Foregrounding a teaching philosophy statement in scaffolding reflective practice and professional development of higher education teachers in Lesotho

At some point in the teaching career, educators are expected to develop a teaching philosophy statement (TPS). This could be during the initial teacher training programme; when applying for a teaching post or when seeking promotion. It could also be a component of a continuous professional developme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cogent education 2023-12, Vol.10 (2)
Main Authors: Tlali, Tebello, Lefoka, Pulane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
constructivism
Higher education
higher education teachers
Philosophy
Professional development
Reflective practice
Reflective Teaching
Teacher Improvement
Teacher Qualifications
Teachers
Teaching
Teaching Methods
teaching philosophy statement
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Summary:At some point in the teaching career, educators are expected to develop a teaching philosophy statement (TPS). This could be during the initial teacher training programme; when applying for a teaching post or when seeking promotion. It could also be a component of a continuous professional development programme that teachers undergo or a component of a teaching portfolio they have to submit for a specified purpose. This paper explored the extent to which articulating a teaching philosophy statement promotes reflective practice and also advance the professional development of higher education teachers. Narrativism was employed as the over-arching paradigm for this study. A qualitative approach was adopted, and data was collected through an online qualitative or open ended questionnaire, in which the participants were requested to narrate their teaching philosophy statements. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data. The findings revealed that writing a TPS does, to a large extent, enable a reflective practice. Furthermore, the exercise promotes professional development by allowing teachers to rethink their practices.
ISSN:2331-186X
2331-186X
DOI:10.1080/2331186X.2023.2262280