An investigation into the perceived effectiveness of primary teachers : skilled performance, purposeful communication, culturally responsive, utilising reflection and democratic leadership

• Main Author: Tether, Katie Louise
• Published: University of East Anglia 2010
• Subjects: 370.71
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.569328

This research aims to contribute to the debate surrounding perceived beliefs concerning effective teaching, within a primary school setting. The research questions gathered perceptions of teachers, leaders, parents and children on the impact of: planning and teaching on pupils’ academic development; teacher behaviour on the learning environment and Headteacher effectiveness on teacher effectiveness. This study was undertaken in a two-form primary school in Hertfordshire. The data included: nonparticipant observations, follow-up semi-structured interviews, focussed group discussions, individual pupil interviews and parental questionnaires. The data revealed that developing as an effective teacher relies on being an effective planner and practitioner, achieved through inter-linked professional and personal behaviours. Effective teachers are perceived to be ‘skilled performers’ and ‘purposeful communicators’, use reflection to aid professional development and are ‘culturally responsive’. To enhance effectiveness as a skilled performer, teachers should utilise their subject and pedagogical knowledge to plan for and teach well-paced and challenging activities. To develop as a reflective teacher, their experiences must lead to change. To be more culturally responsive, teachers should have high, yet realistic, expectations of children. To develop as a purposeful communicator, teachers need to utilise visual communication as a prompt to remind children of objectives. Honesty and sharing more information regarding subject and pedagogical knowledge is needed to generate more effective teacher-to-teacher communication. Teachers need to generate more opportunities to discuss children informally with their parents. Effective Headteachers are committed to developing teachers professionally through having high expectations and standards of everyone in the school community. They communicate these through a continuous dialogue and enforce them through a fair, consistent and respected behavioural policy. To be more effective they should refrain from an ‘autocratic’ style and adopt a ‘democratic’ style, involving greater leadership-to-teacher communication, incorporating valuing and sharing ideas, being open to new suggestions and explaining protocol .