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Office of Faculty Advancement

Teaching Philosophies

What is a teaching philosophy statement and how it can be evaluated?

Ideally, teaching philosophy statements are not just a few paragraphs describing existential issues linked to the classroom or how you feel about a particular topic in your course. On the contrary, these statements are more accurately presented as teaching reflections that seek to describe your values, goals, methodologies and expectations as they relate to teaching and student engagement. These documents may also serve as a rational and critical assessment that examines specific components of your teaching style and pedagogy and provides a framework to understand how your teaching practices contribute to your professional and academic goals. As such, these statements can be quite dynamic, reflect professional growth and can be critically important for both the faculty member and the institution.

Given the potential of this tool, it is important to know what types of information might be included, so that you can leverage these statements toward as a meaningful measure in demonstrating teaching effectiveness (we will come back to the issue of evaluation later). It is important to note that these are personal accounts and only you can write your own story, and use your own authentic style.

A group of students attending a landscape architecture review in Lee Hall, with another student presenting on a large screen.

Most scholars approach teaching philosophies as a repository and a genuine reflection of:

  • Your values and core beliefs related to teaching and learning in your courses
  • A summarized description of your teaching practices, why you teach that way, and if/when/how those practices have evolved
  • What courses you have taught, how many students have been in your classes, teaching support or instruction you have received over the years, what policies you have used in the classroom (referencing to examples of course syllabi), grade distribution (if relevant), and teaching evaluations
  • What alternative/innovative approaches you have adopted into your courses, why you have adopted them, and what are the outcomes
  • Any comments or reflections related to a difficult topic (to teach or to learn) and how this issue was addressed in the class
  • The reasoning behind changes implemented in a course, in response to comments and feedback provided by students 
  • A description of how these activities provide a contribution to the student's development, to the field, to the institution, and to the community
  • Inclusion of relevant scholarly citations related to best practices in pedagogy, classroom management, teaching style, etc.

In conclusion, it may be a misnomer to call this document a philosophy, as it can be much more than this. Developing a teaching reflection or assessment can be a meaningful tool for your own faculty development and also serve as a useful evaluative tool for your annual evaluation and promotion processes.

If you want to start working on this document, consider using the resources from our Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation. In addition, we recommend reading this post about what a teaching philosophy is from the Office of Professional and Continuing Education at University of San Diego. It provides a series of prompts including basic aspects, skills, student advocacy, preservation in the classroom, learning and education, and goals. Moreover, the Graduate School at Cornell University provides an excellent series of components that they recommend addressing in teaching statements, summarized here:

  • Teaching values, beliefs and goals (content mastery, engaged citizenry, individual fulfillment, critical thinking, problem solving, discovery and knowledge generation, teamwork, self-directed learning, experiential learning)
  • What criteria are used to judge your teaching? (student-teaching roles and responsibilities, student-teacher interactions, inclusiveness, teaching methods, assessment of teaching, assessment of learning)
  • How do you provide evidence of your teaching effectiveness? (peer review, students’ comments, ratings, portfolio, syllabi, teaching activities)

Examples of Teaching Philosophies

Perhaps the most important aspect of a teaching philosophy is that it should reflect a personal journey as the faculty member develops and becomes more experienced in teaching. As such, using someone else's statement as a template is a very dangerous strategy. Thus, the following links are only provided to show examples and illustrate how faculty members at other institutions have approached this task.

Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation

Clemson's Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation (OTEI) is committed to providing resources and programs for implementing your teaching philosophy, building a teaching portfolio and more. Explore OTEI's guides and get help with your professional growth.

Faculty members working together

Clemson's Repository

Teaching Philosophy Examples

The Office of Faculty Advancement is developing a local repository of teaching statements. We will soon be able to share this with faculty. If you would like to share a document, please upload it to the folder.

Upload to shared folder
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