Effective Teaching in Schools - Essay Example

Introduction Effective teaching in England both at the local education ity as well as the higher education has been a subject of study by many scholars and commission. However most scholars concur that, the status of the teacher that is; qualified teacher status or lack of the qualified teacher status plays a very significant role in determining how teachers end up teaching. Equally important is the commitment and experiences of the teachers. The need for effective teaching is further complicated by the fact that he needs for schools differ widely depending on the facilities available, location as well as the type of students the schools are likely to admit. For example schools located in rural areas or schools serving marginalised communities such as the blacks and immigrants may have to adopt different teaching strategies so as to be effective in teaching. Such schools are likely to go for the strategies, which meet the needs of the vulnerable children they enroll. When designing or determining the most suitable or effective strategies for schools it is important to bear in mind the level of the pupils. Strategies, which may be effective in primary school level, may fail terribly if applied to higher education level. Developmental stages must be considered by teachers. For example primary school pupils are more likely to experience emotional imbalances than high school students. This calls for teachers to be careful on the way they plan for their teaching sessions. Evidence of behavioural changes in children was evidenced by the increase in the number of children who faced exclusion from school in the years following the removal of elusion targets in schools in 2001 (Evans, Harden, Thomas, & Benefield, 2003.31-79). There was an increase of about 11 percent in secondary schools and an increase in exclusion of about 19% in primary schools (Evans, Harden, Thomas, & Benefield, 2003.31-79). This clearly points to barriers to student behaviour as an effective teaching. To counter behavioural barriers to effective teaching (Clark, 1994.33-66.) suggests several forms of interventions such as behaviour management through training programmes, change of class environment as well as introduction of rewards or punishment to influence behaviour. The effectiveness of teaching in the UK has in the past been measured by performance of the students. However this kind of measurement is faulty and may place on the teacher a heavy burden of blame when performance is low and at the same time lead to praising of the teacher when performance goes up. According to (Tiffin, & Rajasingham, 1995.12-68), there is a lot to effective teaching than the exam results. For instance there is the issue of legislation, the kind of legislation in place can hinder or promote effective learning depending on how well suitable they are. Equally important is the class environment, which may include the size of the class, the facilities available in the school, the level of training of the teachers as well as kind of pupils or students in the class. Very important is the methodology teachers' use in the teaching. For example in a Chemistry class, effectiveness cannot be realised if the teacher uses only one methodology of teaching. Teaching Chemistry class calls for a number of learning activities such as laboratory practicals. In Chemistry there is a need for peer coaching or group collaboration given the fact that in a class some students will always learn at a faster rate than their colleagues. This calls for the effective teachers to integrate all the applicable learning and teaching methods. The above serves to underscore the fact that teaching is just one component of learning which plays an important role in determining learning outcomes. According to the Department for Education and Employment, (1997.4 -19) the social context of learning influences teaching and learning. These social contexts may be beyond teachers' control in most cases. This implied that the kind of school one attended rather than the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the teachers was responsible for the performance. Pupils provided with an environment of fostering were more likely to excel academically than those pupils put in a social context, which is not empowering. My experience in primary school is supported by the findings of (Chidwick, 1994.11-31). The school I attended was located in a noisy industrial part of the city. Constantly pupils were interrupted by noise from heavy machinery and noise from the industries. This kind of environment was not favorable for learning and it affected the learning process. Another observation I made while in the secondary school is that the reason why I performed well in Chemistry and Science subjects were largely attributable to the qualities of my Chemistry teacher as well a the teaching strategies the teacher used. The Chemistry teacher always ensures that every pupil was alert throughout the learning session by integrating interesting learning activities in the class. The teacher also did not discriminate against any given pupil in the class but engaged and interacted with the whole class. I found this unique because there were teachers of other subject who often selected the pupils to concentrate on and to ask class questions. Teachers who would discriminate against slow learners for their subjects created a classroom environment, which