Discover Your Educational Philosophy
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Philosophies Held by Instructors of Lifelong-learners (PHIL)

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Our educational philosophy underpins everything that we do as instructors in the teaching-learning transaction. Our philosophy is based on our assumptions about our definition of learning and our views on the nature of mankind, the purpose of education, the nature of the curriculum, the role of the teacher and the learner, and the nature of the instructional process.

There is no right or wrong philosophy. Each philosophy simply represents a different belief system about the nature of the learning process. In Western thought, there are five major philosophies that have endured over time. They are Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, Existentialism or Humanism, and Reconstructionism.

The starting point for being a professional in education is to understand why you think and act the way you do in the classroom. While a philosophy indicates what you believe about the teaching-learning transaction, not all of the tenants of each philosophy are congruent with adult learning principles. Therefore, your task as a professional is to identify your philosophy and then critically reflect on how to make your classroom actions consistent with established principles related to adult learning. The following instrument can help you identify your overall educational philosophy in less than two minutes.

Directions: For each of the following four items, select the one response that you most closely reflects your beliefs.

----You may easily move from one item to the next by pressing the Tab key.----

1. As an educator, I seek to create a learning environment that has content and educational activities that are:
Controlled with careful analysis by me of the material to be covered and concepts to be taught so that learners can systematically move toward the learning objectives.
Considerate of the learner’s needs so that each learner can explore and make educational decisions in consultation with me.

2. I believe that people learn best:
From expert instructors who know what they are talking about.
From instructors who emphasize practice and continually provide feedback to the learners.

3. I believe that educational activities should:
Start with the educator planning activities by identifying problems that can be solved by the instruction.
Involve the learner in making key decisions in consultation with the instructor about what to include in the educational activity.

4. I believe that the effective instructor:
Capitalizes on the learners’ feelings during the learning process to accomplish the learning objectives.
Helps learners increase their awareness of significant social and political issues so they can have an impact on these situations.

Please click on Submit to get your personality type.