Here I share my philosophy of education as formed over several decades of educational experience and observation and evolution after becoming a parent to two neurodivergent humans. This document shares my epistemology, ontology, and axiology as when these three intersect we find our own philosophy. My ontological belief is that everything I can see is real, but also non-tangible aspects within the world such as feelings like love, remorse and anger are also very real. I acknowledge truth can be different for everyone, and all truths can be correct. Truth is also relative to time and place and evolves for each individual as they grow and change. Ways towards knowing truth can just as likely be found in nature as in books, ancient texts or listening to lectures. I therefore see value in acknowledging Ermine’s (2007) Ethical Space, where two worldviews “are poised to engage each other” (193) to allow for a possibility to observe, acknowledge and respect both Indigenous and Western ways of thinking and being in the world. This way, thinkers can see diverse ways of learning and knowing. Gadamer (2015) explains to understand one another, we must understand ourselves and must therefore look both outward and inward, listen and contemplate. Alongside humanists, I believe we have one opportunity at life, and one should create meaning within that life.  

My educational philosophy has been greatly impacted by my experience of having taught in six countries across various mediums. During my time as a home-learning consultant I discovered children learn best when excited and curious. No child is born bad or with sin, but rather we are largely a product of our environment and life events. I have seen the success of interest-led learning firsthand with my own children where fascination, curiosity and a need to understand drive the desire to learn. I agree with Null (2004) that personal meaning making is nonlinear and it is also how we construct learning, with children learning when they are ready, curious and interested and with the learning vitally “relevant to their daily lives and experiences” (p. 181). On making the decision to home-educate my own children in about 2012, my educational philosophy evolved further, and I was particularly struck by Sir Ken Robinson’s (2006) ground-breaking Ted Talk Do schools kill creativity? I was both excited and maddened. What were our schools doing to our creative young thinkers? 

My epistemological beliefs centre on a constructivist and progressive approach where teacher is facilitator who adjusts and improvises according to the needs and knowledge of the learner. Like Freire (1996), I don’t support the “‘banking’ concept” (p. 53) of education; a teacher’s job is not to fill the brains of a learner in the same way we fill a bank account as I do not believe we begin our lives ‘empty’ with the teacher’s and parent’s roles to fill our brains. I argue as humans we are born with knowledge that is innate and this is added to over time through observation within our natural surroundings as well as impacted by life experiences. Instead, I agree with Freire that “knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (p. 53) and yet by supressing our children’s creativity and ability for innovation “human beings become and remain passive, removing a “students’ creative power” (p. 54). I agree with Noddings (2006) and Dewey (cited by Noddings, 2006) that the current education model has students studying dull topics they have no interest in and no use for. To motivate students to learn they are both bribed and punished whether they are deemed a success or failure. Instead, I believe teachers should connect learners with their passions (Noddings, 2006) to direct their own learning (Null, 2004). I encourage small learner-centred learning groups - driven naturally by the task and the learner - and preferably multi-age learning groups so all can learn from each other. In this way, I also take a non-authoritarian approach to my role and prefer to build mutual relationships towards respect and trust.

As a strong advocate of home-learning and unschooling I resonate with Montessori’s model that supports the child in their learning, giving freedom and choice whenever possible. When children are corrected the process is neither demeaning or punishing but allows for growth and increased understanding. I appreciate Spivak’s (1993) suggestion of “unlearning one’s learning” (p. 25) as a place to start in cautiously overhauling the current (Western) model of education. Similarly, ‘normalisation’ (Montessori Musings, 2022) within Montessori refers to when a learner achieves complete freedom in learning how they wish, through their own self-interest, motivation and choice. Normalisation overlaps with the unschooling model which requires parents and learner to look past all one has learned - and how they have learned it - to start afresh. During COVID lockdowns I often imagined what might happen if we threw out the current education system as it was a perfectly time opportunity. Freire (1996) also argued for an overhaul of the education system and to work towards conscientização or critical consciousness (p. 17) as liberation is achieved “by means of the praxis: reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it” (p. 33). 

Whilst more than fifty years has passed since Freire wrote this seminal work, not much has changed. As a teacher trained in the late nineties in Australia, the focus was for learner-centred instruction, creative planning and teacher as guide and mentor more so than a focus to see students “as ‘receptacles’ to be ‘filled’” (Freire, p. 53), yet the reality of the challenges of the education system, with government dictated curriculum and mandatory and core subjects, traditional classroom spaces that encourage a teacher-centred approach all felt like massive, insurmountable barriers. The teaching philosophies we wrote whilst on campus felt more like an untouchable utopia. In the two decades since I have seen an increased deterioration of the education system such as the removal of arts subjects and a reliance on technology that has further reduced children’s opportunity for creativity. Teachers enter the system with good intentions, with a hope to create change, and in the end the biggest transformation that occurs is the change in a teacher’s values and strategies. The banking model prevails, and Freire explains the dangerous ripple effect, as:

The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world.  The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them. (p. 54).  

