CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

EDUCATION STUDIES CA 1:
ACADEMIC ESSAY

MY PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION AND ITS APPLICATION TO

TECHNICAL TEACHING

Student ID: G00366994

KF

Lecturer: Dr Pauline Logue

DRAFT FINAL VERSION 

(please tick)
CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

Plagiarism Disclaimer

Student Number: G00366994

Programme: BSc in Ed. (Hons) (Design, Graphics and Construction)
Year: 3
Module: Education Studies
Assignment Title: CA1a Academic Essay
Due Date: 21st October 2018

Additional Information:
I understand that plagiarism is a serious academic offence, and that GMIT deals
with it in accordance with the GMIT Policy on Plagiarism.
I have read and understood the GMIT Policy on Plagiarism and I agree to the
requirements set out therein in relation to plagiarism and referencing. I confirm
that I have referenced and acknowledged properly all sources used in
preparation of this assignment. I understand that if I plagiarise, or if I assist
others in doing so, that I will be subject to investigation as outlined in the GMIT
Policy on Plagiarism.
I understand and agree that plagiarism detection software may be used on my
assignment. I declare that, except where appropriately referenced, this
assignment is entirely my own work based on my personal study and/or
research. I further declare that I have not engaged the services of another to
either assist in, or complete this assignment.

Please tick to confirm the above statement as true



Date: 26th October 2020

CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

1. INTRODUCTION

A philosophy of education is a statement of my beliefs, values, and practises of teaching.

[ CITATION Far15 \l 2057 ] states that ‘a teaching philosophy is a statement of reflection
and philosophical framework for your personal approach to teaching and student learning. It
explains the rationale behind what guides your practice’. I am a student teacher in GMIT
Letterfrack, studying Wood Technology, Graphics, DCG and Construction studies. I have to
date completed school placement 1 and 2 and I have already begun to develop my personal
philosophy of education.

The main aim of this essay is to explore my personal philosophy of education and examine its
application to technical teaching. I will do this by giving reference to philosopher Jean
Jacques Rousseau and theorists such as Albert Bandura and Burrhus Frederick Skinner and
their theories of Social Learning and Operant Conditioning, explaining how I applied these
theories to my own teaching on school placement.

2. JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Rousseau was a French philosopher born in Geneva. Rousseau was born on June 28 th, 1712
and died on July 2nd, 1778, aged 66. [ CITATION Jam95 \l 2057 ]. One of Rousseau’s main
beliefs was that students should be given the freedom to learn what they want to learn. He
believed that every person was born both good and sinless and that they are influenced by
their environment as they go through life. “Rousseau’s ultimate belief was that people are
born basically good”.[ CITATION The \l 2057 ]. The idea of trial and error played a big part
in Rousseau’s beliefs. In his book Emile, Rousseau states that, “Our pedantic eagerness to
instruct is always leading us to teach children what they can learn better for themselves”.
[ CITATION Boy63 \l 2057 ]. This means students should be able to think of an idea and find
out for themselves how and why that idea works or not.

In the classroom, I realise that by giving students an option of what to do, they can achieve
much more than they would in a set plan. By offering a choice I would be giving the students
the ability to learn what they want to learn and achieve. This would be most relevant if I were
to give the class an open-ended brief. For example, in Wood Technology I could give the
students a project that they must design and make themselves with certain elements. This will
give them an opportunity to try something new that they may not have attempted in the Wood
CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

Technology room before, thus allowing them to learn a new skill. This way is very similar to
the Junior and Leaving certificate brief. When I was in school, I preferred this way as it
makes it a little more interesting and it also brings out the creative side of students. As
Rousseau states, “If I’m not better, at least I’m different”.

3. BURRHUS FREDERICK SKINNER

B.F. Skinner was an American born psychologist who played an important role in the field of
behavioural psychology. He developed a theory that became known as operant conditioning.
This involves “pairing a neutral conditioned stimulus with a biologically relevant
unconditioned stimulus that automatically elicits an unconditioned response”. [ CITATION
Wil14 \l 2057 ]. This means that creatures will learn to do an operation or job once it
becomes associate with a reward or something that they desire. His most famous experiment
is called ‘The Skinner Box’ which involved rats and pigeons.

Operant conditioning is a learning process in which the consequences that follow determine
whether the behaviour will be repeated. It occurs through rewards and punishments for
behaviour. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a
particular behaviour and a consequence. [ CITATION BFS38 \l 2057 ]

“The strengthening of behaviour which results from reinforcement is appropriately called

‘conditioning’. In operant conditioning we ‘strengthen’ an operant in the sense of making a
response more probable or, in fact, more frequent”. [ CITATION BFS12 \l 2057 ]

According to [ CITATION Sau18 \l 2057 ], Skinner identified three different types of

responses that could follow a behaviour. These were Neutral Operants, Reinforced and
Punishers.

