Educational philosophy refers to a teacher's personal beliefs and values about education. This often varies from teacher to teacher. Courses in educational philosophy include information about common components of educational philosophies, as well as opportunities for teachers to develop their own unique philosophy. To do so, several factors of education are taken into account. Educational philosophies typically include ideas on what the role of the teacher is in the classroom, what students should be expected to do and how they should act and the purpose of education, in addition to specific policy ideas such as classroom management and lesson plan depth and speed.
Teachers usually develop curriculum plans for the entire year of schooling before the academic year even begins. They design plans for how lessons should progress, what subjects and topics they intend to teach each week or each day and what other activities they want to incorporate into their lesson plans. Curricula are developed after taking into account certain factors such as speed of student learning and difficulty of material. Some courses focus on curriculum development techniques to help primary school teachers get an idea for how they should develop their curricula.
Many primary school courses focus on teaching methods; most courses on other topics include information on techniques and teaching tactics. Primary school teachers employ a number of different methods on a daily basis to teach subjects. For example, a math lesson might first include a verbal lecture from the teacher introducing a mathematics principle, then switch to problem-solving activities as a class, then end with a handout to be completed as homework. Teachers learn what methods work best for each subject, as well as new methods to use when students are having difficulty grasping the lesson.
In most primary schools, students remain in one classroom for the duration of the school day; therefore, primary school teachers must be proficient in teaching multiple subjects. Many courses in primary school teaching focus on basic homeroom subjects, including math, social science, physical science, English, music, art and history. Some elementary programs also begin teaching basic computer and IT skills as well. Courses on homeroom subjects focus on basic information that are taught to each grade level of students, as well as how to teach each individual subject. For example, lesson plans and activities for a math lesson differ greatly from activities for an English lesson. These nuances of education are stressed in primary school teaching courses.