The Impact of Teacher Characteristics on Student Performance

Abstract

It is not surprising that research on teacher competencies and student performance has revealed that the teacher quality can be related to student performance (Wayne & Yong 2003).This article registers an argument that unless the education systems worldwide begin to commit to capacity building of teachers with a view to develop a ‘whole teacher’, the remarkable objectives of having sustainable development will remain an absolute nightmare. The paper argues that there is a strong affiliation amongst teacher characteristics and learners academic performance. As such, in order for any nation to be seen to be having a relevant and quality education, its education system should be seen to be investing heavily in teacher professional development. Utilizing the conceptual approach to research, this study investigated into the phenomenon of teacher characteristics along aside learners’ academic performance. As such, the purpose of this paper is to intrinsically investigate the impact of teacher characteristics and how these affect learners’ academic performance with a view to mainly come up with feasible strategies that could be used to improve the teaching practice. Vital Professional characteristics revealed by this study include skills such as subject knowledge, instructional delivery, classroom controlling, assessment and professional association for growth. The study ends by recommending to policy makers to commit to continuous professional development of teachers.