Philosophical Assumptions

Dr. Bayley’s Philosophy of Education

Q: What are the curricular and pedagogical priorities? How do they speak to a philosophy of teaching?

A: In Dr. Bayley’s philosophy of education, some of the curricular priorities include teaching students and exposing them to the diversity of music styles and genres while “acquiring a familiarity with the cultural, social, and artistic contexts in which [the] forms of expression live.” Another example is that teachers should “teach music through band, orchestra, choir, or general music rather than focus solely on the applied nature of the genre.”

Some of the pedagogical priorities include introducing students to a wide variety of educational and musical experiences, which can include critical thinking, applied activities, skill development, etc. Dr. Bayley also talks about how pre-service teachers should develop an understanding of how to teach musical concepts in simple and meaningful ways, which can help them become more effective teachers in the future.

These examples speak to a philosophy of teaching by describing how he teaches and how he goes about education. One of the definitions of philosophy is that it is “a theory or attitude held by a person or organization that acts as a guiding principle for behavior.” These ideas that are described in Dr. Bayley’s philosophy of education are describing his guiding principles and the attitudes that he has towards the teaching profession and his subject areas.

Q: How should you go about creating/designing a philosophy of education? What about a philosophy of visual art, dramatic art, or media art education? How might a statement focusing on subject areas be different than a general philosophy of education?

When creating a philosophy of education, it is important to discuss your beliefs and attitudes towards education and how you teach. It should describe how to want your students to learn, why what you are doing is beneficial to students and their education, etc.

A philosophy of education of visual art, dramatic art, or media art education can be a little bit different from a normal philosophy of education as it has to deal with a whole different subject area. The arts are a very diverse subject area, and there are so many different things to learn when it comes to the arts. For example, when teaching music, there are so many things to learn about how music affects our lives, what elements of music there are, what theories shaped different varieties of music, etc.

With the arts there is no set-in-stone way of teaching it. When you look at the curriculum it states a concept, such as describing how a concept relates to some historical art piece, or how students need to reflect on their music, but it is up to the teacher to convey these concepts and create a relation between history and innovation. The arts are an incredibly fascinating subject, which can take some differentiated approaches when developing philosophies of education related to them.