Authenticity

The primary motive in developing my teaching philosophy is to achieve authenticity. My experiences within learning contexts to date - as a teacher, practitioner, student - have taught me not to try to be someone that I am not.  Who I am - my values, beliefs, motives - and how I teach are one and the same.  It is incredibly important to me that the students meet me, not just me playing a role as a teacher, or a psychologist, or a researcher. These are just the roles we play when we are involved in a particular context. I feel passionately that unless the people you are interacting with see the real you, then they will hold back their real selves, and communication will always be limited. I want them to respond naturally in my presence, to share their honest thoughts with me and each other, whether these be well informed, ill informed, controversial, boring etc. Be yourself, is all I ask, and I will be myself. From this point I feel that I have established a level playing ground. I am motivated to remove 'power' as much as possible from the relationship. I have been lucky to have had very positive educational role models and mentors. The concepts and people which have shaped my teaching philosophy are outlined below, and reflecting on these has been a valuable process, helping me clarify what is most important to me as a teacher.  Cranton (2001) argues that the educational literature is replete with ideas about what constitutes good teaching and anyone trying to meet many requirements of the multitude of views on the subject would fall short of fulfilling them. Rather than attempting to reproduce every principle of good teaching, it seems more important, according to Cranton, to be true to yourself, (i.e. authentic) and to focus on the 'teacher within' rather than the 'teacher without' (represented by all the other teachers and teaching theories.  

 

 "A person would be inauthentic if they were to ignore their Self and instead try to 

replicate the ‘Selves’ of good teachers they come into contact with: "The authentic 

teacher understands who she [sic] is as a teacher, works well and clearly with her 

own style, and continues to reflect on her practice, grow, and develop (p. 36) [and] we each, individually, find our own place within these perspectives through questioning, contemplation, and reflection on our  basic nature, preferences, experience, and values"  (Cranton, 2001, p.41)  

 

Self-determination

Motivation is a concept which is at the core of my personal theory of learning. Motivation directs our behaviour toward particular goals, the effort and energy we put in, and our persistence in activities. Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) focuses on the degree to which an individual’s behaviour is self-motivated and self-determined.  As a teacher within adult education, I am fundamentally interested in the motivations behind the choices that people make regards studying. For example, to what extent they chose to enage in study for its own sake, because it is interesting and satisfying in itself (e.g. Intrinsic motivation), or whether they are primarily studying to simply obtain a certificate or satisfy other peoples goals for them (e.g. Extrinsic motivation). It is also possible that they choose to engage in further study because they didn't really know what else to do (closest to a concept called Amotivation). Within the learning environment, I am interested in creating a culture in which students actively make choices to engage in learning for its own sake, and in providing students with the opportunity to guide their own learning. Deci & Ryan proposed three psychological needs which motivate the self to initiate behaviour and specify needs that are essential for psychological health and well-being of an individual. These needs are said to be universal, innate and psychological and include the need for competence, autonomy, and psychological relatedness. Learning activities can be designed to actively engage these psychological needs. However, I recognise that learning and motivation is situated, and this culture must also provide opportunities for students who are more extrinscally motivated to successully complete the learning outcomes in a particular context.

 

Incremental (Growth) Mindset.

Another theory which has had a significant impact on the way I think about learning is Carol Dweck's Self Theory of Learning (1988; 2011).  This theory emerged from observations Dweck and her colleagues made about how individuals unknowingly (or implicitly) assess their own intelligence and abilities through interaction and interpretation of their environment. She argued that people develop or fundamental underlying beliefs (termed a 'self-theory') regarding whether or not intelligence or abilities can change. These psychological worlds shape our thoughts, feelings and behaviours with regards learning. With no obstacles, all students tend to perform equally well. In the face of obstacles, entity theorists tend to back down and reduce effort, blaming their personal inadequacy. I can relate to this. As a child, in both school and sport, my engagement in learning situations was influenced by my view of self as someone who had a limited, talent based view of intelligence.  I was motivated in these situations to focus on goals which demonstrated my ability to others. When faced with activities I wasn't good at, I was more likely to opt out, and save face. This mindset began to change at university, where I was required to tackle subjects and skills I didn't think I was good at. While my progress was slow, with help of friends and teachers, I began to master activities that I didn't think I would (e.g. kinesiology, inferential statistics). While I never had the passion to continue studying these subjects following my degree, I learned that my ability in these areas was directly linked to the level of effort and discipline I put into learning. My course at university established these as pre-requisite subjects in my first year, and so I had no choice but to acquire these skills. However, I learned many of the lessons which stuck with me away from the classroom - on the sports field, in work placements, in the lab, in the community and in social activities away from my degree.

