Understanding Teachers' Education Philosophies in the Context of Current Educational Reforms

• In Event: 46.043 - Reforming Education Across Global Contexts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways that teachers understand and articulate the connections and disconnections between their beliefs about teaching and their actual classroom practices. In the current assault on public education, school reformers have unquestioningly adopted the factory metaphor for schooling, positioning teachers as technicians tasked with following the mandates handed down to them by others (Giroux, 2012). From the perspective of teachers, the study examines the impact of this current educational climate, addressing the questions: How do PK-12 teachers articulate their education and teaching philosophies, and the connections and/or disconnections between their teaching philosophies and their actual classroom practice? If there are disconnections, to what do teachers attribute these? What are the structural constraints?

Authors

• Elizabeth K. DeMulder, George Mason University

• Stacia M. Stribling, George Mason University

• Jenice Leilani View, George Mason University

• Sandra Barnstead, Spotsylvania County Schools

• Laura Dallman, George Mason University