What makes a great teacher?

BY VINCENT BOSMAN

What are the qualities of a great teacher? VINCENT BOSMAN, who trains educators, explains the difference between a good and a great teacher.

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria with teachers honoured for long service. The Catholic Schools Board of the archdioceses of Johannesburg and Pretoria presented certificates of recognition and appreciation to 43 veteran teachers with 25 years or more service in Catholic schools.

Researchers are in agreement that the one thing that matters more than anything else in the school is the teacher, the one person in the system whose job has changed the least in the past century.

Like parents, nobody can avoid teachers. You might not have seen a doctor or psychologist in your life, but we all have to pass through the hands of teachers at some point in time.

Teachers leave their fingerprints all over us, and the future of an entire people. Through teachers we experience the best of times and the worst of times—these extremes we never forget.

We may remember those who imbued us with a deeper understanding or an enduring passion for their subjects, for life. They opened the doors of our minds and altered the course of our lives.

Wherein lies the greatness of a teacher? The answer to this perennial question is still as elusive today as it was a hundred years ago. Suggestions range from trait theories to skills and knowledge based on approaches, and there is also the question of whether teachers are born or made.

Our current response to improve educators seems to be to increase the arsenal of the teacher with all sorts of multi-media gimmicks like inter-active white boards, data view projects and iPads. These aids are important to improve teaching and learning, but it cannot replace the teacher.

Education of young minds—of all minds for that matter—is essentially an interactive human process, a reciprocal teaching and learning conversation: it is a relationship. The question about the great teacher is therefore, at its core, what makes it possible for him or her to engage in this relationship in a way that brings about the greatness in the learners, that ignites learning and sends learners into the world inspired and confident?

One place to find the answer to what contributes to a great teacher is to explore teacher training curricula at universities and other teacher training institutions.

There are three critical areas that merge in the training of teachers namely: their subject knowledge, teaching techniques and knowledge about learners and schools.

All this is good and well, but it is my contention that these are the basis that all good teachers must master to become good teachers. Our quest is to find the great teacher.

Another place to look for what makes a teacher great is in the lived experiences of their learners. When one speaks to learners, a very different trinity of ideas emerges, namely faith, hope and love. These ideas are not at the foreground in teacher training programmes, and they seem to have eluded the ethos of both these training centres and schools as well.

Teacher preparation/training is an act of faith. At teacher training institutions we prepare young people to teach in a world that we will never see, touch or be a part of. We prepare them for a world which is constantly changing and advancing, a world that leaves us behind as we grapple with the present in an effort to prepare young teachers for the future.

Teaching is therefore an act of faith—faith in what you are doing and teaching, faith in your learners/students faith in their capacity to meet the challenges of the future and faith in a future that is possible and meaningful.

Learners recognise this act of faith through their comments about great teachers. One learner remarked: “My English teacher believed in me when everybody at home said that I would become a nobody. He is the only person who made me feel worth anything. Today I am a journalist”.

Another learner responded to the question of what makes a great teacher as follows: “I said to my teacher that I could not do accountancy, and she told me that the only reason she taught me was because she knew I could. I wondered about this. She is a teacher and should know. Today I am an accountant and I work for a big company”.

A great teacher is a person of great faith. This is a faith that is willing to risk, to take a leap, to give themselves a vocation, and learners true dedication and service.

Teacher training/teaching is also an act of hope, one that is intricately linked to faith. This hope is a deep yearning and desire for the dreams and aspirations of learners to realise. This hope exudes confidence in the human spirit, the resilience of our youth and a future that is better than the present.

It is especially true in South Africa today. We need hope when we read of child abuse, rape of babies, abject poverty, broken families and the suffering of the innocent all around us. We need hope to sustain us and help us to avoid despair and discouragement that will lead us to destruction. The great teacher is a beacon of hope creating hope where there is despair and show learners that good can come from evil circumstance if we hold fast to an active and vibrant hope.

Finally there is love, or passion. The great teacher has a passion for his subject, for teaching and for his learners or students. Learners know if you do not believe in what you doing, if you do not love teaching.

But they also recognise a teacher in command of their subject, and those that have a passion for it. Learners quickly pick up if you teach in a way that is meaningful, creates meaning for them, and let them become meaningful in your act of teaching.

It is this passion for teaching that makes great teachers go the extra mile, that raises their preparation and enrichment they bring to the classroom way above that of the good teacher. They create a whole new world for learners to explore and grow in. They give time and commitment unselfishly.

To great teachers, teaching is an evident act of love. They give themselves completely to their learners and create an environment that is safe, accepting and nurturing. They show learners respect and restore their dignity. They give the learners back their voices and teach them to love themselves so that they can

love others.

This is an extremely difficult challenge in a world that mirrors inequality, rejection and prejudice.

One learner reflects on her great teacher: “She understands me. I was a very difficult and rude learner. I was shocked when she showed me respect. I did not know what to do. When she visited my house, I was scared, ashamed and cried. I did not know why she cared because I did not. I think she loved me—she loved all of us.”

The great teacher says, “Give me a fulcrum long enough and I will move the world.” Love is that fulcrum that does not merely help youngsters to break out of vicious circle of misery, but enables them to break into a virtuous circle of possibility. This circle is signified by faith, hope and love.

To know more about great teachers and to prepare teachers to be great, I suggest we listen to those who have been touched by them, who have the fingerprints of the “gods” all over them.

To all other teachers, be mindful of how you engage with your learners, you leave your fingerprints on them, fingerprints of growth or destruction. They cast their dreams at your feet, so tread softly lest to destroy it.

You can become a great teacher if you pursue the acts of faith, hope and love in your own act of teaching.

Vincent Bosman is an education lecturer at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Wellington. He is a member of St Augustine Parish, Paarl.