Why Do We Teach The Way We Do?

Рет қаралды 84

Күн бұрын

Watch the full lecture here:
👉 • Why do we teach the wa...
Why we teach the way we do: philosophically speaking
If you’ve undergone any professional training in education, it is unlikely that you are a stranger to the term ‘philosophy of education’.
While I may poke fun at the myriad unremarkable and tedious ways in which this is articulated in some of the available literature, the truth is that the relationship between education and philosophy has for long been a matter of considerable debate and discussion. One can regard this to be true, given that many philosophers argue that teaching is the second-oldest profession.
The terms - ‘education’ and ‘philosophy’ attempt to bring together two such categories of concepts, which in themselves are highly contested. For example, while there may be some internal differences in opinion among quantum physicists, there is largely a high degree of agreement on what the domain comprises, and what sort of work qualifies as meaningful contribution in the field*. However, both ‘education’ and ‘philosophy’ are broad umbrella terms and there are also significant differences between various schools of thought within these two domains; so what would constitute as meaningful and relevant for one school of thought may not be so for another.
The reason I am beginning with a brief discussion of philosophy of education is because the domain refers to the application of philosophy to the problem of education; that is to the concerns of the aims and means of education. Philosophy primarily seeks to answer the ‘why’ questions. Why do we teach? Why do we teach the way we teach? Whether conscious of it or not, teachers live their innate or learned philosophies of education through their pedagogy and how they deal with disciplinary issues. Every teacher already, always has a ‘teaching philosophy’.
First, that “the child is not just a mind or just a student”. Gurveen shared that as a teacher, she begins by getting to know the person that the child is, “however minimally - as an individual and building a relationship of respect, trust with space for the student to say ‘no’ if she wants to. Space for me and them to relate and function as individuals rather than get reduced to our prescribed roles. That it is not worth teaching just the mind, when I teach, I teach a person,” she said.
Second, she believes that the relationship between teacher and student is one based on “respect for the individual, trust, values of honesty/truth and sensitivity”. Conveying faith in students and getting them to a point where they actually believe it may take time, but in her experience is something that does happen.
Third, she pointed out that in order to impart information or even teach a skill, what matters is to get the student to engage with the quest: to spark an interest, to generate excitement in learning the topic, to reveal the relevance and importance of what is being taught. “I do not teach answers, I attempt to plant questions. If the questions take root, the students come to their answers by and by through their experiences and considering any evidence and information that comes their way. And their answers will keep growing and getting refined as they grow, their capacity and understanding grows. I hope that whatever I teach will inform and transform the person.” Finally, she also aims to engage with questions critically and reflectively.
In several countries, during the recruitment process teachers are asked to explicitly share their teaching philosophy, which is perhaps a great idea. To start on the journey of identifying one’s own biases and positionality as a teacher, one can start with the following questions, some of which were used for the purpose of this piece as well.
Why do you want to teach?
What do you believe about how people learn?
What is your teaching philosophy?
Has it changed from when you started teaching?
What changes have you had to make and why?
How did you develop your teaching philosophy?
Is it important to have a teaching philosophy?
Is your teaching philosophy related to how you learn?
How does your teaching philosophy manifest in the teaching strategies you use?
What are some concrete examples of how you put your philosophy into practice?
Does teaching philosophy assist in professional development?
How do you assess your effectiveness as a teacher?
How do you assess student learning?
*plato.stanford...
Reference
owlcation.com/...
The author is based in Pune and is currently pursuing her PhD. in Education from TISS, Mumbai.
She can be reached at simranluthra@gmail.com.
Subscribe for more!!!
/ language_shapes_percep...
/ languageshapespercepti...