Andrew Stewart

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Teaching feels natural to me. Teaching motivates and inspires me. Teaching energises and fills me with enthusiasm.
I bring to teaching the same common sense and trust in my feelings that I use in my life outside of teaching. I
believe this is essential as it models to the students how the behaviours and skills we are learning together in the
classroom are authentically applied to life outside of the classroom. This connection between the learning in the
classroom and its application in the world beyond is a very important aspect of my educational philosophy.

I have very high standards for myself as an individual, as well as in my role as an educator. I expect these same high
standards from the students whose education I am contributing to. Being reflective is one way of ensuring I meet
these high standards. This is an important skill all students should develop/will need as lifelong learners. My role
is to guide the students in refining their reflective skills in a warm, safe and supportive environment. An
environment where the students know that it is acceptable to make mistakes, that the best and most authentic
learning comes from reflecting on our mistakes and thinking how we could change it next time.

To guide my teaching practice in such environments I monitor and use student data through regular formal and
informal observations of students, not only of their understanding, but of the way they learn; providing
opportunities to establish what children already know, what they want to learn and how they would like to learn
it, with regular review. I place an emphasis on the use of anecdotal records, checklists, rubrics, peer assessment,
student self-assessment, written tests, student-led conferences, exhibitions, interviews and student portfolios. I
strongly believe it is important to monitor student perceptions and attitudes, as well as knowledge and skills.

In order to create an environment where students feel comfortable enough to learn, reflect and present their
knowledge, it is imperative that a strong sense of community exists between its members. Building trusting
relationships with the students, and between the students, is an essential element of my educational practice. The
people I learn best from myself personally are those with whom I have a trusting relationship, I believe students
intuitively feel this too.

Trusting relationships also helps with managing behaviour. As part of my classroom practice, I advocate that the
students have a responsibility to respect the essential agreements made between the members of the class.
Decision making and subsequent consequences, lie within the student’s actions, and reactions, to various
situations and behaviours. I find that this, in conjunction with positive reinforcement, develops a strong sense and
understanding of how adverse behaviours impact on others.

Building relationships with the families of students I work with is an equally important part of my educational
practice. I take my role as an educator seriously and having the trust of the family that I will provide the best
possible personalised educational experience for their child is important to me. My role as an educator makes up
only one part of the students education, they learn from all of the other people who are in their lives.
Communication, collaboration and cooperation with families are very important to me to best meet the needs of
the student.

As well as building relationships with students and their families, the working relationships I have with my
colleagues is another significant part of my teaching practice. I enjoy working collaboratively with others, where
ideas are shared and refined. I have continually sought professional development opportunities to enhance my
classroom practice. Learning from other educators is something I relish, as is learning for myself and sharing this
knowledge with other teachers. I feel that reflecting and sharing in such authentic ways promotes best practice
teaching. Much in the way that an educator’s role is to teach the students the benefits of reflection, collaboration
and learning from each other, I believe educators should be doing the same thing with their colleagues.

I aim to promote the development of each individual, emotionally, morally, physically and socially, through
dedication and commitment to the teaching profession. The combination of all of these practices and values has
allowed me to be a successful and passionate educator.