Post your Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory (PAEI) scores and associated philosophy.
I personally scored an 81 in liberal arts adult education, a 99 in behavioral adult education, a 105 in progressive adult education, an 87 in both humanistic adult education, and radical adult education. As a result, my personal educational philosophy is most closely aligned with behavioral and progressive adult education. As a behavioral educator, I should prefer to observe students through clear behaviors.
The primary understanding of this philosophy is that "human actions are the result of prior conditioning and the way in which a person's external environment is arranged. Emotions, feelings, intellect and so on are the means by which humans rationalize their responses to environmental stimuli" (Merriam & Brockett, 1997). In the classroom, this means that the instructor must seek compliance with standard and social norms, in order to demonstrate behavioral change that indicates learning. This requires students to actively participant in classroom activities, and to practice and demonstrate new behaviors in order to gain meaningful feedback. Thus, the teacher manages, or controls, what occurs in the classroom, in order to motivate the students toward meeting the standards and objectives of the course, and demonstrate mastery of those objectives. Common methods include programmed instruction, contract learning, and skill training.
In contrast, as a progressive educator, it would be expected that I would promote the well-being of students in society, and society as a whole, with the goal of making individual students productive members of society. Learners are thus focused on interest and experiences as it relates to their larger life, and the purpose of educating is related to giving students practical knowledge and problem solving that is related to the real world. Activities need to be both engaging and stimulating so that students are willing to investigate their world in meaningful ways.
Discuss and provide examples of why you feel the scores do or do not reflect your philosophical orientation.
I do see how I am largely a progressive educator. I absolutely believe that education needs to be tied to society, and making students productive citizens, and ensuring that they have problem solving skills that will help them move toward their professional goals is really key to their long term success, and more important that achieving objectives that are more vague, or less intrinsically connected to the real world.
However, I do see some significant differences between my personal philosophy of education and the behavioral model as described above. While I do agree that emotion is the outward sign of internal response to stimuli, I don’t believe that this is the driving force of education. I also don’t think it’s fair to assume that all of people’s actions are based on conditioned response. This negates people’s ability to choose how they act and react to stimulus. As such, I think it is important that we recognize that while it is important to adhere to social norms, it is also valuable to question norms that we disagree with, and ultimately choose our own path, or actions. I think that this educational philosophy meaningfully aligns with the progressive approach, in its relationship to being socially productive, and focusing on problem solving, so it makes sense that this is an area that I feel my philosophy departs from the scores overall.
Where there any surprises?
I consider myself a humanist, so I was, to some degree, surprised that Humanist Adult Education was among the areas where I scored the lowest. I absolutely believe that self-actualization is a key component of education. As previously mentioned, part of becoming a productive member of society, as is tied in with progressive adult education philosophy, is in helping achieve your personal goals as they relate to the real world. To me this is directly and meaningfully tied to the ability to realize your own goals and reach your own potential. Further the student leading in their own learning, and allowing me to facilitate is typically the form my classroom style takes, because I want the students to be actively engaged and pursuing educational experiences that are meaningful to them. I am sure that this contributed to my scores, as they relate to progressive education, so I was surprised when it was the area that I scored lower. Likewise, as previously mentioned I was very surprised that my behavioral score was so high, because I would have assumed that it would be one of my lowest, because I do believe that people have more control over their behaviors than that philosophy suggests. It would be interesting to see, when I have more experience, if these test scores come out truer to what I currently think my philosophy is, by changing the balance of my scores, so that my humanitarian score is higher.
4.) This was the first time I have taken the assessment. However, as I gain teaching experience, I think it would be meaningful to take the test again, in order to determine how my teaching philosophy changes as I interact with both students, and my chosen curriculum. I don’t think that teaching philosophy is static, but rather it will change over time with experience and as I gain more information, such as experiencing my individual teaching style.
5.) Lastly, is it important for educators to have an educational philosophy?
It is extremely important for individuals to have a teaching philosophy, because it helps to give them a firm understanding of their own preferences, and teaching styles. It also creates a clear connection between teaching style, and teacher actions, and student outcomes. This is because the philosophy behind a teacher’s behavior in the classroom ultimately determines their educational strategies, methods of observation, and of testing for mastery, and sets of expectation or outcome goals for their students.
It is also possible, if a teacher understandings their own teaching philosophy for them to be more aware what kinds of students they are catering to, and how they might need to change their expectations or instructional methods to meet the needs of certain students, Just as teachers have a preferred style of teaching, or philosophy, students have a philosophy of learning, or a preferred learning style. As a result, students may learn better of a teacher consciously alters the way that they teach in order to meet the students’ needs.
Further, as a teacher gains experience, or as what they are teaching changes, their philosophy may change with it, but being actively conscious of their philosophy, teachers can make more meaningful changes in what they do in the classroom and why they do it. This occurs because their teaching style is driven by a greater philosophical purpose. .
References:
Elia, J. & Merriam, S. (1995). Philosophical Foundations of Adult Education (2nd ed.). Malabar, FL: Krieger