1. Neutral Operants are those from the environment, that neither increase or decrease
the probability of a behaviour being repeated.
2. Reinforcers are responses from the environment that increase the probability of a
behaviour being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.
3. Punishers are responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a
behaviour being repeated. Punishment weakens behaviour.

In my opinion, in education, this theory is one of the most important of all for maintaining
good classroom management and for motivating students to aim for high quality work. On
CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

school placement, I incorporated this theory into each class I had from the beginning. By
rewarding good behaviour, you will give students an incentive to repeat this behaviour, by
punishing bad behaviour you are doing the opposite, students will not want to repeat this
behaviour. The same goes for class work, I made sure to always compliment or reward
students whose work had improved or was of a high standard.

In a classroom situation this relates most into how a teacher both rewards and praises their
students. By giving a student praise for doing a good job, they will be encouraged to continue
working hard. However, it is important that this is not overused. If a teacher praises every
student for work that is not up to the required standard, then that praise becomes meaningless.
A teacher can also provide rewards to students who complete their work to a high standard.
Some rewards I would use in the classroom would be, letting the class out for lunch or home
two minutes early, giving a night off homework or offering prizes such as sweets. All these
rewards would also depend on the school’s policy. The student’s reactions alone to this praise
and reward proves to me that Skinner’s theory is effective.

4. ALBERT BANDURA

Albert Bandura was born on December 4th, 1925. Bandura is a Canadian- born American
psychologist best known for his ‘Social learning theory’ which was renamed ‘Social
cognitive theory’. Bandura is a Stanford University graduate and is to this day a professor at
the University. “The Bobo Doll” was Bandura’s most famous experiment. It proves his
theory that we learn from one another. Bandura was quite controversial at times, often taking
his experiments too far and at one stage even used his son in his experiments.

In his social learning theory, [CITATION Ban77 \t \l 2057 ] agrees with B.F. Skinner’s
operant conditioning theory. However, he adds two important ideas:

1. That mediating processes occur between stimuli.

2. Responses and behaviour are learned from the environment through the process of
observational learning.[ CITATION Sau18 \l 2057 ].

Banduras social learning theory shows that people learn from one another through
observation, imitation and modelling. The theory has often been called a bridge between
CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

behaviourist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory and
motivation. [ CITATION Mur08 \l 2057 ].

In his social learning theory, it suggests that children adapt their behaviour from the
observation of others. It states that children observe models and later they imitate the
attitudes and responses portrayed. [CITATION Alb77 \t \l 2057 ]. Albert Bandura introduced
the idea of humans being under control of external reward and punishment factors. Children
observe and learn through other's behaviour, attitudes and the outcomes of the actions
presented by the model. In this theory Bandura agrees with B.F Skinners operant
conditioning theory.

Bandura’s ‘Bobo Doll’ experiment puts children into a room with a television and makes
them watch adults acting violently towards the inflatable doll by hitting and punching it.
After observing this they are then put into the similar rooms alone. The study shows that most
children repeated the actions they observed in the video.

[CITATION Ban77 \t \l 2057 ] states: “Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to

mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform
them what to do. Fortunately, most human behaviour is learned observationally through
modelling: from observing others, forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and
on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action”.

Bandura’s conditioning is very effective and simple to implement into lessons, even without
ever having known the theory. Personally, I have used Bandura’s theory in most of my
Wood Technology classes when giving class demonstrations during a practical lesson. By
emphasising my movements and questioning students throughout to reinforce learning, the
same strategy in Graphics using the visualiser to show new constructions or methods.

This theory is very important in education as it suggests that students will repeat what they
observe other students and teachers are doing. Throughout my school placement 2, I was
always extra careful to show good practice to students, inside and outside of the classroom.
Students could notice me doing something incorrectly or unsafe and think to themselves that
CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

if the teacher can do it that way, why cannot they. This could put student’s safety at risk if
they hurt themselves using bad practices that they saw me doing and could also put myself at
risk!

In school placement 3, I will continue this cautious approach into my new classroom
environment and be observant for other ways in which Banduras Social Leaning theory
applies to education.

5. CONCLUSION

The main aim of this essay was to outline my personal philosophy statement and its
application to technical teaching.

In conclusion, I believe that it is very important that I relate my classroom strategies back to
the workings of these famous theorists and philosopher. Both theorists that I have mentioned
have an abundance of evidence that show, they do in fact impact on student learning.

