student should feel both loved and supported in school and have a positive relationship with their teacher. I have also enjoyed observing teachers that allow their students the opportunity and freedom to be creative within their learning. For me, the greatest understanding of material comes from creating some form of personal connection with learning, and as such believe it should be encouraged. Through my experiences, I have also come to witness aspects of teaching that I do not agree with. This has also helped me to uncover aspects of myself and my pedagogy. I am unable and unwilling to support teaching practices that do not allow for students’ efforts or work to feel seen or valued. I also cannot support practices that act to shame students or make them feel lesser than others. I strongly believe that all children have worth and are intelligent. It is the role of educators to uplift students and allow them to see the potential in themselves.
When reflecting on how I view education and learning, and what I deem to be important within these realms I have been able to recognize the key components that construct my pedagogical philosophy. I hope to someday create a classroom the upholds the values of respect, compassion, and kindness for others. It is important to be to establish positive relationships with my students founded on support and love. I want to have learning rooted in connection, personal interests and passions, and allow opportunities for curiosity, experience, and collaborative work. Within my lifelong learner outlook, I am committed to further my own self and progress my education throughout my career. I also aim to continually push myself to be better for my students so as to not become lazy and stagnant within my practice.
Looking to my future as an educator I am filled with optimism and the hope of potential. It is easy at this point to pick out all the good qualities I hope to emulate, however I am sure that as I continue through my journey as a learner and educator that I will come across moral road blocks and personal pedagogical shifts in thinking. I think that the most important aspect of a pedagogical philosophy statement is to remember that it is alright if it changes or needs to be adapted in time. I believe it is important for every educator to become aware of their own pedagogical philosophy as this helps to construct one’s own teaching practice and may additionally act to guide one in achieving their goals. Through my discovery of my own philosophy, I hope to hold myself to the standards I have set and continually work towards bettering myself in learning and educating.