The characteristic features of teaching includes the following:
1. It has different levels of teaching.
2. It takes place in a dynamic environment.
3. It is closely related to education, learning, instruction and training.
4. It is essentially an intellectual activity.
5. It is an art as well as science.
6. It tends towards self-organization.
7. It is a social service.
8. It includes lengthy period of study and training.
9. It has high degree of autonomy.
10. It is a continuous process.
11. Teaching is a profession.
Different levels of Teaching
Teaching takes place at three levels progressively, such as memory level of teaching, understanding level of teaching and reflective level of teaching.
Memory level of teaching (mlt)
1. Herbart is the main proponent of memory level of teaching.
2. It is the initial stage of teaching.
3. It induces the habit of rote memorization of facts and bites of information.
4. The teaching–learning process is basically a ‘Stimulus–Response’ (S–R) here.
5. It enables the learner to retain and also to reproduce the learnt material whenever required.
6. The evaluation system mainly includes oral, written and essay-type examination.
7. Good memory includes rapidity in learning, stability of retention, rapidity in recalling and the ability to bring only desirable contents to the conscious level.
Understanding level of teaching (ult)
1. Morrison is the main proponent of understanding level of teaching.
2. It is ‘memory plus insight’ as it goes beyond just memorizing of facts. It focuses on mastery of the subject.
3. It makes pupil understand the generalizations, principles and facts.
4. It provides more and more opportunities for the students to develop ‘intellectual behaviour’.
5. It provides active role for both the pupil and the teacher for the assimilation of facts.
6. The evaluation system mainly includes both essay and objective-type questions.
Reflective level of teaching (rlt)
1. Hunt is the main proponent of reflective level of teaching.
2. It is the highest level of teaching and it includes both ULT and MLT.
3. It is a problem-centric approach of teaching.
4. The students are assumed to adopt some sort of research approach to solve the problem.
5. Classroom environment is to be sufficiently ‘open and independent’. The learners are motivated and active.
6. The aim is to develop the reflective power of learners so that they can solve problems of their lives by reasoning, logic and imagination, and lead successful and happy lives.
7. The pupils occupy the primary place and teachers assume the secondary place.
8. Essay-type test is used for evaluation. Attitude, belief and involvement are also evaluated.
Dynamic environment
Teaching is dominated by communication, which is very dynamic in nature. Teaching changes according to time and place. Its environment consists of interaction among three variables, namely, independent, dependent and intervening variables.
As students depend upon teachers for learning, students are assumed to be dependent variables. Teachers are in a position to manipulate the behaviours of students and hence, teachers are considered as independent variables. Teaching methods, teaching instructional facilities and motivational techniques which also facilitate the teaching–learning process are termed as intervening variables.
In case we want to look at teacher, learner, curriculum, physical conditions (climate), the following scenarios emerge, starting from bipolar to quadrilateral.
1. It is a bipolar process
2. It is a tripolar process
3. It is a quadri polar process
Acccording to the modern concept, education is more of a tripolar process that involves pupil, teacher and social environment.
Closely related to Education, Learning, Instruction and Training
Teaching is basically a method to influence the learning process. Nothing is assumed to be taught unless it is learnt by the students. Thus, learning and teaching go hand in hand. Teaching is the main tool to educate a person.
Intellectual Activity
Teaching is essentially an intellectual activity. It is not merely talking or expressing one’s ideas, whereas it requires conscious and continuous organization of learning activities. It entails the creation of a conductive and supportive learning environment. A teacher has to evolve a suitable plan of action to achieve desired changes in the behaviour of a group of learners. In teaching–learning process, learners constitute the raw material. Learners are prepared to teach in continuous involvements in the society with varied expectations.
Teaching is a Science as well as an Art
The teaching profession is based upon a systematic body of knowledge, which has been derived from social, psychological, historical, political and economical spheres of life. It is also influenced by the religious, spiritual and ethical beliefs of the society.
Teaching techniques are systematic, it has definite steps to be followed, and are easily communicable. On the basis of assumptions of science, a teacher can be trained. There are definite steps that are followed in training a teacher.
Teaching is an art as well. It takes places in a dynamic environment. The teacher has to deal with individual differences in a class in a tactful manner, it needs a lot of individualized approach and discretion.
Self Organization
The people in teaching profession are sensitive towards growth and development because it is self-organized. They evolve a definite mechanism to sustain and promote the standards of teaching profession. The growth in teaching profession is organic in nature, i.e., the growth happens in a spontaneous manner.
Social Service
It has been accepted that education is a potent tool to bring about changes in any nation. It is useful to develop the society.
High Degree of Autonomy
There is a high degree of autonomy in the teaching profession right from curriculum development, planning activities of a year, identifying instructional objectives, deciding upon the method of teaching, media, evaluation criteria and techniques to divide the admission and promotion rules, and autonomy in planning and execution of co-curricular activities.
Teaching as a Profession
Teaching is the profession that makes other professions possible. There are many courses, such as B.Ed, M.Ed, etc., which impart knowledge and skills that establish the foundation for a successful pathway to a teaching career. It entails a number of years of study and intermittent training periods. A teacher has to improve his or her qualification for advancements in the teaching career.
Important Concepts Related to Teaching
Instruction: It is the delivery of contents by the teacher. It does not involve an interaction between the teacher and the learner but it still facilitates the achievement of teaching objectives. Instructions includes both teaching and classroom management.
Teaching and Training: The main purpose of imparting training is to equip candidates with specific or job-related or technical skills. Teaching is assumed to be a wider concept than training. While teaching deals mainly with theoretical aspects and training is the practical application of theoretical knowledge.
Also, teaching seeks to impart new knowledge while training equips and enhances the already knowledgeable concepts with tools and techniques to develop a specific skill set. One of teaching’s goals is to enrich the mind while training’s end is to mould habits or performance.
Teaching is usually within the context of the academic world while training is generally associated with the commercial realm. Another difference is found between thought and action.
Indoctrination: Indoctrination can be termed as the highest order of teaching. In indoctrination, the beliefs and ideas are impressed upon others and can be included in teaching. Teaching can be done without indoctrination but no indoctrination is possible without teaching.
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