Secondary School Teachers’ Educational Philosophies: Differences Regarding Work Experience, Type of School, and Education Programs

Abstract

Teachers’ educational philosophies have a great influence on teachers’ actions in the classroom. They are partly influenced by the dominant pedagogical paradigm expressed in the strategic educational documents, but there are also some other factors that influence teachers’ educational philosophies. This research aimed to determine secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies and whether they differ in relation to a teacher’s work experience, type of school, and educational program. A total of 355 secondary school teachers in Split–Dalmatia County in the Republic of Croatia participated in the research. The philosophy preference assessment scale consisting of two subscales (traditional and contemporary educational philosophies), was applied. The results showed that: secondary school teachers generally agreed more with contemporary than traditional educational philosophies; grammar school teachers agreed more with contemporary and vocational school teachers with traditional educational philosophies; the education program was a significant factor only for the subscale of traditional educational philosophies; and years of work experience was not a significant factor for either subscale. The results are discussed in the context of the relationship between teachers’ educational philosophies, values, beliefs, and teaching experiences and the need for teachers to raise awareness of their educational philosophies and continuously compare and harmonise them with their educational practice.

1. Introduction

Upbringing and education in the Republic of Croatia as well as in the European Union are based on a competency-based curricular approach that focusses on learning and teaching processes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. In contemporary pedagogical discourse, the importance of students’ holistic development is emphasised, and the school is perceived as a human, social, and creative community [10,11,12,13]. Education policy in the Republic of Croatia promotes the process of student-centred learning and teaching through strategic educational documents. In those documents, school is not perceived as a place where students are being prepared for life. Instead, school is perceived as an institution that reflects life in itself. At the same time, Croatian educational policy emphasises the pluralism of ideas and the importance of the educational system being focused on knowledge construction and the cultivation of positive values [8,9]. However, some authors point to the crisis of upbringing and the fact that educational institutions are still more focused on achieving cognitive and psychomotor learning outcomes than on the affective ones [12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. They find educational policy partially responsible for this state due to its focus on standardisation and measurability of competences and learning outcomes, and thus partial negligence of less measurable affective learning outcomes [12,18,19]. This is particularly noticeable in secondary education, where teachers’ actions are mainly focused on preparing students for further education and/or work, since teachers are paying more attention to fostering the achievement of cognitive and psychomotor learning outcomes than the affective ones.

Still, not only are teachers’ actions influenced by educational policy, but they are also greatly influenced by their educational philosophies [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. Educational philosophies have been an important topic since the 1980s, but even today, there is no generally accepted definition of this concept. Yet, most authors agree that educational philosophies consist of beliefs [20,22,28,29,30,31]. Cetinić [22] points out that teachers’ educational philosophies are based on epistemological beliefs, beliefs about values, beliefs about learning and teaching, and beliefs about teacher efficiency. Oğuz Er [30] adds teachers’ beliefs about students, curricula, goals, and activities, while Şahan and Terzi [25] emphasise the beliefs about the meaning of education. These beliefs can be reduced to metaphysical, epistemological, and axiological beliefs. Metaphysics studies the nature of reality; epistemology deals with the nature of knowledge; and axiology deals with questions of value (see more in [32,33]. Therefore, in this paper, we adhere to the definition offered by Kunac [31] (p. 535): “Educational philosophies represent teachers’ views on issues closely related to upbringing and education and based on their metaphysical, epistemological and axiological beliefs”. Kunac [31], like some other authors [24,25,28,32,34], sees educational philosophies as one broader teachers’ perspective on educational issues. In her definition, Kunac [31] offers a knowledge synthesis of educational philosophies.

In order to integrate and understand educational philosophies more fully, it is necessary to define the concept of belief. We can define beliefs as subjective claims about different ideas and areas that individuals accept as true [35,36,37]. They are contextual, always referring to some content, and they have an affective component, i.e., there is an emotional connection to this content [38]. Beliefs vary in view of how central or peripheral they are for an individual and in terms of degree of reliability and clarity [39]. They are generally durable and stable for a person, although they can be changed over time [39,40]. Teachers’ beliefs can be seen as declarative claims about what an individual assumes to be true and correct with regard to learning and teaching. They are expressed with certainty and are often used to justify an individual’s informal theory of teaching [41,42]. In other words, a set of interrelated beliefs on educational issues makes a teachers’ perspective—their educational philosophy—broaden [40,43].

