“Plants are shaped by cultivation and men by education. We are born weak, we need strength; we are born totally unprovided, we need aid; we are born stupid, we need judgement. Everything we do not have at our birth and which we need when we are grown is given us by education”. (Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile)
My philosophy of education has been shaped through my own personal experiences, both as a student and as an adult in the working world. It has helped me understand what works to interest, motivate, and excite students.
My interest in teaching started when I started giving pottery classes to kids some 15 years ago. The kids varied in ages and abilities and I even had a few cases with special needs. Teaching these kids somehow gave me a sense of satisfaction which is difficult to achieve doing other jobs. I view learning as a journey the students take through their student life and through their adult life. Educators are in the position to help shape students, taking into account his or her needs and guide them to lifelong learning, and this in itself carries a lot of responsibilities with it. As an educator, it is important for me to help the students to truly understand concepts being taught as these will help them in later education and in their lives in the future.
Like philosopher John Dewey I believe that students should be involved in real-life tasks and challenges. Design should be taught by using practical projects which could be turned into real life projects. Dewey said that an educator must take into account the unique differences between each student. In the case of most of the subjects which I teach, with a standard brief and using established pedagogical methods, each student can develop his or her project in a personal way which demonstrates the different qualities of the student, and will give them the opportunity to work with his or her specialist material. I try to apply different teaching methods and design briefs that allow for such individual differences.
John Dewey was critical of completely "free, student-driven" education because students often do not know how to structure their own learning experiences for maximum benefit. However, I do believe with proper guidance, students can be brought up to think with a mind of their own while using the knowledge of their tutors and the experience of the technical people in the workshops. I consider myself a pragmatist which is one of the four philosophies of education together with idealism, realism and existentialism. A teacher, in this case would be considered a facilitator; one who guides the students into their curriculum. In a Pragmatist model the curriculum is student-centered and revolves around the student’s interest. Therefore, the educator’s role is to bring that child into a certain subject by arousing their interest. The methodology a pragmatist teacher uses is hands-on which helps the students relate to the subject better. Hands-on experiences are authentic experiences that the student will carry with them longer than a lesson out of a book or with a power point. I want my students to learn to be able to think for themselves and be problem solvers and that they will be able to use these skills in real life situations.
Foundation diploma students have the opportunity in the second semester to design their own briefs for their final major project. During the first semester, the students get a taste of a number of workshops such as ceramics, wood, stone and metal and for the second semester they get to choose one workshop. The project they decide to do will be produced in this workshop. It is my job as their tutor is to guide them towards choosing a project where they can demonstrate their creative ability and which is within their reach to produce. The student, Jean-Jacques Rousseau argues, should remain in complete ignorance of those ideas which are beyond his/her grasp.
I also guide them on how and what to research for their projects and help them to come up with adequate solutions for their problems. The hands-on experience that they gain in the workshop, trains them to look at practical and manufacture issues as well as aesthetics and functionality when designing a product. “Make the citizen good by training”, Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes, “and everything else will follow”. This is a philosophy I try to follow when guiding my students through their student life, in the hope that my teachings will serve them in the future.
One of the oldest and still the most powerful, teaching method for fostering critical thinking is Socratic teaching. In Socratic teaching the focus is on giving students questions, not answers. When discussing projects with my students, I like to inquire and probe them so that they themselves can come up with improved and adequate solutions to their issues. I feel that this also trains them to question their own solutions thus improving on their own performance. In design, the first solution is hardly ever the best, therefore students need to learn to evaluate their own work and recognise the strengths and weaknesses in their projects. In the last part of a brief, I almost always ask my students to make an evaluation as a form of self-assessment of their projects. One of the problems I find is that it is easy for them to speak positively about their projects, but difficult for them to speak about the weaker point of their project or where they could have improved it. I do explain to them that doing a good self-assessment will help them raise their own standards, develop problem-solving strategies, learn more from their own experiences and mistakes and prepare them for the real working world there they would be constantly assessed by employers, clients and public in general. I also tell them that they will not be penalised for negative criticism on their own projects but on the contrary – it makes their tutors aware that the student himself has realised where he could have improved given he had more time and sometimes more resources.
“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes." John Dewey
As a young and new educator, my philosophy of teaching and education is not yet clearly defined at this early stage in my career. I believe that my present philosophy of teaching will develop and change as I gain experience. I will continue to search for new ideas methods to improve my skills as an educator and further develop my philosophy. Teaching provides an opportunity for continual learning and growth. It is my hope as an educator is to instill a love of learning in my students, as I share my own passion for learning with them.
References
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Education.htmhttp://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=Philosophy+of+Education
http://resumes-for-teachers.com/news/philosophy-of-education.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/philosophy_of_teaching
