Philosophy of education BY 19th “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. ” -Confucius My personal philosophy of education is most closely related to constructivism, which is a theory based on the thought that learning is student led and teachers are the facilitators of children’s learning. Within this type of learning students are required to be active thinkers, explainers, interpreters and questioners (Wolff & Margaret, 2007).
Constructivism is an educational philosophy that focuses on constructing knowledge through rich and authentic student centered learning experiences, rather than the reproduction of knowledge from teachers. Jean Pigged and Level Whisky are accredited for developing these theories. My area of specialization within primary education is early childhood literacy however; my passion is special needs education. I understand that classroom education is not Just about teaching and learning but a range of different factors that work together in order to provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment that caters to each individual child.
I believe that there are vital elements in order to create this environment and they include subject knowledge, knowledge of students’ abilities, wants and needs, differentiation of work, the ability to change and adapt to different situations, a fun learning environment which is warm, welcoming, caring, understanding and approachable. Over the last nine years I have worked within many different classrooms. The teachers who were most successful in providing a successful learning environment used all these elements and were able to respect each individual child’s learning needs.
I believe through education it is my responsibility to empower all students within my care. It is important to celebrate and cater for diversity and inclusion within the classroom, where each student values and respects one another’s abilities, gender, religion, race, culture, family and socioeconomic status (1. 3). I understand that not all students learn in the same way. I endeavourer in my teaching to provide opportunities so all students can learn using their preferred learning style. Providing opportunities within my classroom for visual, auditory and unaesthetic learners (1. ,3. 3) and modifying learning opportunities to cater for each individuals specific learning needs (1. 5,1. 6). It is imperative that as a teacher I have a sound understanding of the concepts, structure and strategies in teaching areas of primary education (2. 1). By understanding subject content knowledge I can create opportunities for learning that are intriguing and student based. As a teacher I feel it is my responsibility to understand exactly what I want each student to understand and achieve in each object (5. 1).
I will then cater my teaching so each child reaches this level of expectation through different assessments including informal, formal, diagnostic, Dermatome Ana assumptive assessments. As a teacher, it is my Job to stimulate and encourage thinking rather than to provide answers and resolve problems. To achieve this I will step out of my comfort zone. At the end of the day I am only human and I will need to challenge myself to continue to learn new ways of teaching, the ever-changing information technology systems and efferent theories which will benefit the students I teach.
My teaching philosophy is in its infancy, some areas of my philosophy will change over time however I will continue to base my ideas of a successful classroom environment on the factors mentioned above. References: Wolff & Margaret. (2007). Educational psychology. French Forest N. S. W. : Pearson Education Australia. Northern Illinois University, College of Business Experiential Learning Centre (2011) Experimental Learning retrieved August , 10 2013 from http://www. Cob. NIH. Due/LLC/
