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[hegemony]

If an applicant wrote that their outcomes were such-and-such percent better than the national average, I would think, "And are your students also better than the national average coming in?"

A lot of people are good teachers.  What I want is a sense of their individuality in teaching: who they are, not how much they parrot buzz-phrases about learned-centered classrooms.  If they write about learner-centered classrooms and outcome-based metrics and the like, I'm afraid if we hired them they'd eventually become department head and start imposing that kind of jargon on us, and then dean and take it even further, and I want to nip that in the bud while I still can.  And what does parroting that kind of stuff tell me about how straightforward and dynamic they'll be in front of students?  If they can't sell me on their excitement and their individual take on the material, they probably can't sell the students either. 

To answer another question, the reason our ads may ask for a "statement of teaching philosophy" is that a couple of blowhards in our department insist on it, and writing job ads by committee is hard enough and no one wants to go to the wall to reformulate the request.  It's the same reason the ads ask for applicants who can apply post-colonial theory to underwater basketweaving.  It doesn't mean that everyone on the committee is equally sold on the idea.  So show off who you really are, and don't go into contortions trying to please the job ad.

[threefive]

This is another great example of how doing one thing will get your app. trashed at one school, while NOT doing that one thing will get your app. trashed at another school. Or worse, what you do can make one member of a search committee grumpy, while NOT doing it will make another member on the same committee grumpy.

Welcome to the academic job market!

[der_gadfly]

Yes, I know we call it a statement of teaching philosophy, but what we really want is a statement of teaching experiences. I want to read about SPECIFIC experiences. I want to know what you have done that has worked and how you know that it worked. I want to know what you have tried that did not work, and what you learned from the experience.

Um, really silly question: if you WANT something, would it not be advisable to ASK for it? OR do we expect applicants to use psychic powers to read our minds?

This is why I said we need to take the damn word "philosophy" out of the item name.  As for whether 3/5's expectations are unreasonable?  No.  If you've done your research about job searches (here! for example), you should hopefully have figured this out by now.  But it is true that grad students tend to get less guidance about this item from their mentors, esp. at R1 institutions, because it's likely many of those faculty never had to write such a thing.

Apparently my research on the topic at hand is deemed insufficient, by one who knows far more than I about what my research has revealed... I am quite aware of what is wanted, all I want is more transparency. If you have a specific need, then bloody well say so. If one desires a philosophy, say 'philosophy'. If one desires anecdotal evidence that supports a particular teaching philosophy, then say so. Not hard. Might even save the SC from having to do all that extra work sorting through the pile of applications since some will not bother. Of course, since you have asked for my philosophy and specific examples, I suggest that you prepare to read them: not all techniques can be boiled down to mere statistics delivered in bullet points. It will be a phenomenological approach.

I believe that the age old lesson is to be careful in asking for favors from the genie of the lamp.....

[neutralname]

We should all write a truthful teaching philosophy in the penultimate week of the semester.

"I just want it to be over.  If the students make a C effort with their papers, I make a C effort with my grading.  I don't care about their problems, I just them to try harder."

If I got a statement from a candidate, it would be instant infatuation.

[squidward]

One reason hiring departments don't put exactly what they want in regard to teaching statements is money.  It costs money to post ads, and they can charge per word.  With the rampant budget problems in academia, costs have to be cut everywhere.  In these  If you put too much detail about what should go into a teaching philosophy, you may have to leave out specifying your preferences about research, such as applying post-colonial theory to underwater basket weaving, and end up with 70 applicants specializing in post-colonial theory applied to sky-diving vegetarians.