Furthermore, it is important to point out the fact that beliefs arise from values. The dominant values in a society, implicitly and explicitly encouraged by society, have a certain impact on the values and beliefs of individuals. Research confirmed the interconnection of values and beliefs, and when it comes to teachers, their beliefs are influenced by the value systems they develop in their professional environment through education and their own activities and experiences [44,45]. In addition, when we look at the relationship between beliefs, values, and behaviours, it has been observed that beliefs are a mediator between individuals’ values and behaviours [46], but they also affect the work of institutions [38]. In the educational context, this would also mean that educational policies, as well as the underlying documents stemming from them, are guided by a certain system of values and beliefs. Terzi and Uyangör [47] and Oğuz Er [30] stress accordingly that educational philosophies relate both to individuals and to educational policies. The dominant educational philosophy in society and in educational policy also influences the direction of the curriculum, which offers teachers guidelines on how to work.

There are various classifications of educational philosophies (see more in [20,23,25,26,28,29,30,34,48,49,50], but most authors agree that there are four educational philosophies: essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, and (social) reconstructionism [20,25,26,30,49,50]. In turn, we adhere to the classification of traditional (modern) and contemporary (post-modern) educational philosophies because we agree with authors who point out that it is difficult to fully distinguish between the beliefs of essentialism and perennialism (traditional educational philosophies) and progressivism and (social) reconstructionism (contemporary educational philosophies) [20,25,26,27,49].

Traditional educational philosophies are founded on idealism and realism [24,26]. They are highly focused on the cognitive development of students, on universal and fixed ideas and concepts, and accordingly on traditional academic disciplines and curriculum areas, e.g., in the mathematical, scientific, and linguistic-communication fields [22,23,24,26,27,47,48,51]. Teachers focus on transferring knowledge to students and play a central role in teaching. Accordingly, student success in exams is the main measure of efficacy [20,23,24,26,29,48]. Within this educational philosophy, school is considered a preparation for life, so the goal is to raise and educate an individual who will nurture democratic values and be useful to the society in which he or she lives [20,22,24,51]. It is believed that cultural values should be transferred to younger generations through the school with the aim of achieving social stability and integration into society [24,26].

Contemporary educational philosophies are based on the philosophy of pragmatism [26]. They are characterised by a focus on students and the learning process. Therefore, emphasis is placed on students’ activity in the classroom and teachers’ consideration of students’ prior knowledge and experiences as starting points in the teaching process [21,29]. The focus is on problem-based learning, project learning [20,21,23,51], and critical thinking [20,47,49,51]. Contemporary educational philosophies include real-life and social problems, as they see teaching as a life in itself, not as a preparation for life. Teachers, thus, have a willingness to accept change and adapt [27]. They focus on fostering democratic values and principles and on collaborative learning [20,22,24,47]. The role of teachers is to guide students on the way to developing knowledge, to support their personal development, to encourage them to think about social problems, and to act on particular problems that they perceive [20,24,29].

Different studies on educational philosophies have shown that teachers and students (prospective teachers) generally agree more with contemporary educational philosophies and less with the traditional ones [22,25,27,28,29,30,47,50,52]. The variables that proved to be relevant for the adoption of a particular educational philosophy in these studies were: type of school [22], education program [22,25,30,47,53], gender [25,30,47], qualifications [22], work experience [22], and previous experience, and the approach to teaching at the pedagogical colleges they attended [23], but these results proved to be inconsistent. Bearing in mind the previously stated inconsistency of the research results so far, as well as the lack of research on this topic in the Republic of Croatia, the aim of the research (The results presented in this paper are part of the research conducted for the purpose of creating a doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Rijeka [54].) was to determine secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies and whether those educational philosophies differ with regard to their work experience, type of school and the education program. The following hypotheses have been set:

H1. 

Secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies are in line with contemporary tendencies in upbringing and education.

H2. 

There is no statistically significant difference in secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies with regard to their work experience.

H3. 

There is no statistically significant difference in secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies with regard to the type of school they work in.

H4. 

There is no statistically significant difference in secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies with regard to the education program they teach.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Sample

The sample consisted of 355 high school teachers employed in state schools in Split–Dalmatia County in the Republic of Croatia. The structure of the research sample regarding teachers’ gender, age, years of work experience, school, and education program is given in

Table 1. The sample structure with regard to teachers’ gender, age, years of work experience, school, and education program; pilot study and the main research.