 

Social and situational learning

Dweck argues that the learning environment must provide the learner with challenges which they learn to navigate, in order to develop the confidence in their abilities and begin to challenge fixed concepts of intelligence. Although learning environment doesn't always have to be focused on a formal learning context. Situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) suggests that  learning is often unintentional rather than deliberate, and develops through social interaction and as a result of experiences in the workplace, home, and through friendships, hobbies and travel. This is summaised by Dweck, who states:

 

“What on earth would make someone a nonlearner? Everyone is born with an intense drive to learn. Infants stretch their skills daily. Not just ordinary skills, but the most difficult tasks of a lifetime, like learning to walk and talk. They never decide it’s too hard or not worth the effort. Babies don’t worry about making mistakes or humiliating themselves. They walk, they fall, they get up. They just barge forward. What could put an end to this exuberant learning? The fixed mindset. As soon as children become able to evaluate themselves, some of them become afraid of challenges. They become afraid of not being smart. I have studied thousands of people from preschoolers on, and it’s breathtaking how many reject an opportunity to learn.”  Dweck - Mindset: The New Psychology of Happiness

 

I believe that learning is contextual and that there is great value in learning with others - including peers, staff, community partners, clients etc.  I promote the value of collectivism, both within learning situations with students, and within my interactions with staff and community partners in my applied work and research. I encourage students to share their reflections and work in groups, and I encourage peer feedback, as ways of promoting shared learning. However, each student is on their own journey and self-awareness and growth are important. 

 

Critical Consciousness

Consciousness includes a sense of one's personal or collective identity, including the attitudes, beliefs, and sensitivities held by or considered characteristic of an individual or group. It can be seen as a level of consciousness that is characterised by a state of in-depth understanding about the world and the resulting freedom from oppression. It is the result of a process of seeking a deep sense of self knowledge, practicing self-reflection, and of living ones life to full potential to benefit others. Essentially it is the idea of a quality that is essential to one's personal and collective identity.  A key aim of my teaching is to encourage students to develop a high level of self-knowledge or self-awareness. I believe this is the fundamental purpose of education, and is a process through which they can learn to navigate future learning situations.  One of the underlying principles of this quest for self-knowledge is to question the role of the teacher as expert. Friere argued for a rejection of the “banking concept of education” which is prevalent in education. In this system the teacher is the depositor and the students are simply depositories; the teacher issues standard communique's (instead of actual communication) which students passively receive, memorise, and repeat; knowledge becomes a gift bestowed by those  who are certified and therefore deemed knowledgeable upon those who are considered ignorant; teachers and administrators of the system develop the instructional program content and students are forced to adapt to it; and the more students work at storing the deposits, the more they accept and excel in the passive role impressed upon them and thus are completely denied the opportunity to develop any ability of critical consciousness (Friere, 1970, 2005).

 

Conscientiation

The development of self-knowledge also helps the students to understand their role in the world, and to interact more effectively as a social being.  This ties in with the concept of Intercultural competence. Intercultural competence - also known as Cross-Cultural Competence (3C) - is the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with people of other cultures (Messner & Schäfer, 2012) . Having moved from the UK to New Zealand in 2013, this is an aspect of my teaching philosophy that has been most important. My experiences travelling and working in New Zealand have reinforced the importance of adopting a broad view of culture. Rather than just a difference between nations or social groups, this also takes in the differences in culture between ethnic groups, organisations, religions, politcal groups, families, and individuals.  The basic requirements for intercultural competence are the ability to empathasise, and to make efforts to understand other people's behaviors and ways of thinking.  'Conscientiation', or the ability to express one's own way of thinking and to understand how one is perceived is also crucial to developing IE (Goldbard).  It is a balance, situatively adapted, among four parts:

• Knowledge (about other cultures and other people's behaviors)

• Empathy (understanding the feelings and needs of other people)

• Self-confidence (knowledge of one's own desires, strengths, weaknesses, and emotional stability)

• Cultural identity (knowledge of one's own culture).