Conroy_L_269053_ETP410_ Assignment 1

Teaching Philosophy:
Luke Conroy
As a teacher I consider
Learning:
I believe in an education where learning is not just a hurdle to cross but something of personal
value. This involves fostering an aliveness in learning. Here, learning is less about mundane
memorisation and more a meaningful process of reflection and discovery. This does not mean
changing the content of learning, rather, ensuring learning is active, meaningful, challenging,
creative and evocative. This aliveness promotes learning as something individually inspired
and not limited to formal education environments. Ultimately, I hope to present learning as a
continuous and essential aspect of life, with the hope of preparing, inspiring and enabling
students to live meaningful lives where there is no teacher present.
Differences:
Each student varies in their cultural, social and emotional contexts, and as such cannot be
treated as if they exist on an education production line (Postman 1995 p.3). Through adopting
a critical literacy pedagogy I hope to respect and honour such difference, allowing it to inform
learning rather than restrict it. This respect of individual difference also extends to difference
at a societal level, recognising the world as something inherently complex and beautiful in its
messiness. This messiness is approached by moving beyond one answer teaching, where
education is less about certainty and more about possessing purposeful and reflective habits in
mind and action (Cope and Kalanztis 2012 p.149). In the content I teach, the way I assess and
the way I interact with students, I hope my students can achieve such habits. For, it is through
such habits that students can become imaginatively powerful on an individual and group
level, an attribute vital in encountering a world of difference.
Approaches:
I believe in creating a learning community, where education occurs through a open dialogue
between teachers and students, students and other students (Brady and Kennedy 2012 p.27).
This shift in agency recognizes that the student as much as the teacher is capable of creating
meanings and defining paradigms. This frames education as involving skills of negotiation,
listening and conviction by all. As a teacher therefore, I recognize my privileged position as
knowledgeable, regulatory and influential, yet balance this through allowing assessments
tasks to be flexible, feedback negotiable, content adaptable and meanings fluid.
Responsibilities:
I recognize:
My responsibilities as a teacher extend beyond myself, that my personal teaching values co-
exist with standards of an ethical and practical nature.
My ontological and epistemological framework will inform my practice, but it should not
define the attributes of a successful learner.
That any learning environment must underscored by a strict sense of respect and
responsibility for others.
Teaching is part of a larger social organisation and as such, while learning is encouraged to
be open-ended, sophisticated and original, it must also adhere to key syllabus content and
Conroy_L_269053_ETP410_ Assignment 1

outcomes defined by others.
The importance of education at an individual (student) and societal level, where multiple
stakeholders interact and become assertive under different conditions. I am responsible to
equip student who will benefit employers, justify money spent on education, gratify
parents and ensure future generations are well served.

References:

Postman, N. (1995). The End of Education: Redefining the value of school. New York: Vintage
Books.