A teaching or educational philosophy is a statement of what you feel drives, motivates and informs your practice as a teacher or educator. It should be based on critical self-reflection about your subject and educational knowledge, your teaching skills, your qualities as an educator and your core approaches to learning based on educational theory and concepts. Critical reflection is an essential part of the process of developing and enunciating a teaching philosophy.

See the section on contributing to scholarship, research and professional activity for more about critical reflection.

A teaching philosophy is a personal view of what it means to be a good teacher. Since a teaching philosophy is personal, each teacher's philosophy of teaching will be expressed in a unique fashion. Writing a teaching philosophy can help you to think about how and why you teach. Reflecting on your teaching philosophy can help you in your personal and professional development and lead to improvement/enhancement in teaching practice. A teaching philosophy is an important part of a teaching portfolio and or application for a teaching award. It may also strengthen an application for continuation or promotion.

Listen to Dr. Tony Fernando talk about constructing a teaching portfolio.

The statement below is one example of an expression of a teaching philosophy. Joanne Fox, UBC.

My view is that good teaching is a lot like good coaching. It is my role as an educator to encourage students and to coach them for success. I believe that being friendly, approachable, and encouraging is key to success as a teacher. I encourage students to approach and interact with me. I like to celebrate student successes. Enthusiasm is contagious in a positive classroom environment. I believe that an effective learning environment includes goals, group activities, interactive discussions, hands-on exercises, regular feedback, and peer evaluation. This kind of atmosphere engages participants and breeds motivation, which is key to a successful learning experience. As an educator, it is my role to provide these tools for success - which include a realistic set of learning goals, a positive and encouraging environment for learning, effective feedback, and opportunities for hands-on practice...

Practice Point - Write Your Own Teaching Philosophy

If you can connect with your passion for teaching, you'll find writing your teaching philosophy to be a real joy. Once you have written your teaching philosophy, you will want to revisit it periodically because your teaching philosophy will change as you learn more about teaching and learning. This means that a teaching philosophy is a "live document" that changes as you change.

If you want some help with writing a teaching philosophy, you could visit the Ohio State University's website for developing a teaching philosophy, or you could review this LTU resource.

You may also like to complete the teaching perspectives inventory to help you reflect on and get an insight into your teaching philosophy and how you approach teaching.

Getting Started:

Writing a teaching philosophy requires you to articulate your approach to teaching. In terms of the promotion criteria, satisfactory performance in this area requires enunciation of a teaching philosophy based on critical self-reflection along with awareness of the body of knowledge and literature in the field of education and an ability to relate one's own teaching to that literature. It is a good idea to start with a draft and develop it over time. Put your teaching philosophy into your teaching portfolio and revisit it from time to time. You may find that your teaching philosophy becomes a living expression of your commitment to teaching and a guiding framework for your approach to teaching.

You could begin by:

Note down what you think about teaching and learning generally, what is important to you, and what you believe is important for your students.
Describe how you teach.

- Consider the rationale for the way you teach.

Further Resources

Pratt, DD & Smulders, D. (2016) Five Perspectives on Teaching: Mapping a Plurality of the Good. Malabar FL: Krieger Publishing.