What teachers need to know and be able to do: A view from teachers, students, and principals in the Brazilian context.

Natalia P Montoya,Irineu Loturco,Lucas A Pereira,César C C Abad,Lia C O B Glaz,Marina Della Giusta

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0238990

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the main characteristics of a “good teacher” through the use of questionnaires designed to assess teaching skills and competences, considering the point of view of teachers, principals, and students. In total, 82 teachers, 14 principals, and 625 middle-school students from 5 public schools in São Paulo state participated in this study. Two questionnaires were applied, one designed for teachers and principals and the other for students. First, teachers and principals completed their specific questionnaire, after which the other questionnaire was applied to the students. Both questionnaires contained multiple choice questions related to eight distinct subsections. The questions were answered through the use of a Likert scale, varying from 1 (“totally disagree”) to 5 (“totally agree”). The comparisons of the frequency of responses among all questionnaire subsections between teachers and principals were analyzed using a Chi-Square and the z-test, with P-values adjusted to the Bonferroni method. The statistical significance level was set as P < 0.05. The subsection “class atmosphere” presented the highest percentage of response “totally agree”, closely followed by “professional engagement”. Significant differences (P < 0.05) in responses were observed between teachers and principals for “teaching planning and practice”, “use of time and material resources to develop classes”, and “professional engagement” domains. In summary, it was demonstrated that some teaching characteristics might be more important than others, with some of these characteristics exhibiting significant differences between groups. Nevertheless, it is crucial to emphasize that all assessed educational domains may be recognized as critical teaching qualities, as all of them presented high levels of “totally agree” responses.

Highlights

IntroductionNumerous studies have suggested that successful teachers play a vital role in human capital formation and development [4], and revealed that countries with a high level of human capital are more likely to present faster and steadier economic growth [3, 5, 6]
Significant differences (P< 0.05) in the distribution of responses were observed between principals and teachers for the “teaching planning and practice”, “efficient use of time and material resources to develop classes”, and “professional engagement” domains
The main results reported here are that the frequencies of responses for the following domains of teaching qualities: “teaching planning and practice”, “efficient use of time and material resources during classes”, and “professional engagement” presented significant differences between the compared groups

Summary

Introduction

Numerous studies have suggested that successful teachers play a vital role in human capital formation and development [4], and revealed that countries with a high level of human capital are more likely to present faster and steadier economic growth [3, 5, 6] This phenomenon is highly impacted by the effectiveness of learning processes and quality of the educational systems of these respective countries [6, 7]. In this context, in a large number of developing countries, a framework of policies has been developed in recent decades to provide access to basic education for all children as a response to an international commitment to education for all, leading to 91% of children being enrolled in schools, according to the United Nations Development Program (2015) [8]. As human capital development is intrinsically linked to learning, it is crucial to more comprehensively understand the characteristics able to impact education quality [6, 12]

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Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion