Module 1

Unit 1: The Teacher and the Child

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

• define who a teacher is and explain what he does?

• explain how education is child-centred.

• define and explain the concept of teaching.

• state and explain the responsibilities of a teachers.

• state seven factors responsible for teacher poor image.

• explain how children learn and factors affecting learning.

 The Teacher and the Child :
• a teacher is a person who has undergone approved professional training in education at
a College of Education or Faculty of Education in a University, University of education.

• teaching can be defined as a systematic process of transmitting knowledge, attitudes

and skills in accordance with professional principles.

• The child is like a young plant which needs proper growth, nurturing, shaping and
pruning, while the teacher, is like a gardener who understands the plants, some require
bending, some straightening and others pruning.

• For successful teaching/learning processes, the teacher is required to understand

thoroughly the child and the subject matter which must be considered and chosen
according to the child’s state and standard.
Continue….
• Since the child is the subject of education, the teacher should be able to guide him
successfully to become an achiever in life.

• The teacher is trained in both the theory and practice of education.

• He is very important through his influence, his character and his example. The child is
his responsibility.

• He must be patient and be fond of the child. The teacher needs perseverance, high
ideals and a desire to give time, energy, thought and cares to his work.

• He must have the power of imparting knowledge and should master the knowledge to
impart.
 The Duties of a Professional Teacher
• The duties of a teacher are the assigned responsibilities that a teacher must perform
at one time or the other. In teaching and learning processes, they perform
numerous roles.

1- teacher must know how to motivate or encourage the student to learn.

2- A teacher must create a conducive atmosphere in the class and have good
human relationships with the students and his colleagues.

3- The teacher serves as a model, a person to be emulated.

4- The teacher as a dispenser of knowledge must be well enriched, a resource

person who can help students acquire the knowledge they seek.
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Some of the duties of a teacher are enumerated below:
• The teacher must be capable of promoting the moral, social and cultural heritage of the
community which he serves.
• The teacher must be prepared to learn all the time.
• teacher must have positive influence on the student and should inspire the students under his
care to learn.
• He must be competent and have professional qualification. He must be sensitive to changes in his
field and be capable of innovation.
• The teacher must be able to communicate effectively and be able to give a clear, simple and
logical lesson.
• He must be capable of meeting emotional, physical, intellectual and social needs of the student.
Continue ………
• He should be capable of helping students to develop attitudes, morals, and norms that
promote the unity and solidarity of the nation.

• The teacher should be able to help the students develop critical thinking and scientific
attitudes to life.

• The teacher must be able to cater for the students’ individual differences in learning and
wage war against mediocrity.

• A teacher should be able to evaluate his own performance and also the performance of
his students.

• Teachers in the early era were respected because they were diligent and morally upright.
 Self Assessment:
• From the duties of a professional teacher that has been
stated, outline five that make you feel comfortable to be a
teacher.
 Factors Responsible for Teachers’ Poor Image (Low Status)

Many factors are responsible for the low status of teachers. Some of these
factors are:
• There is a lack of recognition of teachers by the various governments unlike
other professions such as medicine and law.
• Several teachers are not professionally trained.
• Some teachers perform very poorly.
• Many use teaching as a stepping stone to other jobs.
• The level of professional training and intensity of professional preparation
cannot be compared with what operates in other professions like medicine,
law, engineering etc.
• There is lack of self-esteem and dignity of labor on the part of many teachers.
• The effects of teachers’ efforts are not felt immediately like doctors who treat
patients and they get healed or lawyers that handle cases a win.
 Self Assessment:
• Outline five factors responsible for teachers poor image
in Somaliland context.
 How Children Learn
• Having discussed the duties of a teacher at length, it will be interesting for us
to know how a child learns.

• According to Adeyemo (1985), education should be child-centred and if any

good teacher wants to teach a child anything, he must bear in mind that he
has a three way traffic before him

1- he should know himself.

2- he should know the subject matter well and above all.

3- he should know the child he is going to teach.

Continue ………..
• Children learn more readily when there is something they see, feel, taste,
touch and/or smell (i.e.) when teaching appeals to their senses.
• Children learn when they can handle concrete objects rather than abstract
ideals. This is why it is very important that you make use of teaching aids,
illustrations and blackboard summaries while teaching. Children learn
more when play is mixes with their learning activities.
• Children learn, when you punctuate all oral lessons with short periods of
activities.
• If children pay attention in class, they are alert, they listen, watch, think
and ask questions that may agitate their minds, this shows that they are
learning.
• Teachers should make it a point of duty to ask students from time to time
to know what they have gained so far during the process of teaching.
FACTORS AFFECTING
LEARNING
 1.INDIVIDUAL
VARIABLE

FACTORS AFFECTING
LEARNING 2.TASK VARIABLE

3.METHOD
VARIABLE
1.
INDIVIDUAL VARIABLE
A) MATURATION
Maturation refers to the unfolding of biologically
inherited potentialities as a function of time.
B) READINESS TO LEARN
Learning readiness is the capacity and
willingness to learn.
C) AGE
A progressive improvement occurs in learning
with increase in age.
D) SEX
Sex difference has been noticed in learning
of certain abilities.
E) PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Successful previous experience is a motivational
force to consequent performance.
F) MENTAL ABILITIES
Learning of a task necessarily depends upon
the learners mental ability.
G) PHYSICAL HANDICAPS
The defects of vision,hearing,speech etc.
2.
TASK VARIABLE
A) LENGTH OF THE TASK
If length of the learning material
exceeds the memory span of the learner, the time
taken to learn will be more.
B) DIFFICULTY OF THE TASK
Difficult tasks take more time to learn.
C) MEANINGFULNESS OF THE TASK
It is easier to learn and retain a
meaningful material than a meaningless one.
3.
METHOD VARIABLES
A) METHOD OF LEARNING
Learning success depends upon
whether the learner is adopting the whole
method or part method.
B) AMOUNT OF PRACTICE
Retention increases with practice.
C) NATURE OF SENSORY APPROACH
Senses are the gate - ways of
knowledge.
 SUMMARY
The following are the major highlights of what you must have learnt in this unit.
• The teacher is a Gardner, who has to undergo an approved professional
training for successful teaching, and the child is his responsibility.
• The child is like a young plant that needs proper nurturing for growth.
• The professional responsibilities of the teacher are the duties the teacher
must perform to enhance the teaching profession.
• A teacher must know himself, know the subject matter and know the child.
• Children learn when teaching appeals to all their senses, when they handle
concrete objects and when lessons are punctuated with periods of activities.
• On the whole, good teaching will bring about good learning.
• There are many factors affecting learning such as previous experience,
intellectual capacity, interest, reading physical defects and environmental
factor like the home, school and community.