THE BEST TEACHER IN THE WORLD Introducing the idea of who is the best teacher throughout history. Perhaps we could include Christ, Buddha or Mohamad as at least the most influencial teachers of our communities. I'm sure that somewhere out there in some other galaxy there are other teachers that are good at their work because of qualities like mind reading and emotive transference. Teachers like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates were perhaps the best philosophers of antiquity. However is the best teacher in the world today a philosopher? Recent research has indicated that good teaching-measured by improvements in exam scores- has almost no relationship with teacher experience, qualifications or any of the criteria currently used by most schools to hire or reward teachers. Instead, the best teachers appear to be good at their jobs because of innate factors like personal drive, curiosity and ability to relate to students. When people like Christ or Plato sat down with their students they were not compromised by interactive media to compete with. Sometimes I concure that to teach childcare we would be better served if we dressed like a clown and performed magic tricks to gain and maintain the attention of our bright sparks. People like Darwin, Newton, Leonardo and Einstein are worthwhile to be considered as history's greatest thinkers. However thinker's and teachers may not be absolute co-relaters. With all the problems involved in identifying the best teacher in the world, we are currently asking people to look at how we are going to do measure and reward those involved. Sponsorship is certainly a worthwhile objective to attain. It is hoped that the teaching profession and the various departments become involved. |