Baseline Characteristic	Pilot Study Sample (N = 102)		Main Research Sample (N = 355)
	n	%	n	%
Gender
Female	83	81.4	253	71.3
Male	19	18.6	102	28.7
Age
≤30 years	13	12.7	60	16.9
31–50 years	45	44.1	170	47.9
>50 years	44	43.1	125	35.2
Years of work experience
≤5 years	21	20.6	91	25.6
6–15 years	25	24.5	107	30.1
16–30 years	39	38.2	108	30.4
>30 years	17	16.7	49	13.8
School
Grammar school	26	25.5	113	31.8
Vocational school	76	74.5	242	68.2
Education program
General education program	61	59.8	232	65.4
Vocational education program	41	40.2	123	34.6

. The study did not include private high schools, religious high schools, or high schools for students with developmental disabilities. The sample size assessment was made on the basis of data on secondary schools in Split–Dalmatia County in 2019/2020 when a total of 89 secondary schools in that county employed 3102 teachers. For the sample to be representative, the required sample size of 344 teachers was calculated with 95% confidence. The sample was further stratified, i.e., divided into homogeneous groups composed of subjects with similar characteristics [55]. Two strata were identified. The first concerned grammar school teachers, and the second concerned teachers from vocational schools, while the percentage of grammar school teachers and vocational school teachers reflected their proportions in the population. After identification of grammar schools and vocational schools in Split–Dalmatia County, a research sample was determined by random selection of schools within two strata.

In order to examine the validity of the data collection instrument, a pilot study was conducted prior to the main research on a sample of 102 teachers from 5 secondary schools (2 grammar schools and 3 vocational schools) in Split–Dalmatia County in the Republic of Croatia. The sample structure of pilot study and the main research with regard to gender, age, years of work experience, type of school, and education program can be found in Table 1.

2.2. Data Collection and Analysis

The main research was conducted from November 2021 to April 2022. The principals of secondary schools in Split–Dalmatia County were informed of the research purpose and instrument by email. After granting their consent, the survey was conducted in 17 schools from 6 towns and 2 municipalities in that county. Data was processed in IBM SPSS 25.0. Statistical procedures for descriptive statistics were used (percentages, frequencies, central tendency measures, and variability measures), and the normality of the data distribution was checked. Exploratory factor analysis verified the factor structure of the survey. The research results were analysed using inferential statistical procedures t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in order to check the hypotheses.

A questionnaire consisting of two parts was used in the pilot study and the main research: (1) general data (teachers’ gender, age, years of work experience, type of school and education program) with offered categories of response, and (2) the Philosophy Preference Assessment Scale (Çetin et al., 2012), as cited in [20] with offered items pertaining to traditional (modern) and contemporary (post-modern) educational philosophies. For each of the 39 items, the respondents had to assess the degree of their agreement. The legend was as follows: 1—I absolutely disagree, 2—I disagree, 3—I neither agree nor disagree [indecisive], 4—I agree and 5—I absolutely agree. Çetin et al. (2012), as cited in [20] determined a two-factor structure of the original questionnaire using principal components analysis with the Varimax rotation. Those factors explained 35.68% of the total variance (the factor of contemporary educational philosophies explained 22.91% of variance, and the factor of traditional educational philosophies explained 12.77% of variance). The Cronbach α coefficient for the first factor of contemporary (post-modern) educational philosophies was 0.90, and for the second factor of traditional (modern) educational philosophies, it was 0.86 (Çetin et al., 2012), as cited in [20].

The conducted pilot study also served to verify whether the Croatian translation of the questionnaire made for the purpose of the main research corresponds to its original form and context in English. The questionnaire was translated twice by two independent translators. One translator first translated the questionnaire from English into Croatian, and another translator retranslated it from Croatian into English. In the pilot study, KMO and Bartlett’s correlation test determined high correlation and linear dependence between scale particles, i.e., matrix suitability for factor analysis (KMO = 0.711, Approx. Chi-Square = 1883,878, df = 741, p < 0.001).

Factor analysis verified the two-factor structure of the scale. Two factors were extracted by principal components analysis with the Varimax rotation: F1—contemporary educational philosophies (CEP) and F2—traditional educational philosophies (TEP). Both factors explained 33.85% of the total variance (F1 = 20.62%, F2 = 13.23%). In general, the particles quite consistently followed the original two-factor structure of the questionnaire, and, overall, the results were formed according to the original method of particle distribution based on the factors. In our main research, the Cronbach alpha coefficient confirmed the high reliability of the instrument. For the factor of contemporary educational philosophies, Cronbach α was 0.87, while for the factor of traditional educational philosophies, it was 0.83.

