An examination of the relationship between primary school teachers educational philosophy and their teaching approaches

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between primary school teachers’ educational philosophy and their teaching approaches. The study was designed in the relational survey model based on the quantitative research method. The study group consists of primary school teachers working in Trabzon during the 2025–2026 academic year. As data collection tools, the “Educational Philosophy Inventory” developed by Sadker and Zittleman (2010) and the “Approaches to Teaching Inventory” developed by Trigwell, Prosser and Taylor and adapted into Turkish by Tezci (2017) were used. According to the results of the Pearson correlation analysis, it was determined that there were positive and moderate significant relationships between primary school teachers’ educational philosophy preferences and both teacher-centered and student-centered teaching approaches. In addition, it was found that philosophical orientations such as progressivism, perennialism, and existentialism significantly predicted teaching approaches. The findings of the study indicate that the educational philosophies adopted by primary school teachers affect their teaching processes and classroom practices.