A critical evaluation of my perspectives on important pedagogical questions and their impact on

my development as an education practitioner.

Introduction

For the purpose of this exercise, I have considered some philosophical questions that are important
to me as a prospective educator and relevant in the continued development of my practice. I aim to
provide some insights in relation to how my experience of and in education has shaped my beliefs
and attitudes, and indeed my moral identity. I will also try and elucidate how critical reflection on my
presuppositions and consideration of alternative perspectives has and will determine how I hope to
develop as a practitioner.

My path to teaching has not been linear. A twenty-year detour working in finance preceded my
move into teaching practice. I got out just before my soul had been eroded completely. Teaching
had always been an aspiration and I hope to pursue a career in Further Education.

I have engaged with the prescribed literature and reflected on my peer group discussions with a
view to challenging my preconceptions and assimilating the alternative views that I have found
compelling. Hopefully the subjects I address in this essay will provide some insight into the
motivations and ambitions that will inform the growth and development of my practice as an
educator.

What does it mean to be educated?

To be educated is a journey. I have had a lifelong participation in education around which I have
constructed conceptual knowledge, frames of reference, attitudes and beliefs. Education has shaped
my identity. I think that it is also true to say that I have always viewed academic achievement as a
measurement of the extent to which I consider myself and consider others to be educated.

Whilst qualification is undoubtedly an important element of being educated, it is not a singular

determinant. Much of the philosophy of pedagogy is predicated on education as being a social
experience and the values that good citizenship education cultivates (Biesta 2015). The importance
that Biesta ascribes to the socialisation and subjectification domains as constituents of purpose in
good education have perhaps been underrepresented in my preconceptions of what it means to be
educated.

I suppose that my experience of the orientation of institutional educational is that the one-
dimensional purpose of education is achievement of qualification. Qualification is a prerequisite
should you entertain an ambition to participate in higher education or obtain worthwhile
employment. It is the foundation upon which ideas of personal validation, social capital and financial
security are established. These precepts are broadly accepted in society, and I think that this
perpetuates the bias that the extent to which you are deemed to be educated is defined by
academic achievement.

In my professional life, some of the experiences I have had working with those who have credible
academic qualifications have led me to consider how factors such as class, social privilege and
influence intersect to provide opportunity to some on a disproportionate and selective basis. In an
educational context, reflection on these experiences has informed my view that academic
achievement is not always commensurate with good education. The danger of producing “learned
monsters, skilled psychopaths or educated Eichmans” (Pring 2013) is a dramatic portent, however it
does emphasise the importance of the moral dimension of what it is to be educated.
We all share core commonalities (Boyer 1995) and the classroom is a fecund environment where
concepts of community, humanity and interconnectedness of ideas and relationships should be
weaved into the fabric of the educational experience. As I evaluate the values and motivations that I
believe should underpin my practice, I am becoming increasingly aware of the responsibility that I
have to nurture this type of environment for my students.

What is the relationship between education and inequality?

I think that a significant issue that persists in education is an institutional homogeneity that limits
accessibility. There are longstanding socio-political factors that influence access to education, quality
of education and cultural inclusivity. I am a white, lower middle class Irish male. Whilst not quite
hitting the sweet spot for optimal conformity with the archetypal participant in higher education in
Ireland, this intersectionality of conditions renders me pretty close.

Whether it is availability of opportunity or relevance of curriculum orientation from a cultural and

experience perspective; if you conform broadly to the demographic I have just described, then you
are unlikely to have experienced isolation or exclusion from mainstream education. This is
representative of my experience, and furthermore it also means that I have been largely ignorant of
the experience of those for whom education does not serve equally.

The institutions of higher education do not reflect diversity in society and as such both direct and
indirect institutional racism continues to affect equality of educational opportunity in Ireland today
(O’Connor 2010). I have been a professional in financial services for the last twenty years.
Employment is a function of education. Participation in financial services is to a large extent
predicated on academic qualification. The lack of alignment between the characteristics of the
demographic employed in this sector with that of society in general is instructive when considering
how inequality in education perpetuates social inequality.

