What makes a good teacher?

Do you remember the «Love is ...» figurines? These two creatures, one innocently male, the other female? There are numerous «Love is ...» pictures, and under each one you can read a truth about love.
Teachers are like love: there are numerous opinions about what makes a good teacher. For the school management, a good teacher is something different to a team colleague, a parent, the school council or the pupils.
Until now, the theory has been that a good teacher is someone with whom the pupils learn as much as possible and enjoy learning. In 2018 - after the introduction of Curriculum 21 and with pupils who already know more than the teacher herself in certain areas - this statement seems outdated.
From the students' point of view, a good teacher creates a pleasant atmosphere in the classroom, treats all students with respect, has a sense of humour and nerves of steel, responds to each student individually, picks them up where they stand, is fair and comprehensible in her assessments, designs the lessons in a rhythmic and motivating way so that different social forms alternate and as many areas of learning as possible are covered. The young people enjoy learning and know why they are learning this way and not any other way.

A good teacher is never ill?

According to the school management, a good teacher is someone who is rarely ill, who takes on additional tasks in the school, enjoys further training, incorporates the latest teaching methods into the classroom, participates enthusiastically in school conventions, team meetings, subject meetings and parent-teacher conferences and happily supports the latest school reform.
According to the parents, what characterises a good teacher is that she supports the pupils in the best possible way, neither underestimating nor overestimating them. Parents are different; for some, nothing beats support in the natural sciences, while others favour an education in the arts. A good teacher is expected to organise her lessons in such a way that both are included. Of course, a good teacher is always available to parents via text message, telephone and email. And she has all the skills needed for constructive dialogue that are required in the numerous meetings with parents.

«A good teacher sees herself as a director who has her class under control and keeps an eye on each individual.»

Education researcher John Hattie

What does science have to say about the question: What makes a good teacher? According to the New Zealand education researcher John Hattie, who focuses on what happens in the classroom, a good teacher has the following skills: she should see herself as the director, the «activator» of the class, who has her pupils under control and always has an eye on each individual. A good teacher must not waste time on unimportant things. She must quickly recognise when he should react to a disruption with severity and when with humour.
According to Hattie, another influencing factor is «teacher clarity». Pupils need to understand what the good teacher wants from them. Another important point: a good teacher sees her own lessons through the eyes of her pupils. Hattie explains exactly how this works in his second book, which was published in 2011. In «Visible Learning for Teachers», the researcher describes a pedagogy of permanent self-reflection. It starts with attitude. Far too many teachers, criticises Hattie, explain the lack of learning progress with the weaknesses of their pupils: a lack of diligence, the wrong aptitude or a lack of support from their parents. Instead, teachers need to ask themselves what they are doing wrong if their class is not making progress in learning.

A good teacher is not a machine

In my view, a good teacher has the ability to be aware of the entire package of demands from academia, parents, school management, pupils, the canton and the school board without getting lost in it.
How does a good teacher manage this? By paying attention to her resources, nurturing them, taking herself seriously and learning to switch off and recharge her batteries. By seeing her profession as a development process and being aware that it may not be possible to fulfil the catalogue of requirements.

A good teacher struggles to find a balance between external expectations and the realisation that constant pressure does not lead to better performance. Developing a free and independent attitude towards the teaching profession can only be achieved through well-developed self-acceptance.
It is not without reason that one in three primary school teachers is at risk of burnout according to the National Fund study. Teachers work with a large number of people. They are the givers. A good teacher is able to set boundaries and is satisfied with their performance. They are able to feed off their pupils' learning successes and focus on what is going well.

A good teacher asks herself: What are children like today? What do they need? What can they already do? What learning or life tasks does the child currently have to master? What do children need to learn in order to develop into strong, healthy people? How should the school system be so that it becomes a space for development for everyone - pupils, staff and parents?
And if the learning process ever falters, a good teacher has a creative interest in finding out why this might be the case, while at the same time realising that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to almost any situation in life. A good teacher realises that learning is a complex combination of intellectual, emotional, physical and social skills.
A good teacher is not a machine. She is a person who lives and forms multifaceted and deep relationships and can appreciate herself for this. A good teacher can always honestly and wholeheartedly say of herself: «Love is ... being able to practise the teaching profession.»

* For reasons of better readability, we have refrained from using both masculine and feminine forms in this text. All personal designations apply equally to both genders.
Picture: Pixabay

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