Posted on: February 28th 2022
When asked to write about my philosophy of education, I thought back to the teachers I learnt the most from when I was a student and thought about the subjects that I felt passionate about. Two of my favourite subjects at secondary school were ‘Politics and Government’, and ‘Mathematics’. There was little connection between these two subjects in terms of content, approach or assessment, but the one thing they did have in common was the same teacher. When I speak to school friends, the same teacher’s name comes up repeatedly. If the main factor for my enjoyment of school was this particular teacher, what was it that made him so inspirational?
Mr Rooney was open with his students. He told us his honest opinions about the content, was open about his beliefs of the assessments we were preparing to sit, and he asked us for our opinions too. He greeted us at the door as we walked in, asked about siblings, pets, friendships. Although I had the pleasure of being taught by some excellent teachers, Mr Rooney was the one teacher who truly took the time to know us individually. We all felt that he cared about us, he gave us time to learn in our own styles and was available to support us whenever needed.
Key to my teaching philosophy is building relationships. Students want to be heard and want to know you care about them. As their teacher I want to hear about their passions, their worries or concerns and anything that may occupy their thinking during lesson time. I want my students to leave school with three things; a feeling that the abundant opportunities available in the world are available to them, a confidence that they are capable of learning anything and an understanding of how they learn best. As a teacher, I believe I can only support students in leaving our school with these if I have good relationships with each individual child and an understanding of what they know, what they need to know and how to get them there.
