I have a strong philosophy of excellence and success. That is that each person should achieve towards the top of their capability. Jumping for a high bar, even if missed produces higher jumps than a low bar. Standards that meet the best expectations of society and flow seamlessly into the practise and norm of the master in that field should underpin learning experiences.

Following Dewey: “experience arises from the interaction of two principles -- continuity and interaction” (Dewey 1997 as cited in Neill n.d.) In other words, if education is the translation of knowledge into visceral experience, it is the interaction between the life context, knowledge, habits of thought and experiences of the person, in interaction with a learning experience that results in education.

My role is to create contexts of experience that allow this interaction to happen, whether the context is confronting, confirming or extending. Success for me is thus the extent that I approach creating a context for each student that is life forming.