The Philosophical Orientations of Pre service Teachers

The Philosophical Orientations of Pre-service Teachers

What is this research about? This study focuses on the philosophical identities of pre-service teachers and was guided by the following research questions:

1) What is the philosophical orientation of a pre-service education student?

What you need to know: In this study of pre-service teachers in one Ontario university, participants were overwhelmingly found to hold a "Progressivist" philosophical orientation, which holds that students learn best when student learning experiences are linked to student interests and real world problems.

2) What are the theoretical preferences of

pre-service students with regard to

teaching and learning?

Perennialism--or emphasizing rational thought and democracy;

What did the researchers do?

In this quantitative study, 520 pre-service

teachers completed a survey that included

48 closed-ended questions, which allowed respondents to choose answers ranging

from "strongly agree" to "strongly

disagree".

Each question was connected to one of six philosophical teaching dispositions:

Progressivism--or focussing on the development of the whole child (both academic and social development);

Existentialism--or focussing on student choice;

Social reconstructionism--or focussing on social justice and equity;

Essentialism--or focussing on core subjects instead of student behavior;

 Behaviorism--or focussing on student behavior and positive classroom environment.

The 520 pre-service teachers that completed the survey were all enrolled in a one year Bachelor or Education program at the same Ontario university and, at the time of the study, were completing a classroom management course instructed by the researcher.

The participants in the study had also completed courses in curriculum methods and educational foundations and had completed 13 weeks of practice teaching prior to this study.

What did the researchers find? The researchers found that participants overwhelmingly fell into the philosophical teaching disposition of Progressivists. 499 (or 96%) of participants aligned with this way of thinking, in which teachers focus on both the academic and social development of students and shape daily curriculum around student interests and needs and real world problems.

explores connections between teachers' philosophical orientations and their influence on classroom practice, as well as their influence on student outcomes.

Original article: To learn more about this study, we invite you to read the original research article:

Ryan, T.G. (2008). Philosophical orientation in pre-service. The Journal of Educational Thought, 42(3), 247-260.

About the researchers Thomas Ryan is a Professor with the Faulty of Education at Nipissing University in Ontario. His research interests include educational research, special education, and physical education.

How can you use this research? Teachers and administrators may wish to consider the wider body of research that

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Keywords: Philosophy of education, pre-service teachers, teacher education, Bachelor of Education programs

About this summary

The Ontario Education Research Exchange (OERE) is a project of the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research, an Ontario network promoting the use of research in education. The OERE's clear language summaries of academic research aim to support this mandate.

This summary has been adapted from the ResearchSnapshot series developed by York University and ResearchImpact and has been developed according to writing and design principles unique to OERE. For more information about this summary or the OERE network please contact oere.knaer.oise@utoronto.ca.

This summary reflects findings from this study only and is not necessarily representative of the broader body of literature on this subject. Please consult the original document for complete details about this research. In case of any disagreement, the original document should be understood as authoritative.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

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