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory has shown me that students learn by observing from
others. This will encourage me to maintain best practice in all aspects of teaching, from
respecting my students, to using the correct techniques and safety with tools in the classroom.
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning has thought me that students are in control of their own
behaviour and by reinforcing rewards and punishments for behaviour, this determines
whether the student will repeat the behaviour or not which is a vital aspect of classroom
management and motivating students to be continuously improving.

Overall, I feel I have learned and gained a major insight into how I will manage and take care
of my own classroom and students in the future.

6. LIST OF REFERENCES

REFERENCES
CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory.

Beard, C., & Wilson, J. P. (2002). The Power of Experiential Learning (1st ed.). London:

Kogan Page Limited.

Beard, C., & Wilson, J. P. (2006). Experiential Learning (2nd ed.). London: Kogan Page.

Bentham, S. (2002). Psychology and Education (1st ed.). Hove: Routledge.

Blackwell, W. (2014). The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Operant and Classical

Conditioning. In E. S. Frances K. McSweeney, The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of

Operant and Classical Conditioning. (p. 68). John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Boulet, G. (2015). eLearning Industry. Retrieved October 31, 2017, from

https://elearningindustry.com/difference-between-knowledge-and-skills-knowing-not-

make-skilled

Boyd, W. (1963). Emile Fot Today- The Emile of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Heinemann /

Octopus.

Cherry, K. (2017). www.verywell.com. Retrieved October 20, 2017, from

https://www.verywell.com/david-kolb-biography-2795505

Delaney, J. J. (1995). Internet Encylopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from

https://iep.utm.edu/rousseau/

Department of Education and Science. (2008). Looking at Materials Technology (Wood) and

Construction Studies. Dublin: Department of Education and Science.

Department of Education and Skills. (2016). Subject Inspection in Materials Technology

(Wood) & Construction Studies in Coláiste Bhaile Chláir. Galway: Department of

Education and Skills.

CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

Department of Education and Skills. (2016). Subject Inspection in Materials Technology

(Wood) & Construction Studies in Coláiste Mhuirlinne. Galway: Department of

Education and Skills.

Department of Education and Skills. (2016). Subject Inspection of Construction Studies and

Materials Technology (Wood) in Calasanctius College. Galway: Department of

Education and Skills.

Department of Education and Skills. (2017). Subject Inspection in Construction Studies &

Materials Technology (Wood) in St Jarlath's College. Galway: Department of

Education and Skills.

Dewey, J. (1897). My Pedagogic Creed. The School Journal, LIV(3), 77-80.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education (1st ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster.

Didau, D. (2011, November 22). Should we be teaching knowledge or skills? Retrieved

November 1, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-

network/2011/nov/22/knowledge-or-skills-solo-taxonomy

Faraday, S., Overton, C., & Cooper, S. (2011). Effective teaching and learning in vocational

education (1st ed.). London: LSN.

Farrell, D. O. (2015). Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement. Dublin 2: CAPSL.

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning (4th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.

McGee, K. (2013, February 26). Learning by doing: why we've embraced a practical primary

curriculum. Retrieved October 31, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-

network/teacher-blog/2013/feb/26/practical-primary-curriculum-learning-by-doing

McLeod, S. (2018, Janruary 21). Skinner - Operant Conditioning/SimplyPsychology.

CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

Muro, M. &. (2008). A Critical Review of the Theory and Application of Social Learning in

Participatory Natural Resource Management Processes.

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. (2017). The Junior Certificate Materials

Technology Wood Syllabus. Dublin: National Council for Curriculum and

Assessment.

Noddings, N. (2007). Philosophy of Education (2nd ed.). Colorado: Westview Press.

O'Callaghan, B. (2017, January 17). Time to move on from rote learning and regurgitation.

Retrieved October 31, 2017, from https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/time-

to-move-on-from-rote-learning-and-regurgitation-1.2931746

Pappas, C. (2014). www.elearningindustry.com. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from

https://elearningindustry.com/discovery-learning-model

Richardson, J. G. (1994). Learning Best Through Experience. Journal of Extension, 32(2),

n/a.

Skinner, B. (1938). The Behaviour of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis. United States.

Skinner, B. (2012). Science and Human Behaviour. New York: Simon and Schuster.

State Examinations Commission. (2002). Chief Examiners Report for Materials Technology

Wood. Athlone: State Examinations Commission.

State Examinations Commission. (2009). Chief Examiners Report for Materials Technology

Wood. Athlone: State Examinations Commission.

Sullivan, P. (2015, June 26). Discovery learning is failing our children. National Post.
CA1 ACADEMIC ESSAY EDUCATION STUDIES

The Routes of Educational Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://educationalroots.weebly.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.html