The ‘Philosophy of Teaching and Learning’ (‘Philosophy’ for short) will form the second text in your application for an Advance HE Fellowship through the ANU Educational Fellowship Scheme (EFS) Reflection on Experience (REx) pathway.
In no more than 400 words, you will be asked to describe your Philosophy. Your Philosophy underpins the way you teach or support learning, your beliefs, intentions, and actions. This brief statement should convey your overall view of your approaches to teaching and supporting learning.
The Philosophy provides your reader with a background to your practice, and is not reviewed against the Professional Standards Framework (PSF). You do not need to link to the PSF in this text, and it cannot be used for extra word length / to supplement other application components with evidence of effective practice.
Some applicants find it helpful to complete the other application components before finalising their Philosophy. If you choose this approach, keep the question prompts in mind as you write your other texts, and jot down ideas or notes that you can revisit when you are ready to develop your Philosophy.
A good Philosophy is:
- personal, reflective and honest;
- free of technical jargon;
- written in the first person and present tense.
Teaching philosophy statements clearly communicate what our fundamental beliefs are about teaching and learning; why we hold these beliefs; and, how we put them into practice.
Photo of Dr. Marina Iskhakova, taken by Rafael Florez