Secondary school teacher characteristics as perceived by principals, teachers and students in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Personality characteristics contributing to effective teaching has been a subject ol considerable research during the last few decades. These studies have taken several forms. Certain investigators have attempted to determine characteristics related to effective teaching, by seeking to correlate various measures of teaching efficiency with assessments of various teacher personality characteristics (Singer 1978, Coulter 1978, Witkin 1977, Saracho and Spodeck 1981, Richter and Tjosvold 1980, Aspy 1972, Sheppard 1978, Barr 1948, Ryans 1952, 1959, 1961). There have also been attempts by some investigators to identify characteristics of effective teachers under experimental and observational situations Delamont (1978).

Besides these correlational and experimental studies, there have been several investigations of the teacher's self-perceptions and perceptions of others with reference to personal pre-requisites of effective teaching (Symonds 1955, Taylor 1962, Brown 1966, Delamont 1978, Barr 1961, Gallup 1976. Chaikin 1978, McKeachie 1980). Referring to the significance of teacher characteristic perception studies, Barr (1961) claimed that, "it is not enough to know merely what is, but it is equally important that we know what people think is".

The present investigation was a teacher characteristic perception study, the first of its kind to be undertaken in Sri Lanka. It was concerned with characteristics or traits perceived by principals, teachers and students to be desirable for secondary school teachers. Its specific objectives were to determine the relative and absolute importance of each of 25 selected teacher traits as perceived by Secondary School Principals, Teachers and Students and to discover consensus within and aeorss the groups of subjects regarding their perceptions.