brought about tensions and anxiety in the classrooms. My Chemistry teacher was very encouraging and even when pupils made mistakes and answered wrongly the teacher was gentle and encouraging such students to keep on trying. The teacher also had a good grasp of the subject and seemed to have mastered the subject content very well. The teacher also would set exercises and assignment, which were clearly stimulating although challenging. This led to over three quarters of the Chemistry class scoring exemplarily in the course work and in the exams. However what I observed and made me feel like it was a leading cause for ineffectiveness of teaching in the UK is the fact that such good teachers like where drawing their motivation from dedication and commitment to their profession and not the kind of compensation they were receiving. This fact is disturbing because a lazy or a poorly motivated teacher cannot show such commitment as my Chemistry teacher. Sadly there are so many teachers like that in the profession. According to (Dwyer, 1991.56-106) effective teaching calls for teachers to put more emphasis on academic learning, good utilization of learning time as well as offering result-based teaching whereby the pupils are made aware of the goals and objectives of the learning process. Evans, Harden, Thomas, & Benefield, (2003.31-79) recommends personalized teaching as an effective teaching method especially for primary schools although personalized teaching works well in other levels of education such as higher education and secondary school level. The method is learner centered and learning proceeds at the pace of the learner. The main challenge however is time management given the fact that a standard class integrates learners with different learning abilities while personalized learning is effective for small groups or individual learning processes. It is often hard to practice in big class settings. Personally I have found this type of teaching strategy effective especially in my Chemistry class. This has been especially true in my Chemistry practicals. Whenever a new concept is being taught some students may have a problem in understanding some issues for example reactions of some agents while some students seemed to follow well especially with the guidance manual. I experienced difficulties and my lecturer had always to dedicate some time for me and make sure I followed well. Personalized teaching is also effective in that it creates a room for discussions between pupils and teachers whereby pupils exchange ideas raise critical issues and are free to ask questions where they do not grasp subject content. This method is faced by challenges such as wastage of learning time as some pupils can take advantage of the learning method and ask questions for the entire lessons. The other challenge is that since learning is personalized, it becomes very difficult to adhere to lesson plans, time-tables as well as the syllabus at large. The method results into many interruptions and makes the rate of teaching to slow down. This is a risk in that it may cause the teacher to fail to complete the syllabus. The future of education in the UK is largely dependent on how effectively teaching is done. Therefore the quality of teachers is seen central force in the drive for literacy in the U.K society. The quality of education the children receive goes a long way in determining whether the national literacy goals will be achieved or not. Initiatives in the past aimed at improving the literacy and accounting skills amongst the children have not been widely successful hence the concern for literacy skills in the UK. Although literacy rates in UK primary schools standards are above average, there is need for improvement. This paper analyzes the concepts, policies and practices in regard to effective teaching in the UK in a bid to explain how the concepts and skills can contribute to improving education standards in UK, especially primary education. There have been initiatives in the past aimed at improving literacy levels that have mainly targeted the primary education. The National Curriculum drives, reading drives as well as literacy are examples of efforts, all geared into shaping the future of education in order to make it responsive to the needs of the nation and the society (Clay, 1993.50-54). The quality of education children in the UK receive largely generates interest due to the fact that, the primary level of education is key to what kind of education, careers and dreams in life such children will have in the post primary education and in life (Joanna, 2003.23-72). Most of the courses in post primary are determined by subjects a child studied in the primary level as well as the academic performance in the primary level of education. The fact that the needs of the society are fast changing means that, what was relevant in about a decade ago or so could be irrelevant today, hence the need for constant reviewing of the primary education to streamline it with the society's needs. Considering the technological advancements being experienced currently all over the world, it makes a lot of sense for educators and policy makers to ensure that the primary education is responsive and in line with contemporary issues and scientific advancements. Of all initiatives geared towards achieving literacy, it is the teachers who can have the biggest impact in the process. There is a need for efforts