Beliefs Of Teaching In The Further Education Sector

Introduction

Brookfield (1995, p3) describes ‘Teaching is about making some kind of dent in the world so that the world is different than it was before you practiced your craft’. This belief applies to my professional outlook on teaching within the Further Education sector. Within this assignment I will discuss and reflect where my beliefs of teaching in the Further Education sector have stemmed from as I will discuss the philosophy of Mezirow (2002) and Rogers (1969) and how their theories have influenced my practice as a novice tutor. Within this discussion, I will outline the idealistic values and strategies and incorporate into my teaching. However with the reality of teaching in adult education, I have to consider the constraints I

I am extremely aware of the “banking concept” of education as suggested by Freire (1995), as he was one of the prominent thinkers, who refers to the radical education approach. He proposed that teachers and students should carry out research together. Through his banking concept, he explained that knowledge should be directly transferred to students. He further elaborated that teachers are the sole distributor of the knowledge. In this way, knowledge is consumed without any criticism. When teaching in FETAC, as the educator, I have to focus on the learning outcomes for the learner to achieve their goal of succeeding the accredited award. However, I do aim and incorporate various strategies of learning into the lesson that will not suppress the learner’s creativity but rather allow them to flourish as they partake in transformative learning process (Mezirow,

As I reflect on these, Freire`s comparison of the banking system suddenly becomes a harsh truth, as I do believe whilst teaching in the FE sector. I am a fallen victim of the accredited FETAC policy, which in my opinion is very “teacher centered” caught up in focusing on the learning outcomes that must be achieved in the assignments within a certain timeframe. In giving students a deadline in order to hold them accountable, facilitates a mindset where assignments can be finalized and also for the achievable success recognition for the teacher of the course. However, as I am aware of this rigid truthfulness, I never wanted to succumb to be an “oppressor” (Freire, 1995) forcing the learner to store what was essential, I always believed in being a compassionate teacher, a facilitator rather than a superior figure of authority (Mezirow, 2002). Consequently, I have tried to overcome this foreign approach by allowing transformative learning to freely take place, developing autonomous thinking (Mezirow, 2002) and not conforming to the limitations that institutions fuse into us. In promoting transformative learning, I believe Rogers key principals are actively involved as the teacher is now “pupil centered” whereby the teacher primarily focuses on the each learner, ignoring inapt behavior and focusing on the person in a positive light, showing compassion and regard