Factors Affecting Teaching
‘Factors affecting teaching’ is an important topic to be covered under Teaching Aptitude section for NET Paper 1 examination. More or less, one-two questions are asked from this topic every year. Although the topic seems quite simple and unassuming, there is always a great degree of confusion involved in choosing the correct answer when one is presented with multiple choice questions for such topics.
Subsequently, one really needs to be careful and precise in attempting sections such as teaching aptitude. We will try to summarize the notes for this topic concisely based on questions asked in previous years’ questions.
To begin with, there are three variables that are the basic requirements of teaching viz. dependent variable, independent variable, and intervening variable. A student is considered to be a dependent variable, a teacher is an independent one and there needs to be a good interaction between these two variables for effective teaching. Factors that constitute this interaction include all the intervening variables. Some examples of the intervening variables are methods and techniques, teaching environment, the content of teaching, etc. It can be said that all three variables and their interaction together affect teaching.
Let us discuss some of the critical factors one by one:
1. Credentials or Qualifications of the teacher
- Qualifications matter as much as the professional training. A teacher who has a higher degree apparently will have a better knowledge of the subject. Someone who has secured professional training like B.Ed., M.Ed., MPhil, PhD, etc. will be able to yield better learning outcomes in a student than someone who has not been professionally trained.
- A trained and more qualified teacher will help students to inculcate the attitude of discussion, questioning, investigation, inquiry, and critical thinking in them. His or her lessons are rich in content and have relevance. The trained teacher doesn’t use mechanical mode of instruction that is dull for the students.
2. Teacher-student relationship
- It must be noted that the teacher-student relationship is not that of hierarchy alone.
- A good teacher always respects his or her students, is sensitive to their social, cultural and economic background, kindles their intellectual curiosities and quests, and helps them develop a good civic and moral sense.
- To get the content of knowledge across one’s learners, a teacher must be able to connect with them. There should be a culture of dialogue for making teaching instruction interesting and engaging.
- A teacher who only relies on lecture methods fails to grab attention and appreciation from the learners. In such a scenario, teaching suffers significantly.
3. Methods of teaching used
- A good teacher must have a good hand on the variety of methods that can be used for teaching.
- If teaching becomes monotonous, students can lose interest in classes or lectures.
- To keep it appealing, the teacher must use very creative methods. There are teacher-centred methods, student-centred methods, content-focused methods and interactive or participative methods.
- For effective teaching, more and more use of learner-centred methods should be made. In any chosen method, the teacher should not appear as an authority figure. He or she should be the facilitator and resource for teaching and learning.
4. Classroom environment
- The classroom environment comprises both physical and social factors. Physical factors involve physical infrastructure such as furniture, the building of the institution, library facilities, laboratories, teaching aids, light, cleanliness, and so on. Social factors include the relationship that all the critical stakeholders have with each other such as the relationship between teachers and the management, student-teacher relationship, teacher-parent relationship, student-student relationship, etc.
- A teacher should have the capacity for conflict resolution. Clear and stable communication between these stakeholders is necessary. Such factors also affect the quality of teaching.
5. Skills of a Teacher
- Skills are an acquired set of abilities. Teaching is also affected by the kind of skills that a teacher has.
- The skills include good communication skills, interpersonal skills, soft skills, computer skills, so on and so forth.
- A teacher who has a flair for learning new and varied skills can maximize learning outcomes in various situations. Teachers should continuously engage themselves in attending conferences and seminars to learn new skills.
6. Institutional Policies
- Whether one is a school teacher or a college teacher, the administrative policies of the institution also affect the teaching process. A teacher may want to teach beyond classroom instruction but policies of the educational institutions can limit such motivation.
- Sometimes the adoption of a specific curriculum or teaching method by the institution can limit the scope of teachers’ creativity and competence. They are made to stick to the prescribed content, curriculum and methods.
7. Rewards
- Teaching is a specialised skill, it is an art as well as science. Every so often, teachers are not remunerated well which affects the manner in which they teach students.
- A good salary or remuneration can be a great intrinsic motivation for teachers to maximize the learning outcomes.
- Institutions should regard teaching as a great skill and should be able to offer competitive salaries to teachers as per their qualification, experience and performance in the industry.
Hope you guys now have a clearer picture of the factors responsible for effective teaching. If you have any other queries, please comment.
Thank you!
Team BYJU'S Exam Prep
Comments
write a comment