geared towards improving earnings for teachings U.K schools. Teachers need to be well motivated so as to be effective. Teachers must be able to instruct effectively in classes despite the fact that most classes are integrated and comprise of learners with different levels of English mastery. Lack of proficiency in English language amongst most children presents unique challenges for teachers during the instruction process. Therefore teachers as key agents in the education process should be able to incorporate visuals aids, pre instruction activities, peer coaching as well as any other strategies necessary in ensuring that learners irrespective of the their proficiency in English language (Joanna, 2003.23-72). It is a generally accepted fact that UK comprises of a diverse society and some members of the society have different languages other than English as their first language. The primary education should aim at ensuring that every child in UK receives quality education despite all the barriers. For children with special needs there is a need to ensure that the children receive suitable education inspite of their disabilities. This can be achieved by ensuring that the disabled children are provided with the necessary resources and support they need (Quicke, 1996.34-89). The other thing that is important to the primary education is access and affordability of the primary education. Even the marginalised communities such as immigrants are part of the UK community and should therefore be able to access primary education. If primary education is not accessible to such communities the dream of achieving high literacy rates will never be realized. Effective teaching is very central to the learning process because the instruction process largely depends on communication using a medium understood by all learners in a classroom (Dwyer, 1991.56-106). Effective teaching calls for a sound knowledge of information technology. Every sector of the society is fast embracing IT something which means that even in schools, technologically mediated learning is the next stage for education (Clay, 1993.45-69). The fact that most processes are nowadays run in computer programs requires high literacy levels. Information literacy is also very important to the education in UK and it is the only way to ensure that pupils from an early age such as that of primary level of primary education can be able to apply information resources to practical life situations (Clay, 1993.45-69). Effective use of information has been found to be very important in a learner's academic work especially given the fact that, online libraries and the Internet search engine are fast replacing the print library. If learners do not have information literacy skills right from the primary level of education that could have negative effects on learning in subsequent years (Tiffin, & Rajasingham, 1995.12-68). Literacy plays an important role in determining what kind of decisions an individual makes, research has shown that, people lacking good literacy skills in information may be insufficient and incompetent in critical thinking and in their problem solving abilities (Clay, 1993.45-69). Effective teaching ensures that the literacy goals set by the government are easily achieved. Conclusion There is a need for the government and other groups with interest in education to collaborate in developing and improving effective teaching in the UK education system. The government can contribute by training more teachers on literacy pedagogy who in turn can contribute greatly to the improvement of the education standards in the education sector. There is a need for more research to establish the numerous challenges facing the achievement of effectiveness in teaching. In addition research in this area is important so as to contribute to new knowledge on the subject. I am for the changing of the way teacher training is done in the UK. Teachers need to be prepared in the areas of IT, to deal with the ever changing legislations in education well as well prepared to deal with government literacy drive goals in UK which currently dominates education agenda of the government. List of References Used Clay, M (1993.45-69). An observation survey of Early Literacy Achievement, Auckland, NZ: Heinemann Evans, J., Harden, A., Thomas, I and Benefield, P. (2003) EPPI-Centre and NFER. http://eppi.ioe.ac.UK/EPPIWebcontent/reel/review_groupEPPI/EBD/EDDI.pdf Joanna, M. (2003.23-72).Chapter in world yearbook of Education 2003. Language Education, Kogan Page. Chidwick, N., 1994.11-31. The virtual college. IN All our learning futures. The role of technology in education. Glasgow: SCET, 1994. Clark, M., 1994.33-66. Young literacy learners. Leamington Spa: Scholastic. Department for Education and Employment, 1997.4-19. Excellence in schools. London: The Stationery Office. Dwyer, D., 1991.56-106. Changes in teachers' beliefs and practices in technology-rich classrooms. Educational Leadership, May, pp45-52. Quicke, J., 1996.34-89. The reflective practitioner and teacher education: an answer to critics. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 2 (1), pp11-22. Tiffin, J. and Rajasingham, L., 1995.12-68. In search of the virtual class: education in an information society. London: Routledge. http://www.labour.org.uk/education04 Accessed on 13/03/2007 NAIROBI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL NBNHFNHH HHBHRHRG OF KHNFHGGH HNFFH RN Read More