I must be equitable, just, and collaborative. I maintain high expectations of my students, and guide them towards their individual best. I will challenge them, but will never ask more than I would expect of myself. I facilitate their learning by my example, and encourage the pursuit of overall competence, not grades (3). I believe in student ownership, and that everyone has the ability to achieve through perseverance (4) As a college instructor it is my job to assist students in obtaining the competence necessary to obtain gainful employment, and the attitudes to become moral and ethical practitioners themselves, with the ability to act empathetically and compassionately in the care for others. Being a teacher is an adaptive art, requires constant learning, and the willingness to innovate and create methods best suited to help students achieve their goals, and be successful in their future (5). Teaching is a privilege. |
I am a teacher of paramedicine. This means I have a moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that I am competent in both my paramedic practice and teaching profession, that I take care to guide my students to achieve their individual best, and a duty to the community to ensure graduates have the theoretical knowledge and practical skills to render care in their time of need. I pursue my obligation to continuously improve through contemplative professional practice, seeking improved competence, and striving to stay innovative by maintaining an outlook of scrutiny to both content and methods (1). In this way, teaching is the moral and ethical pursuit for the betterment of others (1). This introduces elements of care theory, where I will put aside my own values to understand the views of my students, and ask them to practice the same (2). |
Sources of particular influence:
- Falkenberg, T. (2012). Teaching as contemplative professional practice. Paideusis, 20(2), 25 – 35.
- Noddings, N. (2010). Moral education in an age of globalization. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 42(4), 390–396. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2008.00487.x
- Hadot, P. (2005). There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers (J. A. Simmons, Trans.). Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 19(3), 229 – 237. Doi: 10.1353/jsp.2005.0021
- Schunk, D.H. & Zimmerman, B.J., (2012). Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning. Routledge Publishing, New York, NY.
- Christou, T.M. (2010). Reflecting from the margins of education faculties: Refiguring the humanist, and finding a space for story in history. Brock Education, 20(1), 49–63.