My teaching philosophy

Education can be defined as the system of delivery: meaning imparting and acquiring general
knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment and generally of preparing oneself
or the others intellectually for a mature life.
As teachers, our goal is to encourage learning in our classrooms. But are teachers the only
persons who contribute to the education of the children? What are the other principles or the
factors that affect learning and teaching? These questions keep on coming across my mind each
and every time. My first step in the labor market was in the teaching domain only. As a beginner
in this field, I was just like the students who were joining school for the first time in their life.
Everything was new to me: how to conduct the class, my attitude towards the students and even
towards my colleagues. Being a student for more than 10 years and watching teachers
conducting their class seem to me like an easy task, but when it came to me then I gave it a
thought that the teaching profession is very demanding and requires much hard work on behalf
of the teachers.
As a former teacher, I keep on thinking of what can be done to make all children attentive in my
class so that their energy can be channeled in a constructive way and avoids undesirable
behaviors, to understand the children with different backgrounds and their needs, and finally to
facilitate their learning in my classroom. I tried to find out the factors that may be affecting
individual differences, where heredity and environment appeared to be the main factors for me.
So my role as a teacher will be to have a clear perspective of the relative importance of heredity
and environment. It would include determining how to provide the best possible environment to
every child to develop his/her inherited potential at all level. Thus, at the same time, will make
all my student feel engaged and participate in my class. This is in line with the author Paulo
Freire (1921-1997) who argued that good teaching involves creating an environment whereby
there is genuine dialogue. I believe that students primarily learn through conversation and
collaboration rather than by dropping bits of information in the mind of students which Paulo
Freire called the banking system.
Based on my experience as a student, I believe that the best teachers were those who cared more
about teaching. The motivation to teach is one among the most important criteria for effective
teaching. I understand the role of a teacher as one who acts as a guide, through which pupils
learn in order to become independent and accountable for their own learning in the future which
comprises of a learner -centered approach, in which learners take control of their own learning
(Muller, 1998). As such I believe that as an educator it is important to consider needs of students
and give students freedom of choice. An important thinker of the learner-centered philosophy is
John Dewey (p.47) who advocate for educational reform by inspiring a movement to establish
new schools that would be democratic rather than authoritarian and he shifted the focus of
education to the needs of the students (Hill,2009). Similarly, Plato emphasized on a good
learning environment instead of an authoritative approach (McEwan, 2011).

According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau man was born free and good and could remain that way in
some ideal state of nature. His main idea was that human being is created good by God and
must make all efforts to remain that way. Rousseau had an anti-social attitude because he thought
that society was responsible for corrupting the nature of man. According to Noddings: having to
live with other people and accommodate to their needs begins a process of corruption in man that
reaches its peak in the society characteristic of Rousseaus time. Thus Rousseau wanted to work
towards a society in which human being would remain in his/her natural state but still be able to
mingle within the society without corrupting this natural state. As stated by Noddings (1995, p.
15): his was an attempt to balance the needs of conjoint living with those of self-actualization.
The theory of natural man given by him brought him towards making such a plan for education
in which a person will be able to fulfill both the needs of living in a society and remain in a
natural state. Rousseau believed that education was not merely imparting information upon the
learner. Education also takes place from the environment around him/her. Khalid (1998, p.93)
states: Rousseau says that education comes to us from nature, from man and from things. Here
he is regarding nature as equivalent of endowment. Rousseau believed the education from
nature to be of the utmost importance followed by education from man and things.

I agree with this statement as I strongly believed that during education a child must be prepared
to face all the problems and difficulties that life challenge him with. He should be able to make
his own decisions and not depend on others judgments. This can take place in the class by
creating opportunities for students to develop their thinking ability. For example, role play can be
a medium to help the students to adapt to different situations. I also believe that debates can be a
way to develop the ability to think of the students. However, one should make sure that the
students do not feel over burdened by the knowledge imparted on them. They must feel free and
happy during the course of education. The students should be given the rights to express
themselves in the class.
Unfortunately in our own system of education, we can assume that development of the ability of
thinking is not taking place effectively. Based on what I have experienced, I can say that students
are exposed only to what they would be academically assessed. They are not given the
opportunity to develop their own selves.

Furthermore, based on my observations at school as a trainee teacher, I have noticed that
students are more likely to understand when there is demonstration of a given concept rather than
just telling them, thus I believe that it is fundamental to consider the element of experimentation
in the learning process. Dewey (1859) in line with the author Rs Peters put forward that the
process becomes through investment of students experience. Once students have personally
invested in their experience, genuine discovery becomes possible (Beckett, 2011). Learning is
something which an individual does when he studies and takes place when knowledge is applied.
Supported by Finnan (2006), Dewey disliked passive knowledge transmission. So students must
be actively engaged in their work that they need to explore, question, and work with real
materials and issues. Also, Paulo Freire argued that in order for learning to take place students
should learn to apply knowledge in their situation rather than simply experiencing them. I truly
believe that the element of experience play a vital role in making the learning process effective.
As an educator I believe it is my responsibility to make learning becomes meaningful for my
students to ensure effective learning to take place.
According to Plato, a society maintains justice if its classes are virtuous according to their class
specific needs: warriors are courageous, rulers are wise and masses have temperance. If these
classes act in complete harmony with each other and in each class members have the class
specific virtue, then society will become a just society. Plato suggests that all this can be ensure
through education alone. He recommends an education system which is uniform and pursues the
general aims of society itself.
I totally disagree with the Platonic theory of education, as it deals with the discrimination among
students. As a trainee teacher, I believe that all students should be given the same education.
They should all be treated equally. And we should also take into consideration that each student
has his own qualities and those qualities should be respected. The financial status of the student
would in any way not affect my teaching. Being poor do not mean that a child cannot be
intelligent. I will encourage my students to learn by making the lesson more comprehensive. And
I will appreciate any response from the students as we know that everyone likes to be praised.
Teaching and learning shall become a simultaneous journey for both the teacher and students
when students' energy is aroused by a teacher's genuine intensity for learning, because everyone
is ready and willing to participate in active learning.


Therefore, I firmly believe that there should be every need and the urgency for a different
teaching-learning process. Any worthwhile system of education should involve students in the
learning process in the most effective manner possible. Those who educate children well are
more to be honored than parents, for these gave only life, those the art of living well. Said
Aristotle. The emphasis in the new teaching-learning process should not be only merely on the
outcome of instruction but on the learning process as well. In other words, in this process,
students should be trained to observe, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and apply concepts and
themes to new and unfamiliar situations. This training will enable students to be open-minded in
regard to ideas, evidence and experimentation and abandon pre-determined ideas and to be
intellectually honest and be critical-minded. They will read beyond what is presented for the
course; discuss problems and carry out investigations outside the classroom.
Education for international understanding and universal brotherhood. Said Tagore.