The banking model dangerously positions teacher as expert and student as vessel. Freire explains the “teacher knows everything and the students know nothing… the teacher talks and the students listen (meekly)” (p. 54) and in this way educators are complicit and ignorant within the oppressive model and I agree as it indoctrinates “them to adapt to the world of oppression” (pg. 59). 

Finally, my axiological beliefs align with liberal and feminist philosophies. I have an incredibly strong sense of social justice and the notion of Ubuntu (Metz, 2021) resonates with me on what a good person might look like within our communities. Ubuntu (Metz, 2021) values the ‘we’ in society and how to be harmonious together, not by following laws or rules but by knowing and doing what is right in the moment, caring for each other and our community. Education should not be driven by public policy, government agendas or GDP and have equal focus on the arts and languages alongside sciences and numeracy. Most importantly, a good model should foremost expand our understanding of how we learn, including deeper philosophical thought and a personal understanding of our own neurotypes and to celebrate our unique brains. I support Nodding’s (2006) argument "unexamined lives may well be valuable and worth living, but an education that does not invite such examination may not be worthy of the label education" (p. 10).  I choose to unschool my own children as I believe the current model does not meet the needs of my children nor the needs of today’s global citizens.  

A perfect learning scenario for me is learner-led, curiosity driven and self-paced learning in a safe environment. Learner and teacher work together in a non-authoritarian relationship where each learns from the other, the teacher acting as guide and facilitator. Traditional learning spaces or times are not required as I know learning can happen anywhere and anytime. 

 

References

Baugh, B. (n.d.). Philosophers by the Ages. TRU. [Video]. 

https://barabus.tru.ca/med/educ5021/educ5021_01.html

CEE Video Channel. (2022, February 4). Education Theory: Philosophy of Education Part 8: Realism: Stephen R. C. Hicks. [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHXMau-z-f4&list=PLjVewn-4Aje7pWt5jzG0i4bLuW8SkXf-5&index=12

Educational Video Publishing. (2010, February 24). Nancy McCormick Rambusch, Founder of the American Montessori Society. [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpSvdxToLkg&t=1s

Emerson, R. W. (2015). Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Major Prose. Harvard University Press.

Ermine, W. (1995). Aboriginal epistemology. First Nations education in Canada: The circle unfolds, 101-112.

Ermine, W. (2007). The ethical space of engagement. Indigenous LJ, 6, 193.

Donald, D. (2009). Forts, curriculum, and Indigenous Métissage: Imagining decolonization of Aboriginal-Canadian relations in educational contexts. First Nations Perspectives, 2(1), 1-24.

Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. Penguin.

Gadamer, H.G. (2015, August 25). Understanding Quote (PDF) translated from the YouTube video. Retrieved from Un centauro en el desierto. Hans Georg Gadamer: Entender y entenderse [Video]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUYfWKEs1wE

Metz, T. (2021). Ubuntu: The good life. In Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (pp. 1-5). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Montessori Education. (2022, November 1). Interview with Maria Montessori. [Video].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6U4aOBjV9Q

Montessori Musings. (2022, May 10). What do we understand by normalisation. [Video]. 

https://montessori-musings.com/2022/05/05/what-do-we-understand-by-normalisation/

Noddings, N. (2006). Critical lessons: What our schools should teach. Cambridge University Press.

Null, J. W. (2004, June). Is constructivism traditional? Historical and practical perspectives on a popular advocacy. In The Educational Forum (Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 180-188). Taylor & Francis Group.

PHILO-notes. (2020, June 5). What is Humanism? [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl9AHJ1O8b4

Robinson, K. (2006, February). Do schools kill creativity? Retrieved from TED: https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity

Schneider, B. H., Manetti, M., Frattini, L., Rania, N., Santo, J. B., Coplan, R. J., & Cwinn, E. (2014). Successful transition to elementary school and the implementation of facilitative practices specified in the Reggio-Emilia philosophy. School psychology international, 35(5), 447-462.

Spivak, G. C. (1993). Outside in the teaching machine. Routledge.

Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. (2022, August 24). What is Ethical Space? An intro to Indigenous authority in conservation. [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Uft1MlGzc