What does "philosophy of education" mean and what are some examples of it?

Question

What does "philosophy of education" mean and what are some examples of it?

Answer 1

Many times when you apply for teaching jobs they ask you this.  Just like the 1st answer says, it's hard to give a definition of it.  It really is what you believe education should be.  Here's mine that I actually used on an application:  "My philosophy is that I want the students to be enthusiastic about art, have a vioce, show respect as well as recieve it, & have fun in class while understanding that I am the teacher."  

This is a WAY shortened version just for an outline of what I think on an application.  My real philosophy we had to write in college & it had to be 2 pages long, so this is just an overview.  Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Philosophy of Education as a field is the study of various approaches to education which are undergirded by common beliefs (tenets) which attempt to answer universal questions of education such as: What is learning? What is a learner? What is at teacher? Who should decide content? Which delivery is best? How can education be fair and equitable or can it at all? What is society's responsibilities toward education? Various educators and philosophers (Dewey is one example) have attempted to answer these questions in various schools of thought (general paradigms), such as: Constructivism, pragmatism, behaviorism. If someone is asking you for a statement of your philosophy of education, you are being asked to explain your belief system about teaching and learning. For example, do you believe children are "blank slates" or that they come with prior knowledge? Does at teacher give knowledge or does a learner construct a schema of his/her own? Do you subscribe to the idea "All children can learn"? Are their conditions and limitations to  that statement? Are teachers learners and are learners also teacher? Do you believe in traditional education or democratic education, Individualized instruction, experiential learning, problem-based, whole group, small group? Whole language? Child-centered or subject centered approaches? Ideally, by the time you enter the field as a teacher, your feeling about these questions are (or should be) guided by a cohesive underlying (research-based or knowledge-based) philosophy.

Answer 3

Its hard to give an example because EVERYONE's philosophy is different. Suffice it to say, it what YOU believe. How are YOU going to educate What do YOU believe is important. When you do your masters I GUARANTEE you will have to write about this and in teaching interviews, you will be asked. YOu need to have some basic idea. it will change as you go along, but, you know what you believe.