HELLO! I’M LUKE BOWDEN

MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

My education philosophy is underpinned by a belief that an effective teacher is an adaptable facilitator of learning. He/she must develop a collection of approaches, strategies and a range of transferable skills and knowledge from which to chose from at the appropriate moment within the school environment, not defining our self by one singular approach such as cognitivist or behaviorist. That being said our own personalities and identities as an educator have tendencies towards certain philosophical ideals and shape our natural approach to teaching and learning. I strongly support the value of design in education and its effectiveness as a medium for true education. Engaging in the design process provides students with a fantastic opportunity to develop problem solving skills, higher order thinking and creative intelligence however how well the students comprehend a subject matter and its relevance to their lives can be deepened by simply applying design thinking as a means of investigation of that subject matter. Not solely dependent on using design and the design process but often accompanying them are some of philosophies of John Dewey. Fundamental to my approach to teaching is student centred active learning that encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning and creates an experience out of learning in what would be somewhat a constructivist approach to teaching. In reference to Jean Piaget’s and Seymour Papert’s work on the idea that knowledge is constructed through experience.
 
Currently Dewey’s theories regarding structured discovery learning carry weight with my own teaching philosophy. It is my belief that to be a facilitator of learning you must aims to be holistic and humanist in providing students with the skills and knowledge they individually need for life. In doing so you must learn to adapt your teaching strategies and styles to facilitate for a variety of learning styles and multiple forms of intelligences. In order to adequately do so your practice must be continuously developed through critical reflection. In much the same we aspire to play our role in the life-long education of our students, our own education must continue in the form of professional development based on such critical analysis of our work.  

From my experience of working in Kingswood Community College I have developed my understanding of Technology Enhanced Learning and I am a firm believer in the benefits that come from effective use of Technology in the classroom. This is not to be confused with simply giving teachers and students technology and assuming this constitutes benefits, Technology enhanced learning can only be successful if the school leaders, teachers, students and parents have a holistic understanding of the role Technology in learning. For teachers and leaders this understanding can come from academic research, reflective practice, continuous professional development and training. For students the understanding comes from educating them about the devices and including them in discourse regarding teaching and learning. For parents including them in their Childs learning process can go a long way towards helping them identify the value Technology has in learning. It is my hope that using technology to build on good fundamentally sound pedagogy will bring about a new wave of student engagement in schools.