Are great teachers born or made?

When a teacher associated with this writer moved to another school, the board of directors of the former school made propositions of all kinds including improving her pay perks and housing to goad her back. She couldn’t go back, though for reasons beyond her control.

Parents felt that their children would have greater learning experiences in her class as the teacher than in other streams in the same grade. In her ten years career stint in the school, she had earned accolades of best teacher, lower section for four years running.

Today, every parent’s worry is where and how to get great teacher and retain them. Experts say that the quality of the teacher overrides all other factors including the school itself.

Even the so called best schools, there are different outcomes in each class and this has everything to do with quality of the teacher (s). Research shows that poor teaching isn’t just a nuisance but very detrimental to the child’s growth and learning especially in the formative years.

In the same vein, there is a lingering notion that teaching is a vocation for academic underdogs who could not make it to perceived “better” careers – that teachers rank lowest in educational echelons – the academic dregs. Yet, there are teachers who have continually dispelled this notion by outperforming other teachers and bringing in fresh air in the career.

Richard Gerver, a renowned educator, public speaker on educational matters, the winner of the British National Teaching Award in 2005, after taking his school from the brink of closure to the most innovative school in the world, and the author of the acclaimed education book Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today along with other equally educational best sellers, argues that learning is sensory in nature in that great teachers employ sight, smell, touch and hearing.

“Great teachers learn how to make the whole learning process a sensory experience. In their hearts of hearts, they have developed traits that are remarkable. When you walk into a class of a great teacher, you realize that great teaching is not about control of children but those who can relate with the children. They have confidence,” he said.

Bernadina Kayumbe, formerly of Holy Cross Nursery and Primary school says that empathy is key to being a great teacher. The question whether teachers are born or trained boils down to how a teacher feels in the class. If a teacher is enthusiastic, willing to empathise with the children through leaning them beyond the classroom environment then you are a born teacher.

“A good teacher has to have what it takes before attending training. Masterly of the subjects, detailed understanding of the children and what makes them tick and respecting them are requisite elements of becoming great teachers. For instance, I taught several children who had literally been relegated to back banners and permanently and systematically been indoctrinated, stigmatized that they would never succeed in their classes by other teachers, dismissed as incapable of learning. The results were tremendous. No child should ever be dismissed as daft or not teachable. Try to understand them, their backgrounds and their parents if need be,” says Ms Kayumbe.

To unleash the potential in every child, good communication that is respectful rapport is very important says Paul Owere, a teacher-turned-journalist.

“To nurture young minds, a caring demeanour and good communication skills are important. When children feel free to talk to the teacher, sometimes hinting about their own problems is the beginning of a trustful rapport without which helping the child becomes impossible,” says Owere.

The right attitude, the right teaching

Everyone remembers that teacher who kept telling you that you will never make it in life. Even if that was said decades ago, you still recoil with consternation any time you think about it.

You can also recall the teacher who went further than application of pedagogy (class teaching techniques), to entrench arithmetic principles that turned mathematics into a new song. The difference between the two teachers was that one was a career teacher and the other one was a quack.

According to Ms Kayumbe, there exists quack teachers who laboriously teach because there is nothing else in the offing for them to do but not all teachers should be lumped in this category.

She avers that although there are good teachers and great teachers, the hallmark of a great teacher is the enthusiasm, the energy, the sparkle and the love as reflected in the children and their relationships with their teachers. It is the insatiable desire to see the children succeed.

“Having first trained as a secretary, I bumped into teaching when I got a job as an assistant teacher at St. Mary’s International schools. I realized that I wasn’t cut for a secretarial job. After training for the teaching job, it all jelled easily. The journey has since been exciting.

Children know that they have a great teacher when they long to be in school – are enthusiastic about learning and often talk positively about their teachers to the parents.

Going beyond test scores

While test scores are often taken as the measure of great teachers and pupils aptitudes, there is more than meets the eye here.

Experts say that since the teacher is around the child, and that our teachers in a way influenced our worldview, reason and have played great roles all the way from our formative years to date, then test scores, although important are only a small part of the equation.

Mr Owere thinks that test scores are seen as the only measurable tools because there is no other empirical measure available to gauge greatness of teachers and the children alike. It seems that qualities of a good teacher extend beyond the classroom, some of which are immeasurable or are empirically proved.

Greatness travels with you all your life. Everyone certainly remembers those who inspired them, helping them to travel in the direction they took though it seemed out of reach at the time. This, according to Owere is immeasurable but has more value in the long run than test scores.

“In the current system of things, greatness of teachers is only measured using test scores. However, holistic teaching of children entails so many aspects that cannot be adequately quantified.

These may include character, social responsibility, questioning minds and so forth. Learning is about turning interactive experiences where the teacher can also learn from the pupils. Association between quality teacher is that it is the quality teacher who provides quality learning.