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Who is THE GOOD TEACHER? - Can we identify the characteristics and prove them via research?
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Wed, 04/01/2009 - 11:12
At the last year's conference lots of colleagues have been interested in answering the question: "Who is the GOOD TEACHER?". Does it exist? If yes, what are the charactersitics? I believe this question has all-time relevance. Can we prove via research if these characteristics (that we now colllect) are the top priorities? I kindly invite everybody to join this discussion. Helga
Hello Helga:
In my opinion, answering the question "who is a good teacher?" requires first operationalizing the construct so that research can be undertaken. In other words, there has to be something to measure. For example, if one were to define the term "good teacher" as "a teacher who accomplishes the intended goal for a particular course of instruction." then there is something for research to investigate. Quite simply, the research would consist of determining whether or not the goal had been accomplished. Bear in mind that the goals themselves must be measurable (i.e., capable of being operationalized). Given the parameters that I have laid out, the research would be quantitative in nature rather than qualitative.
Dan Jenkins (Foreing Expert, English Department, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China)