Spotlight on SOTL: Building Resilience: A Case for Constructing a Teaching Philosophy

This article is based on the following research article:

McCormack, C., Schönwetter, D. J., Ruge, G., & Kennelly, R. (2023). Promoting University Teacher Resilience through Teaching Philosophy Development. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotlrcacea.2023.1.13781

The university environment is complex and competitive, which contributes to burnout on the part of instructors. Growth in the number of instructors who feel overburdened suggests the urgency of investigating the relationship between resilience and burnout. The researchers in this article considered thirty-nine empirical studies on teacher resilience and interviewed nine Australian and seven Canadian teaching fellows to identify how developing a teaching philosophy statement can contribute to building resilience.

What did the researchers do and find?

Burnout, as defined by Maslach and Leiter (2008), includes emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment. The researchers identified how resilience can be a key factor when it comes to combating stress and avoiding burnout. Building resilience can help university teachers bolster their well-being and adjust to new and rapidly changing conditions. One concrete practice that contributes to building up resilience is developing a teaching philosophy statement—a document that contains one’s values and beliefs when it comes to teaching. The benefit of this document is that one is able to express their identity as a teacher through making their commitments and goals concrete. A teaching philosophy (TP) statement is “an intensely personal narrative of an evolutionary journey towards an understanding of one’s self as a learner and as a teacher” (McCormack et al., 2023). Through this document, an instructor can gain motivation, guidance regarding decision-making, increased authenticity about goals, and the chance to reflect. All of these benefits can help an instructor grow and stay focused on their goals. The researchers incorporated thirty-nine empirical studies on teacher resilience and interviewed nine Australian and seven Canadian teaching fellows to identify how developing a teaching philosophy statement can contribute to building resilience through a thematic and interview-based study. As one of the interviewed teaching fellows stated:

“The main benefit I find from writing a TP is that it increases my confidence as a teacher. When I am challenged or when I am facing a difficult decision or even an easy one with my teaching, I often think well does this fit in with me as a good teacher and that helps me to be more competent as a teacher. The TP has kind of acted like a rudder for me in my career, it guides me along. In addition to increased confidence, writing a TP gave me belief that what I was doing was evidenced-based. It gave me a language and framework to defend good practice in teaching and learning. That gave me credibility in my institution knowing what I know about how I teach and how it’s linked to theory and evidence in the scholarship of teaching and learning.”

How might you use this research in your teaching?

In today’s intense and competitive university environment, instructors should take all chances to help reduce stress and avoid burnout. As outlined above, this research on the benefits of developing a teaching philosophy statement showcases the positive impact constructing this document can have on an instructor. Most importantly, making one’s commitment to teaching concrete can help with motivation and direction, meaning one can avoid feeling hopeless or unsure of how to proceed. Additionally, developing a teaching philosophy can significantly benefit one’s students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Teaching and instruction can improve greatly from the kind of reflection and action that is generated from writing a teaching philosophy statement. Ultimately, getting clear on values, beliefs, and goals can positively impact the quality of one’s teaching and positively impact the student experience.

For more information on how to get started on crafting your own teaching philosophy statement, see our MacPherson guide, which contains an outline of what your document should include and some helpful tips: https://mi.mcmaster.ca/crafting-a-teaching-philosophy-statement/.

Works Cited

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2008). Early predictors of job burnout and engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(3), 498.