How hard is it?

In the UK in the 1970s, the then Tory Government thought it wasn't, when they ‘invited' married women (with a couple of kids experience of course) to become primary school teachers.

One of the ‘problems' with education is that everyone has experience of it. (In the developed world that is.) A skilled and experienced teacher can make it all seem very easy. The students in the class certainly gain that impression. So many people leave school with the impression that teaching is a doddle (very easy to do).

I have recently had to mentor several new teachers at my school, who have very little teaching experience. The following areas of weakness are common to them all:

1. Going into too much detail

New teachers feel that they have to give very comprehensive information about each topic. Instead of spending about 10 minutes on that topic, they spend 30 minutes or more, which leads onto the second point

2. Not breaking their lesson material down into smaller portions

The collective attention span of the average class is about 10 minutes. After this time they begin to get restless. So new teachers should organise their material into 10 minute slots, allowing for about 10 - 15 minutes of student centred activity.

3. Lesson material is unsuitable for the general ability level of the class

This is a very common mistake, caused by a lack of experience. Unless the teacher has a suitable textbook, or has assembled a set of appropriate questions, the class will begin to become unsettled as students begin to ask each other, or individually ask the teacher, how to solve various questions. This can quickly descend into a chaotic situation.

4. Time management and general pace of the lesson

Quite often a new teacher's time management skills are very weak (some more experienced organisationally challenged teachers also have this problem). They will often over run at the end of a lesson. Generally the pace of their lesson is slow, as this ties in with the first point, of going into too much detail.

5. Question and answer technique

New teachers tend to ask open ended questions, where students are not sure what the required answer is. The opposite to this is questions which require a simple yes or no. I have observed a few lessons where students have taken control away from the teacher by beginning to shout out answers (often silly ones in order to amuse the rest of the class). Effective question and answer technique does require some preparation before the lesson.

Of course there are many more skills and techniques that are required to make an effective teacher. Teaching is a very complex management task.

Is there a natural born capable teacher?

Can you walk in off the street and begin to teach effectively?

I don't think so in both cases. I believe it takes at least 5 years of teaching, with mentoring and constant self assessment to make it all begin to look effortless.