Philosophy plays a very special and important role in the development of any teacher’s skills. It is an important mechanism used by pedagogues, where we apply our reflective disciplinary knowledge, which arises from various philosophical issues related to teaching, to our daily practical management in the teaching profession. The following are some reflections -which are none other than a combination of moral and intellectual developments that have shaped my own teaching philosophy. There are of course various pros and cons. These arise from the dichotomy of looking at the philosophy of education as: either being the teacher’s responsibility to sow the seeds of creativity and innovation in the adults of tomorrow; or as being the source where learners achieve their required competences that would satisfy specific future employment or a mixture of both.
Philosophy - meaning "love of wisdom." In a broad sense, philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other.’
So how and more importantly why should it form part of education? Children are the adults of tomorrow and form the backbone of a healthy society. They are the ones who will be at the helm of important roles of decision making. They are the ones who will be in upcoming positions of leadership, and will be entrusted with the responsibility of making creative and innovative milestones in the shaping of history for future generations. They are the link between the past and the future.
I feel it is our duty as pedagogues and mentors to promote an adequate system of education which will provide learners with the solid foundations that are strong enough to build future societies upon. A pediment that provides the youths of today with a solid holistic education, which is the key element in aiding individuals to be able to provide for themselves as well as their own family. A healthy society is the result of a sound sub structure such as the family unit. In addition to this, there is another benefit which is a result of education: well educated individuals provide good foundations for minds that are able to form better opinions, when confronted with dilemmas, as well as can take better decisions that may benefit both their own interests as well as those of others.
What is the role of the educator in the post modern educational system, and how is this role being sold to the consumer – the student, the adult of tomorrow? In the postmodern world the buzzword is performance. How can I (as an educator) perform better for the benefit of the other -the student? Should we as teachers assume the role of the enlightened ones or should we question our own knowledge? I feel that we should be in a quest to look for the best ways of finding an education which is truly fulfilling and which is nonetheless in tune with the demands of current trends and innovations within a given society.
We need to focus more on what is the end result, in other words how the students are benefiting from our teaching. We need to be critical of our own means and methods of education, be critical of our personal developments, ideas and procedures in order to be able to come up with solutions that reap the desired results in the future. In order to be able to release our full potential as educators we need to pay attention to individuals and their individualistic needs. We are not the same. Within a given society, there is diversity. We are all equal and deserve to be given the same opportunities in life, however we do not share the same levels of skills, acquired abilities, nor do we have the same capacity to learn or be creative.
How should we then as pedagogues address these dichotomies? In addition we need to consider what is good learning and bad learning. Should we treat education as the Platonian means to an end, so that we create an ideal state for the future? Or should we adopt a learner centred style of education? Dewey was the educator who looked at the child as being an empty bank account for future employment within the needs of society as well as being a free spirit to grow and explore the various possibilities available. I also believe that this is the right approach, and in addition believe that the learning environment of the school or institution should be an extension of what is learned at home. The teacher’s role is more of a filter that separates ideas and concepts from each other, and not necessarily discarding any, but merely giving more weight, importance and value to some over others. In addition I feel that giving the students only what they are able to handle is a good philosophy. Overwhelming students with information and work, will make jack a dull boy, on the other hand all play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. Thus it is important to skilfully negotiate the two.
It is in my opinion best to strike a balance between the two opposite sides of many a coin. On one side we have the Platonian idea of education as fulfilling the needs of society and on the other we have Rousseau’s philosophy which centres round the needs of the child and not of society. John Dewey advocates the importance and combination of both in order to transform today’s children into tomorrow’s educated adults. The process of education has to be one which not only offers knowledge, in terms of enlightenment, but one which also allows the child to grow, and experience self improvement and self actualisation which is brought about by being allowed to experiment and be creative in his/her pathway through life. As educator I feel that it is of utmost importance to balance listening and supporting with guidance and instruction. I feel that students need to be given food for thought as well as be challenged in order to create motivation as well as a yearning for learning. Students need to be given individual attention, when this is possible since not all students are of course the same.
In the postmodern world in which we live today it is indeed difficult not to address diversity, be it gender, social or racial – and it is beyond any political correctness. As educators we need to cater for this sameness and diversity, which is indeed a result of many factors, one major common denominator is globalisation. This factor has made the world smaller, and it has similarly made the classroom less rigid when it comes to the mixture of abilities, skills and intelligence. It is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks to treat all individuals as equals with equal rights when one knows that they have limitations as to their abilities and levels of creativity and intelligence. Consequently I believe that everyone should be given the opportunity to reach their own potential, some might take more time then others.
In conclusion my philosophy on education is one which is a mixture of the teacher as guide and the students’ self centred education. I try to believe that within many of the rebellious students there is the potentiality of a leader dying to come out, and within many a destructive youth there is the potentiality of a creative genius, because I believe that the human being is capable of extremes and that which is destructive can be turned into constructive creativity. It is up to us as educators to guide the children entrusted to us towards the light at the end of the tunnel; however I also believe that some for varying reasons miss that light altogether. I would like to believe that the rate of success of those who reach that light is far greater than that of those who do not.
