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Teaching philosophy

Putting your teaching philosophy into words can be a powerful way to reflect on what matters most in your teaching and where you want to grow. Teaching philosophy statements also often play a role in more formal professional development trajectories, such as teaching qualifications or promotion processes (Ruge et al., 2023), including within Utrecht University. This article explains what a teaching philosophy is, why it matters for your development as a university teacher, what characterises a strong teaching philosophy, and how you could get started on developing your own.

Teaching philosophy as a personal perspective on education

A teaching philosophy describes your personal ideas, values, and beliefs about teaching and learning. It clarifies how you understand good education and your role within it (Chism, 1998; Goodyear & Allchin, 1998; Schönwetter et al., 2002). While programmes, faculties, and institutions formulate collective educational visions, a teaching philosophy is your own. This doesn’t have to be especially distinctive or innovative as long as it reflects how you approach teaching in your specific context. Collective educational visions shape your context and may align with, or differ from, your own ideas. At Utrecht University, the educational vision is articulated in the Utrecht Educational Model, with faculties and programmes often adding context-specific vision statements.

Personal teaching philosophies can differ in focus, depending on the roles and responsibilities you hold. At Utrecht University, this difference is reflected in the criteria for the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ) and the Senior University Teaching Qualification (STQ). The UTQ focuses on “a well-founded vision of the role of a lecturer in good academic education,” while the STQ asks for “a well-founded vision on university education in a societal context.” Teaching philosophies are often written as short texts, but they can also be communicated in other ways, such as through visuals, metaphors, videos, art, or other creative formats. What matters most is that your ideas become explicit and shareable.

The value of articulating a teaching philosophy

Formulating your teaching philosophy supports your development as a teacher in several ways (Schönwetter et al., 2002):

  • It helps you create a coherent narrative from your experiences, values, and educational and pedagogical choices, strengthening reflection and clarity.
  • It acts as a compass, helping you decide where to focus your time and energy as a teacher.
  • It provides a reference point for professional growth, allowing you to revisit and refine your ideas as your career develops.
  • It supports meaningful conversations with colleagues by making your educational values explicit and open to dialogue.


Characteristics of a strong teaching philosophy

The literature offers various perspectives on what constitutes a strong teaching philosophy (Chism, 1998; Schönwetter et al., 2002; Ruge et al., 2023). While specific criteria may differ depending on the context or form of assessment, strong teaching philosophies often share common characteristics:

  • They articulate core values and educational ideals, supported by concrete examples from teaching practice or aspirations.
  • They address multiple aspects of teaching and learning that relate to roles such as lecturer, supervisor, program coordinator or educational leader.
  • They are clearly situated within a disciplinary, institutional, and societal context.
  • They are informed by educational literature and scholarship on teaching and learning.

Developing your teaching philosophy

Developing a teaching philosophy is an iterative process. It involves moving back and forth between experience, values and theory. For this reason, it is rarely effective to do this entirely on your own. Engaging with peers, tutors, supervisors, educational consultants, or students can significantly enrich your thinking.

  • Draw inspiration from your role models: those teachers who have inspired you over the years. Reflect on what they did, why it stayed with you, and what this shows about your own beliefs about good teaching and the teacher you are and want to become.
  • Reflect on important moments in your teaching by thinking about why they mattered to you and what they reveal about your behaviour, competencies, beliefs, identity and mission (Korthagen, 2014).
  • Use tools such as Educational Values Priority Game (developed by HAN University of Applied Sciences) to explore and prioritise your educational values, by yourself or together with others.
  • Use guiding reflective questions to deepen your thinking about your teaching philosophy, such the fundamental questions proposed by Goodyear and Allchin (1998) or those developed by other universities.
  • Observe colleagues’ teaching to explore what resonates with you and why, and what this reveals about your own views on education. This is a key aspect of the peer observation programme for lecturers, offered yearly at Utrecht University.
  • Consulting the literature about teaching and learning can broaden your perspective or can help you find the words to express your ideas. The book “How learning works: Eight research-based principles for smart teaching” (Lovett et al., 2023) and Step 2 of this online module offer good starting points.
  • Invite an experienced colleague to be your sparring partner while you shape and sharpen your teaching philosophy, for example, a tutor, senior colleague, or programme director.

A teaching philosophy doesn’t start with a finished story; it starts with expressing what you think and value at this moment. Capturing your ideas creates a foundation for growth. Over time, your philosophy will evolve with your experience, becoming a living reflection of your development as a university teacher.

References

  • Chism, N. V. N. (1998). Developing a philosophy of teaching statement. Essays on Teaching Excellence, 9(3), 1–2. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1194&context=podarchives
  • Goodyear, G. E., & Allchin, D. (1998). Statements of teaching philosophy. To Improve the Academy, 17(1), 103–121. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-4822.1998.tb00345.x
  • Korthagen, F. A. J. (2014). Promoting core reflection in teacher education: Deepening professional growth. In: L. Orland-Barak & C. J. Craig (Eds), International Teacher Education: Promising pedagogies (Part A), (pp. 73-89). Emerald.
  • Lovett, M. C., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Ambrose, S. A., & Norman, M. K. (2023). How learning works: Eight research-based principles for smart teaching. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Ruge, G., Schӧnwetter, D. J., McCormack, C., & Kennelly, R. (2023). Teaching philosophies revalued: beyond personal development to academic and institutional capacity building. International Journal for Academic Development, 28(1), 59-73.
  • Schönwetter, D. J., Sokal, L., Friesen, M., & Taylor, K. L. (2002). Teaching philosophies reconsidered: A conceptual model for the development and evaluation of teaching philosophy statements. International Journal for Academic Development, 7(1), 83-97. https://doi.org/10.1080/13601440210156501

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