It might be a hard thing to expect educators to be philosophers, but can they be anything else?
~ Max Black, 1956~
How you answer those who ask about your philosophy says a lot about whether you are professionalized or not. “I love kids” is one way to answer it. But can you see that, “I am eclectic in my philosophical stance in teaching, but I draw heavily from Progressivism and Social Reconstructivism” is a much more professionalized response than the first one? (Of course I also hope you love kids too!)
Just so you know, most educators are not one pure philosophy and instead eclectically draw from 2 or 3 to form their teaching and practice. Now I wouldn’t include more than 3 or else you start to sound like you’re not focused. Naturally, you’ll see that you’re drawn to some over others.
Remember, no one philosophy is any better than any other philosophy. All philosophies are equal. Amen.
You are to write your philosophy of education in TED 400. I can assure you it will be among the very first questions that an administrator asks you when you interview for a job.
You’re not wedded to this first stab at a philosophy. But it is interesting to figure it out.
Here are some resources to help you write a Philosophy of Education paper. Just read the chapter and explore all of these resources. Next week I’ll show you some examples and give you some resources to help you write your philosophy statement.
This chapter by Johnson is from a Foundations of Education textbook (aren’t you glad I didn’t make you buy it?!) and is titled Philosophies of Education. It is a good place to begin. Please read it.
Here is the citation for this chapter:
Johnson, J. A., Musial, D., Hall, G. E., & Gollnick, D. M. (2011). Foundations of American Education: Perspectives on Education in a Changing World (15th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
I have made my own notes over the years as I’ve taught this, so here are various ways I’ve synthesized the philosophies of education over the years. Check out these Philosophy Notes to get a good synthesis of various educational philosophies. And These Notes too! I like this old Philosophy Matrix that I did years ago as well.
Philosophy of Education online survey
Philosophy of Education online inventory
Educational Philosophy Questionnaire