I am still a novice educator but even during my provisional teaching phase I have been challenged
with some of the challenges of inequality highlighted in the literature. Indirect discrimination as a
result of poor language or basic literacy skills affecting a foreign student coupled with teacher
inexperience; social disadvantage and domestic issues undermining participation, lack of
interculturalism in curriculum design, lack of diversity in minority representation in teaching staff.
None of these issues have affected my participation in education because my social and cultural
identity is represented in education. It is imperative that as society becomes more diverse so too
should the curriculum and those who deliver it (Kenny & Binchy 2009).

I have a responsibility as an educator to be a voice of awareness and an agent of change if inclusion

by design rather than default is to embed equality as a central tenet of educational governance and
practice in this country.

How should we assess educational assessment?

My view on assessment and learning is that they are often misaligned. I tend to think of Dewey’s
views on collateral learning (Dewey 1938) when I reflect on my experience of the leaving certificate
which like many people, I consider as having a significant formative effect on my educational
experience. How did a learning experience predicated on high stakes summative assessment affect
my enduring attitudes to learning?

Thankfully it did not stymie my desire to continue to learn but it did precipitate poor learning
practices and teaching methods. Designing assessment that avoids strategic surface learning in
favour of encouraging deep meta cognitive learning remains a challenge and I think that educational
governance remains under committed to progressive change in this area.

Poorly oriented assessment is not the preserve of the state exam. Summative assessment in an Asset
Management module of an MSc programme I studied in 2016 was carried out by way of a terminal
exam. Memorization of several complex portfolio risk weighting formulae was required in order to
attempt one of the questions. I remember as much now about those formulae as is could recall on
the drive home from the exam. I think that this is an example of a common problem with
assessment where conceptual learning takes a subordinate position in assessment design.

I agree that validity and reliability are necessary to underpin the integrity of educational assessment,
but where assessment theory as a means of measurement and certification dominate, assessments
relationship with learning becomes a secondary consideration. I think that a willingness to embrace
creativity is often tempered by a concern that alternative assessment methods are not as credible as
conventional methods and therefore dilute objectivity and reliability. I think that we need to
continue to examine the question of what assessment is intended to measure and consider how
descriptive assessment (Sambell et al 1997) and informed judgement (Boud 2007) as central ideas of
assessment are more meaningful than grading and classification.

When I consider the critical theory through the lens of my own experience of assessment, I realise
that I probably retain a bias towards convention because it is deeply embedded and familiar. The
same habitus exists for the student who is conditioned to rationalise their achievement based on
grades. I suspect that many of my peers carry the same inheritance.

The impact of Covid has however necessitated a logistical change to assessment methodology. I
think that this disruption affords an opportunity to broaden that conversation and challenge the
orthodoxy to realign learning and assessment in a way that is authentic and forward looking.

What makes teaching a moral practice?

The time I have spent teaching during my practicum has prompted much introspection. The Graucho
Marx quote “I refuse to join any club that would have me for a member” springs to mind as I have
engaged in self-evaluation about my suitability, my credentials and my worthiness to teach. I’m not
saying that I have concerns about the orientation of my morality. I don’t hold extremist social or
political views. I think that I hold liberal values that align with principles of respectful, equitable and
responsible citizenship. Nonetheless, the moral dimension of teaching is grounded in responsibility.
Simply thinking of oneself as a moral and ethical agent is not enough. The actions and behaviours
that I model in the classroom need to reflect my ethical values because these exchanges have
normative significance in shaping my students’ attitudes, beliefs and expectations.

The necessity for moral identity to be continually interrogated through critical reflection (Bolotin
2016) is something that I had not fully considered and the more time that I have spent in the
classroom the more sharply its importance has been brought into focus. I think about the teachers
that have taught me and how the way in which they taught was reflective of their values. My most
memorable learning experiences were those where my acceptance of the teacher’s guidance on
moral, social or political context enlightened my views and set out parameters upon which I could
form my own judgements.

I saw in those teachers a moral authority that validated for me their critique of social or political
conditions and provided a credible basis on which to form my own views. In Mesirow’s theory of
transformative learning (Mesirow 2006), discourse with those that we believe to be informed allows
us to form points of view, frames of reference and validate our beliefs. I think that moral authority of
the teacher is a central component on order for the student to view the teacher as being informed.