3. Results

In order to determine the educational philosophies of secondary school teachers, total results were formed for the factor of contemporary (M = 4.23, SD = 0.41, Min = 2.41, and Max = 5.00) and the factor of traditional educational philosophies (M = 3.05, SD = 0.45, Min = 1.77, and Max = 4.32). The paired samples t-test was applied to examine the first hypothesis. It was found that secondary school teachers expressed greater agreement with items referring to contemporary than those referring to traditional educational philosophies (t = 38.161, df = 354, and p < 0.001).

One-way ANOVA was used to examine the second hypothesis. The results showed no statistically significant difference in secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies, neither on the factor of contemporary nor on the factor of traditional educational philosophies, with regard to years of work experience (

Table 2. Results of one-way ANOVA for testing differences in secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies with respect to years of work experience.

Educational Philosophies	Independent Variable	Category	N	M	SD	F	df	p
Contemporary	Years of work experience	≤5 years	91	4.30	0.36	2.115	3	0.098
		6–15 years	107	4.19	0.40
		16–30 years	108	4.24	0.39
		>30 years	49	4.14	0.50
		Total	355	4.23	0.41
Traditional	Years of work experience	≤5 years	91	3.01	0.47	2.330	3	0.074
		6–15 years	107	3.01	0.46
		16–30 years	108	3.06	0.42
		>30 years	49	3.20	0.41
		Total	355	3.05	0.45

).

For the examination of the third and fourth hypotheses, the independent samples t-test was applied. Differences in teachers’ educational philosophies with regard to the type of school were shown on both factors, where grammar school teachers expressed greater agreement with contemporary educational philosophies and vocational school teachers expressed greater agreement with traditional ones (

Table 3. Results of the independent samples t-test for testing differences in secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies with respect to school and education program.

Educational Philosophies	Independent Variable	Category	N	M	SD	t	df	p
Contemporary	School	Vocational	242	4.19	0.42	−2.441	353	0.015 *
		Grammar	113	4.30	0.37
	Education program	General	232	4.24	0.41	0.945	353	0.345
		Vocational	123	4.20	0.40
Traditional	School	Vocational	242	3.08	0.46	1.992	353	0.047 *
		Grammar	113	2.98	0.42
	Education program	General	232	3.01	0.46	−2.147	353	0.032 *
		Vocational	123	3.12	0.42

* p < 0.05.

).

On the other hand, differences in teachers’ educational philosophies with regard to education programs were found only on the factor of traditional educational philosophies. Teachers in vocational education programs expressed greater agreement with traditional educational philosophies than teachers in general education programs. No difference was found on the factor of contemporary educational philosophies with respect to education programs (Table 3).

4. Discussion

Secondary school teachers in Split–Dalmatia County in the Republic of Croatia showed a high degree of agreement with contemporary educational philosophies (M = 4.23, SD = 0.41), which is in line with other research that show the preference of contemporary educational philosophies among teachers and pre-service teachers [22,25,28,29,30,47,52]. Teachers agreed less with traditional educational philosophies for which they expressed indecisiveness (M = 3.05, SD = 0.45), as confirmed by the dependent samples t-test (t = 38.161, df = 354, p < 0.001). This confirmed the first hypothesis (H1). The following result showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies regarding years of work experience, which confirmed the second hypothesis (H2) (Table 2).

Both results were expected, as the individual’s beliefs derive not only from the individual but also from the values in society [56]. As the classroom paradigm has changed from the traditional to the contemporary, teachers’ beliefs may also have changed and become more in line with contemporary teaching concepts. Namely, education policy in the Republic of Croatia has a basis in the beliefs characteristic of contemporary educational philosophies. It focusses on the students’ holistic development, lifelong education, encouraging students’ activity and cooperation, and respecting and accepting diversity. All these values are expressed in both the National Curriculum Framework for Pre-school Education and General Compulsory and Secondary Education [8] and the National Curriculum for Vocational Education [9], and teachers have been familiar with Croatian educational policy based on contemporary educational philosophies for a long time, regardless of their years of work experience. This notion supports the idea of a relationship between individual educational philosophies and societal educational philosophies. Namely, Terzi and Uyangör [47] and Oğuz Er [30] indicate that educational philosophies are behind both educational policies and individual actions. In doing so, the dominant educational philosophy in society and in educational policy also influences curricula and, therefore, teachers’ work. So, this result can be understood as a confirmation of the success of Croatian educational policy. At the same time, even the specifics of contemporary society lead to a change in the students themselves, so teachers in general, regardless of their years of work experience, will probably accept more contemporary educational philosophies in order to give their students what they need with respect to the circumstances of the society in which they live. Different authors [32,57,58] point out that, although educational philosophies are mostly stable, teaching experience with students, personal changes and personal development of teachers, as well as changes in society, can influence changes in the individual educational philosophy.

