A personal education philosophy is often required of students in college submitting for student teaching, as well as teachers applying for education positions. Personal education philosophies should not be overly theoretical, but instead be one to three pages of your beliefs clearly articulated. The document should express the values you emphasize as an educator and indicate how you will manage a classroom, without being too specific. Your philosophies are likely to evolve as you mature as a teacher.
Make a list of your core values and beliefs in teaching. Choose at least five that you feel strongly about or that you think you can write about confidently. Flesh them out into paragraphs.
Brainstorm by creating general questions about education and then answer them. Examples of helpful questions include: "How do I view the role of the teacher?" "What is the role of the student?" "Why do I want to teach?" Even if you do not use the responses to these questions in the statement, they may help generate and organize ideas.
Narrow your education philosophy into a single sentence. Consider this a thesis statement for the document.
Write an introduction to the statement that is roughly a quarter of a page. You may want to start with general statements or analysis of the education system and narrow the content as the paragraph progresses, including more specific information toward the end of the introduction. The last sentence should be your thesis statement.
Write the body of the statement using your notes. The purpose of the statement is to not only showcase yourself as an educator but to also prove your command of writing. Generally, the whole statement should not be more than two pages.
Finish the statement with a conclusion. Repeat ideas expressed in the body of the statement, but avoid being too formal. For example, do not start the paragraph with "In conclusion." The conclusion should be about the same size as the introduction.