In this regard I think that a teacher’s influence should consistently be framed in a moral and ethical
dimension, and consequently the teacher has a responsibility to ensure that critical reflection and
self-awareness are consistent and enduring features of their practice. I take seriously the
interpersonal relationship that exists between the teacher and student, and how this instils in the
student a sense of purpose; sharing in a moral enterprise that “initiates the learner into a
worthwhile way of seeing the world” (Pring 2001).

How can we educate for an unknown future?

The existential threat from climate change underlines the importance of the role education must
play in safeguarding the future of humanity. Equally, education bears some responsibility for the
factors that have brought humanity to the cusp of ecological catastrophe. I would argue that there is
a substantive known aspect of what the future holds, and education requires reconfiguration in
order to reframe the narrative of how human action and inaction is undermining ecological viability.

The fact that climate change deniers exist as a movement serves to highlight how ignorance
underpinned by global inequality, corporate greed and the rise of political populism are contributing
to the climate change crisis. It also suggests that the orientation of education requires a
fundamental change to delink the ideologies of “infinite economic growth and human development
and focus on ecological survival” (UNESCO 2020).

The urgency of the situation requires both educators and educational governance to act now. I think
that the educator as a moral agent should take a direct responsibility for guiding educational
principles that are grounded in ecological consciousness.

White (2020) sets out a variety of change factors impacting the future of education in the UK, but
many resonate with me when considering the social, political and economic landscape that exists in
this country. I like the idea of education designed to help students understand individual and
collective wellbeing and a curriculum that is centred on personalised and collaborative learning.
When I consider as an educator the challenges that society faces, adopting this type of approach in
my practice might bring about the mindset in both students and fellow educators that enables
meaningful change in pedagogic approach.

Conclusion

This has been a valuable exercise in reflecting on what influence my previous educational,
professional and life experience has had in shaping my attitudes and beliefs in respect of the issues
discussed. This critical reflection has highlighted some biases that heretofore I had not recognised as
being influential. Examining alternative perspectives has challenged my preconceptions. It has been
an exercise that has emphasised the importance of engaging consistently is self-evaluation and peer
collaboration as a means to continually develop as a practitioner.

Dewey suggested that teachers are guides utilising their wisdom and experience to direct the
learner’s experience. I am also drawn to the idea of teachers being custodians of the edifice of
knowledge and understanding (Pring 2001) and helping the learner to make sense of and engage
critically with our moral traditions.
As an educator I believe that I have a duty to each of my students to maximise their opportunity to
learn and grow, to engineer a framework that helps them understand and deal with the challenges
that the world presents and help shape positively their and the society that they participate in.

These are some of the key principles around which I will anchor my practice and map my continued
development as an educator.

References

Biesta, G (2015). What is Education for? On Good Education, Teacher Judgement, and Education
Professionalism. European Journal for Education.

Bolotin Joseph, P. (2016). Ethical Reflections on Becoming Teachers. Journal of Moral Education,
2016. VOL. 45, NO. 1, 31–45.

Boud, D. (2007). Reframing Assessment as if Learning was Important. Rethinking Assessment for
Higher Education: Learning for the Long Term. Routledge, London.

Boyer, E. (1995). The Educated Person. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Yearbook 1995.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience & Education. Free Press, New York.

Kenny, M & Binchy, A. (2009). Irish Travellers, Identity and the Irish Education System. Traveller,
Nomadic & Migrant Education. Routledge, London.

Mezirow, J. (2006). An Overview on Transformative Learning. Lifelong Learning: Concepts and

Contexts. Routledge, London.

O’Connor, F. (2010). Institutional Racism in Irish Adult Education: Fact or Fiction? Waterford Institute
of Technology.

Pring, R. (2001). Education as a Moral Practice. Journal of Moral Education, Vol. 30, No. 2, 2001.

Pring, R. (2013). What is and Educated Person. Address given to the Education Forum NUI
Maynooth, 20th June 2013.

Sambell, K et al. (1997). But is it Fair? An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of the
Consequential Validity of Assessment. University of Northumbria.

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2020). Learning to Become with the
World: Education for Future Survival.

White, J. (2020) ‘Education in an uncertain future: Two scenarios. London Review of Education, 18
(2): 299–312.