Furthermore, it has been found that grammar school teachers agree more with contemporary educational philosophies than teachers from vocational schools (M_{grammar school} = 4.3, SD_{grammar school} = 0.37, M_{vocational school} = 4.19, SD_{vocational school} = 0.42, t = −2.441, df = 353, p = 0.015), while teachers from vocational schools agree more with traditional educational philosophies than grammar school teachers (M_{vocational school} = 3.08, SD_{vocational school} = 0.46, M_{grammar school} = 2.98, SD_{grammar school} = 0.42, t = 1.992, df = 353, p = 0.047, Table 3). So, the third hypothesis (H3) was rejected. This result partly coincides with the result also obtained in the Republic of Croatia by Cetinić [22], according to which secondary school teachers were less keen to accept the educational philosophy of essentialism (which belongs to the traditional educational philosophy) than primary school teachers and teachers in secondary vocational schools. However, there was no statistically significant difference between grammar school teachers and vocational school teachers in their acceptance of the educational philosophy of progressivism, existentialism, and behaviourism.

Possible reasons for these statistically significant differences in teachers’ educational philosophies regarding the type of school may be that vocational school teachers in their teaching practice with students tend to prepare students for work, so they are more focused on the profession and narrower areas of work and less on other aspects of students’ development, so they are not enhancing students’ holistic development. That kind of belief is characteristic of the traditional educational philosophies, which advocate students’ preparation for life and work as an important role of the school [24,26]. Also, it is not completely in line with the Development Strategy of the Vocational Education System in the Republic of Croatia 2008–2013 [59], which indicates the necessity of enabling not just an individual’s continuous professional development but also one’s personal development by competence development during vocational education. On the other hand, grammar school students are probably given a wider range of content since the students are seen as future intellectuals in different fields of work. So, grammar school teachers may also have higher expectations of their students in terms of engagement, understanding, research, critical thinking, etc. Through emphasis on such expectations in learning and teaching, teachers prepare students for university, which is one of the grammar schools’ (as general education schools) tasks. This distinction usually made between general and vocational education is not a surprise since vocational education is seen as an education that enables easier access to the labour market, while general education provides a broader base of knowledge needed for further learning and professional development [60], so this understanding could contribute to vocational teachers’ greater agreement with traditional educational philosophies in comparison to grammar school teachers. Namely, contemporary educational philosophies emphasise active learning, problem solving [21,23,26,29,51], and a democratic learning environment where students are enhanced to think critically [20,51]. Just as some values are more important to the individual than others due to the hierarchical organisation of values [61], it is possible that the aforementioned aspects of contemporary educational philosophies, including enhancement of one’s holistic development, from the teachers’ point of view, are more important in the process of students’ competence development in grammar schools than in vocational schools. This notion is not completely in line with contemporary Croatian education policy and the VET system development programme (2016–2020) [62], which indicates two roles in vocational education and training: the first one is to prepare students for the labour market, and the second one is to enable vocational school students who are enrolled in four- and five-year programs to continue their education in higher education institutions. Moreover, “ensuring general education and attaining key competences as a foundation for further education and lifelong learning” are among the priorities of the Strategy for Science, Education and Technology adopted by the Croatian Parliament in 2014 [62] (p. 7), so students’ holistic development should be enhanced both in grammar and vocational schools.

