Philosophy of Education

Statement of Personal Philosophy and Vision

My personal philosophy of education is one involving a partnership between school, families and communities in order to create opportunities for success.

 It seems as society changes schools must change.  Any set of educational values must incorporate the fact that nothing stays the same, even core societal values change over time.  The reality is that schools do not always lead societal change, more often than not they reflect the norms of society and as such teachers become civic role models.

Certainly any public education system funded by tax dollars managed by elected boards responsible to democratically elected government must reflect and foster the roles of good citizenship.  On a basic level this involves an understanding of the dynamics of social structure and its interplay with governing bodies.  Within limits the norms of the public school system and that of the larger society should significantly overlap.  This may suggest a rigid model, but it isn’t really because society is in flux and constantly evolving, therefore so is our educational system.

To some degree curriculum reflects the knowledge base and values of society, and ideally should allow for as much diversity as possible.  It is the function of educators to teach the curriculum at a base level and then exceed those boundaries.  Rote learning and memorization does not lead to a creative thought process. While working in both Kuwait and China I noted the emphasis placed on rote teaching practices by the local teachers.  I felt sorry for them and their students. Education at its best will give insight to the curriculum while engendering a sense of curiosity in the learner.  Educators must use creative and intellectual means to reach higher levels of thought and inquiry.

Educators should strive to develop social virtues such as cooperation and tolerance for different points of view, given that we live in a multicultural society.  In addition, students should learn to solve problems in the classroom similar to those they will encounter outside school, which provides them with the tools needed to become flexible problem solvers in preparation for adult lives, such an approach will ease the transition from a school environment to that of the real world.

It should go without saying that while achieving the curricular goals school systems will offer a safe, nurturing and caring environment while seeking to develop the potential in each student.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book entitled, Outliers, he examines some of the factors which lead to success.  Through reading this book I came to realize that some of the beliefs I held about my own success, or student success had to be altered.  In traditional thinking we might conclude that Bill Gates became a billionaire (a measure of success) through genius and hard work.  Certainly these attributes need to be present.  Gladwell  points out that there were at least eight other factors that led to Gate’s success.  One of those factors happened to be that Bill Gates attended a school that had a remote computer terminal which allowed for real time programming, something very rare and progressive for the 60’s.  It was because of this advantage and other factors, that Bill Gates became a highly competent programmer while still in high school.

My point is that schools must be able to recognize the needs of students and make these opportunities available.  As Gladwell points out there are many genius level students who never reached their potential or even a fraction of it because the opportunities were not available.  I know I am giving a simplified version of the book,  but Ideally schools need to identify  the skill sets students need for success, for Gates it was a computer terminal, for someone else it might be violin lessons, a resource room, a home economics room or maybe just a lunch program.

In an ideal world I would like schools to be all things to all students.  In the real world we work within political, societal and economic restraints.   A school I recently served in as Special Education Coordinator  experienced serious cut backs.  There were fewer staff and fewer resources to meet a growing demand for educational services.  The same will occur in many rural Albertan schools as rural grants are cut because of government deficits.  In some ways we, in the education field, have little control over these powerful external factors.  The world price of oil and the royalties charged by our provincial government could in the end determine if a given school, my school, has the resources it needs to provide opportunities for success.

For me School is about opportunity.  Studies show, as does Gladwell’s book, that families in low income settings often perpetuate a cycle of poverty, or a cycle of ignorance because they do not know how to advocate for themselves or take advantage of opportunities that come their way.   Schools and school systems, can never operate in isolation. They can only be exemplars of opportunity and success when they effectively partner with families and community.  My vision of leadership is to understand the diversity of a community and offer the programs and therefore some of the opportunities which will lead to a sense of life- long learning and success in the larger world.  School, family and community are the partners that can make this happen.  

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