A Philosophy for Teachers Program Based On Philosophy for Children

Leonard J. Waks

Temple University & Hangzhou Normal University

Abstract：Philosophy has largely disappeared in teacher education, based on the perception that it failed to prepare novice teachers for classroom challenges (Crook, 2002). I propose a more practical approach to philosophy for teachers, based on insights from philosophy for children.

Novice teachers tend to be ineffective (Kini & Podolsky, 2016) because their teacher behaviors do not reflect ideas acquired in university training programs (Ryan, 2008; Edlin, 2013; Argyris and Schön, 1974). They improve as teachers by gaining critical distance from their habitual behaviors through reflection, dialogue, and research (Van Manen, 1977; Bengtsson, 1993).

Philosophy contributes directly to this process. Reflection and dialogical thinking draw upon informal logic. Philosophy of science, mathematics, literature and history clarify norms of reasoning in school disciplines. Philosophical interventions have the greatest impact during supervised teaching, as novices attend from survival to practical concerns. Philosophical texts are useful when candidates recognize themselves in them and gain practical lessons to try.

“Philosophy for teachers” (P4T) workshops (Orchard, Heilbron, and Winstanley, 2016). offer alternatives to the philosophy of education course, by borrowing elements from P4C: an initial stimulus; questions raised and selected by participants; a ‘community of inquiry’. The new philosophy for teachers, however, lacks concrete steps from philosophy to practice. Participants “develop argued positions,” but have no opportunities to try new behaviors. To assist in achieving the goals of teacher education, the new P4T will require opportunities for supervised practice, where ideas formed in the P4T workshops can be tested and eventually substituted for prior habitual teaching behaviors.

Works Cited

Argyris, C. and Schön, D. (1974), Theory in practice: increasing professional effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Bengtsson, J. (1993) Theory and Practice: two fundamental categories in the philosophy of teacher education, Educational Review, 45:3, 205-211

Crook, D. (2002). Educational Studies and Teacher Education. British Journal of Educational Studies 50 (1):57 - 75.

Edlin, Maria L.. (2013) Determining the Philosophical Orientation of Pre-Service Teachers: A Causal-Comparative Study. Tennessee State University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,

Kini, T., & Podolsky, A. (2016). Does Teaching Experience Increase Teacher Effectiveness? A Review of the Research (Palo Alto: Learning Policy Institute, 2016). //learningpolicyinstitute.org/our-work/publications-resources/ does-teaching-experience-increase-teacher-effectiveness-review-research.

Janet Orchard, Ruth Heilbronn & Carrie Winstanley (2016) Philosophy for Teachers (P4T) – developing new teachers’ applied ethical decision-making, Ethics and Education, 11:1, 42-54.

Ryan TG (2008). Philosophical orientation in pre-service. Journal of Educational Thought 42(3):247-260.

Van Manen, M. (1977). Linking ways of knowing with ways of being practical. Curriculum Inquiry, 6, 205-228.