Finally, research results have shown that there is no statistically significant difference for the factor of contemporary educational philosophies with respect to the education program (M_general = 4.24, SD_general = 0.41, M_vocational = 4.20, SD_vocational = 0.40, t = 0.945, df = 353, p = 0.345), while for the factor of traditional educational philosophies, the education program proved to be statistically significant. It was found that teachers within the vocational education program agree more with traditional educational philosophies than teachers within the general education program (M_vocational = 3.12, SD_vocational = 0.42, M_general = 3.01, SD_general = 0.46, t = −2.147, df = 353, p = 0.032, Table 3). This result partially confirmed the fourth hypothesis [H4]. In other studies, education programs were also statistically significant for the acceptance of certain educational philosophies [22,25,47,53], but these results were inconsistent because differences were shown in different (and not all) educational philosophies and in different education programs. Trellinger Buswell and Berdanier [57] point out that the goals and contents of a particular subject that teachers teach have a great impact on their educational philosophy, because not all teachers have the same possibility of acting in accordance with contemporary educational philosophies, given the contents of their subjects. It is possible that teachers who teach subjects within a vocational education program, given the content of their course, are more focused on preparing students for specific work in the profession than on other aspects of students’ development. Therefore, they agree more with some beliefs that are characteristic of traditional educational philosophies, which advocate the idea that students should imitate their teachers and that life is different from school, so school plays an important role in students’ preparation for life [20,48]. As previously mentioned, that is also not completely in line with Croatian educational policy, which refers to vocational education [8,9,59,62]. Another possible reason for these results can be found in the slow adaptation of vocational programs to the needs of the labour market and the insufficient participation of vocational school teachers in continuous professional development, since they represent some of the reasons for the recent initiation of the educational reform of vocational education in the Republic of Croatia [63]. Continuous professional development is recognised as “essential for the VET system to respond to labour market needs, the needs of students and employers, and society in general” [62] (p. 19), so vocational school teachers should be enhanced to continuously raise awareness of their educational philosophies and compare and harmonise them with their educational practice and relevant national educational policy.

Pedagogical Guidelines

The results of this research point to the following pedagogical guidelines: (1) teachers need to be aware of the importance of encouraging the students’ holistic development, in both vocational schools and grammar schools and in both education programs, since it is emphasised in contemporary educational philosophies and Croatian education policy [9,59,62], and (2) it is necessary to empower teachers to raise awareness of their educational philosophies and (self)assess the compliance of their beliefs with their educational practice in order for them to change and improve their practice. There are two main reasons for these suggestions. Firstly, students’ holistic development is one among key aspirations in pedagogical science, even since ancient times and the ideal of harmonious personality [10]. Today, that ideal is put in the pragmatic context of competency-based curricular approach to education and refers to all education programs and all types of schools [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,17,18]. And, secondly, when it comes to empowerment of teachers to raise awareness of their educational philosophies, continuous professional development is seen as essential for educational system to respond to the needs of labour market, all stakeholders in that system and the society in general [62,63], so the teacher studies have a very important role since previous research results point to changes in prospective teachers’ education philosophies during their university education by being more traditional at the beginning of the study and becoming more contemporary during studies [64,65].

Considering the first pedagogical guideline, it is valuable to point to the fact that students’ holistic development has always been important in pedagogical science. The harmonious development of one’s cognitive, conative and psychomotor abilities and skills is still considered necessary in the contemporary competency-based curricular approach to education where competence is seen as an accountable and autonomous application of knowledge, skills, and attitudes [59,66]. One of the fundamental principles of primary and secondary education in the Republic of Croatia is the right to education, which enables the availability of recent scientific information based on educational standards relevant to the holistic and harmonious personality development of each individual [67]. Students’ holistic development, in the context of understanding secondary school teachers’ educational philosophies, should be considered as a starting point regardless of the type of school or educational level or teachers’ beliefs on how to achieve it. All students need to have opportunities and a favourable environment for maximum development of their potentials [8,9,10]. When it comes to vocational education, besides gaining relevant knowledge and developing practical skills and the ability to apply them in a labour context, it is also important to develop social skills, teamwork and initiative [68]. Furthermore, today it is necessary to develop eight key competences among which are learning to learn, social and civic competences, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship [5] that are needed for one’s personal fulfilment and employability. Also, contemporary vocational education tends to prepare students not only for the labour market, but for possible continuing education in higher education institutions as well [62], therefore, the realization of this guideline could prevent future differences in teachers’ educational philosophies with respect to the type of school and education program.

