Essay about Personal Educational Philosophy

An educational philosophy is a personal statement of a teacher’s goals or belief. A teacher comes to the classroom with a distinctive set of principles and ideals that affect how a student learns and expand the child’s potential in his or her venture into knowledge. I believe that education should be active, and focus on the whole child, rather than just the content or the teacher. The three (3) principles I believe that work harmoniously with my educational philosophy are the teacher acting as a facilitator to foster critical thinking, allowing the child’s natural curiosity to steer his or her learning for personal development, and

Throughout my time in Messiah College's Teacher Education Program, my beliefs, values, and knowledge of education have been challenged, reflected upon, and changed. Another way to state the latter is that my philosophy on education has been shaped by the experiences I have had within the education system at Messiah College along with surrounding school districts. The way in which teachers design curriculum and instruction have a direct correlation to the individual's philosophies of education. Having a philosophy provides teachers "with framework for broad issues and tasks, such as determining the goals of education, subject content and it organization, the process of teaching and learning, and, in general, what experiences and activities to stress in schools and classrooms" (Ornstein, 1991, p. 102).

Education is defined as the lifelong process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and values through either formal means, such as schooling, or informal means, such as firsthand experiences or vicarious experiences gained through reading books or discussions. Every person that is or wants to be a teacher has his or her own educational philosophy. We all have our own views, methods, and curriculum that we were taught when growing up. A lot of people may have the same teachers in school, but all of them learn different things from that teacher.

There are five main philosophies that describe education: Essentialism (the back-to-basics approach which strives to teach students the essentials), Progressivism (which stresses individuality), Perennialism (which is the teaching of philosophies that have been around for hundreds of years), Existentialism (which give the students the choice of when to study and when not to), and Behaviorism (which lets teachers use reinforcement to achieve the desired behaviors which need to be used in the class room). Essentialism was the main philosophy used in earlier classrooms, and should be adopted back into the classrooms of today.

In this paper, I will compare and contrast the five (5) philosophies of education; Essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstructionism, and existentialism and incorporate the top two (2) philosophies that I scored highest on into my own philosophy of education.

No teachers are similar as well as no students learn in the same way. Every teacher has their own unique teaching style which is based on their educational philosophy, their classroom’s demographic, what subject area they teach, and the school’s mission statement. Up until now, teachers are looking for a system that will engage students in the educational process and will develop the students’ critical thinking skills. Moreover, teachers want the classroom to be in order and in control, but they also want their students to appreciate the learning procedure. These teaching styles can be divided into two approaches – the teacher-centered and learner-centered.

My personal philosophy of education is a combination of at least four of the seven theories represented in the textbook, and my personal learning experience. I believe students need to learn specific information to be able to function in society (Perennialism), such as critical and rational thinking. Students can learn today by extracting lessons attained from the past (Essentialism), such as reading writing and arithmetic. Students can learn from doing (Progressivism), this could take the form of possible service learning projects. Students need to take responsibility for choices they make (Existentialism), by understanding the consequences that follow every choice. My personal experiences come from several classes in high school. These

Educational philosophies influence curriculum from the establishment of the American school systems. The five major philosophies that have influence American education are: 1) Idealism, 2) Essentialism, 3) Perennialism, 4) Progressivism, and 5) Experimentalism. Idealism, Essentialism, and Perennialism are all teacher-based philosophies putting the teacher at the core of the educational experience, with students being passive members of the classroom. In contrast, Progressivism and Experimentalism are student-centered philosophies that focus on the child and their contribution and participation in the formation of classroom experiences, using teachers as guides to help students in their educational development. Although the philosophies differ, many of them define curriculum as a encompassing unit of goals, methods, materials and assessment.

There are two educational philosophies that influence the way I want to teach in my own classroom. Essentialism and progressivism correspond to my beliefs. They both represent the values that I hold important when coming to running my future class. These philosophies interconnect to form the view of the best educational philosophy for me.

In Education, I feel that each and every child should be considered as a unique individual. Children need secure, stimulating and caring atmospheres so that may grow maturely, intellectually, physically and socially. This is one of the main reasons I have chosen to become a teacher. Employers usually search for certain skills, qualities, talents in characteristics when looking for potential teachers and I feel that I possess many. I am a very organized individual; I have a lot of patience and experience in dealing with fast paced and stressful environments. I have a true passion for teaching and children, early childhood education allows me to channel back to my childhood and make children excited about education. I have a work ethic that does not quit and a strong willingness to reflect. With that being said, I have a true understanding of being able to ask myself why things went the way that they did, both on good days and bad days. The purpose of developing an educational philosophy is that it defines the purpose and focus of an educational institution. It typically becomes a part of the mission statement which defines which subject material is being taught. An institutional philosophy is also able to how subjects are taught and most importantly the values that are taught along with the subjects being covered. I feel that teaching beliefs are tied to teaching behaviors are very minimal and as the educator becomes more experienced they become less sensitive.

My personal educational philosophy is a combination of perennialism and essentialism, which leaves me uniquely well-armed to teach my subject of choice: History. History, viewed as a whole, is a monument to the achievements of Man. It is unchanging, though new aspects may be found or brought to light, and it can be viewed from many angles, it is an unchanging truth that what happened, has indeed happened. Through a thorough and guided exploration of this subject, students can learn many of the essential skills they will need to succeed later in life.

In studying the different philosophies of teaching, I have concluded that I have an eclectic view of my philosophies on education. My goal will be to follow idealism, existentialism and pragmatism. As a teacher, I will study the content that I will be teaching and focus on knowing it very well. Not only will I fulfill my job with the school, but also I will be fulfilling my dream and desires of being a teacher. My passion is to teach children what they do not yet know. I want them to learn what is required, but I want to teach them more than just that. I want them to learn their own strength of their own mind. My desire is for them to learn their own level of intelligence and for them to realize

Having said all of this, the role of teacher has to be one of many dimensions. The role of the teacher is also the role of an educator, a mentor, a motivational speaker, and a minister. I believe that the teacher is an educator, and not only of his or her subject matter. A teacher should be educated in his/her subject matter, but they should also teach students to relate things to their everyday lives. By doing this, you are teaching students to not only think for themselves, but to survive in a competitive society. The role of a teacher is also the role of a motivational speaker. Students not only have individualized talents that they bring into the classroom, they also have individualized problems as well. Teachers must bypass all of these issues, get students’ attention, and motivate them to

The philosophical orientation that suits my teaching style the best is perennials. This is the one suits me the best for the reason that, I want my students to receive the best education they can get.

After reviewing these teaching philosophies and educational theories, many of them reflect my own personal educational philosophy and my instructional practices and choice of classroom curriculum. The four that I found the most appealing are: Realism, Pragmatism, existentialism and progressivism. I find the combination of the three very complementary.