The second pedagogical guideline suggested according to the results obtained in this research refers to the empowerment of teachers to raise awareness of their educational philosophies and continuously compare and harmonise them with their educational practice. That process starts at teacher studies and should be continued during teacher lifelong professional development. Uzun [69] points to the need of raising awareness of educational philosophy since many school teachers, as well as university teachers who teach pre-service teachers, are not familiar with that concept, its importance and its influence in the educational system. Since educational philosophies influence not only educational policies but educational practices as well [69], it is very important that teachers understand key concepts like theory, philosophy, ontology, epistemology, research paradigm, axiology, values, beliefs, educational philosophy, competency, curricula, etc. For example, Waring and Evans [70] suggest that the process aiming to enhance teacher awareness of their educational philosophies should be focused on understanding the concept of theory per se and on understanding different ways teachers implement and develop their theories. Also, they suggest considering the value teachers attach to their theory in practice and pointing to the possibilities of theory implementation in practice as well as understanding relation between theory and practice.

One possible way of empowering teachers is that prospective teachers assess their understanding of above-mentioned concepts at the beginning of the study and create an action research plan on how to improve their understanding during the university education. During teacher studies, workshops could be organised where prospective teachers would become familiar with those concepts through different subjects and activities. At the end of the study students could reassess their understanding and critically reflect on their learning process. This critical reflection could also include prospective teachers’ reflection on the relationship between their educational philosophies, values and beliefs since it was determined that personal, educational and professional activities and experiences are important factors for the teachers’ value systems development [44,45]. Furthermore, it can be an ongoing process during their professional career, since doing action research in the teaching profession is recognised as a very important aspect of teachers’ professional development. Namely, action research with its main phases [plan, act, observe, reflect] enables teachers to think critically and creatively about their educational theories and teaching practice and to continuously improve it [71]. Reflection on key educational issues is needed in order for one to understand the determined aim of education and learning outcomes, their nature and relation to holistic personality development and the choice of curricular contents, learning and teaching strategies that will enable their achievement as well as evaluation that will establish whether determined aim and learning outcomes are achieved [18]. The realization of this guideline could contribute to greater adoption of contemporary educational philosophies among teachers and lower agreement with traditional educational philosophies among teachers from vocational schools and within vocational education programs. These elements can also be the subject of future research on this topic.

In addition to the abovementioned recommendation and in the light of the findings from this study, we offer several more recommendations for future research on this topic:

(1) in the context of the Republic of Croatia, it would be beneficial to expand the research to cover entire country, as the study was limited to high school teachers in the Split–Dalmatia County, and (2) future studies should consider including additional variables that may influence teachers’ educational philosophies, such as their level of education, the type of training they received to develop teaching competencies, the approach used in their pedagogical courses (whether more traditional or contemporary) and the socio-economic and academic background of their students. Finally, (3) while this study found that teachers generally tend to agree more with contemporary educational philosophies, they also retain some traditional beliefs, therefore, qualitative research could provide more insight into the meaning that teachers attribute to their educational philosophies.

5. Conclusions

The aim of this research was to determine the educational philosophies of secondary school teachers and the factors leading to possible differences in those philosophies. The research results showed that secondary school teachers in Split–Dalmatia County in the Republic of Croatia agree significantly more with contemporary educational philosophies than with the traditional ones, while they were mostly indecisive about traditional educational philosophies. It has been found that grammar school teachers agree more with contemporary educational philosophies than teachers from vocational schools, while teachers from vocational schools agree more with traditional educational philosophies than grammar school teachers. Furthermore, it was found that higher agreement with traditional educational philosophies was expressed by teachers from vocational schools working within the vocational education program. The education program has not been identified as a significant factor in agreement with contemporary educational philosophies. At the same time, the years of work experience have not proved to be a significant factor for either of the two assessed educational philosophies.

Teachers’ greater agreement with contemporary educational philosophies is in line with expectations because the multiannual educational policy in the Republic of Croatia is in line with such philosophies, as can be seen in basic educational documents such as the National Curriculum Framework for Pre-school Education and General Compulsory and Secondary Education [8] and the National Curriculum for Vocational Education [9]. However, differences in teachers’ educational philosophies have been shown in relation to the type of school in which teachers work and partly in relation to the educational program, while they have not been determined in relation to the years of work experience. Such results are explained in this paper in the context of the relationship between teachers’ educational philosophies, values, beliefs and teaching experiences. It was concluded from the literature review that experience with students, personal changes and personal development, as well as educational philosophies of society and changes in society can influence the educational philosophies of the individual. It was also concluded that all teachers, regardless of the type of school and education program they work in, should equally focus on the students’ overall development. This paper aimed to emphasise the need to raise awareness and constantly review teachers’ educational philosophies in order for teachers to continually improve their theory and practice.