The 9 qualities of a good primary school teacher
The teaching profession is of paramount importance, since it helps children grow and provides them with the knowledge and skills that will serve them throughout their lives. The teacher must know the subjects of the school program inside out: French, mathematics, modern languages, science and technology, history and geography, moral and civic lessons, etc. However, the teacher is also the guarantor of certain interpersonal skills of the student, such as self-esteem and a taste for learning. It is therefore a profession that is best pursued for the purpose of transmission and for which it is necessary to have cultivated certain skills. The 9 main qualities of a primary school teacher are:
Mastery of what we teach . This is a sine qua non quality of teaching: to transmit knowledge, you must already have acquired this knowledge.
Passion for what we teach or passion for teaching. This is not a quality given to everyone, but when you transmit it with passion, learners are easily receptive.
The sense of listening . Listening to your students allows you to understand how each student works and to defuse situations in which they have difficulty understanding the lesson being taught to them. In addition, it is a quality which makes it possible, for example, to help a student who has dropped out of school , or who is having great difficulties.
Empathy is a necessary quality for anyone who works in contact with or in the service of other people.
Adaptability plays an important role when working with children. Adapting means putting yourself at the student’s level, but it also means finding solutions or implementing tools according to their profiles. A teacher may have students in their class with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) or another learning disorder for whom great adaptability will be required.
Be a good communicator. A teacher is systematically in contact with the children, but also with their parents, and with a teaching team through which you must know how to defend your positions with conviction and diplomacy. This is why caring communication is essential.
Patience is an essential quality if you don’t want to lose your sanity in the process. As a teacher, you must know how to accept that not all learning will be a linear, smooth curve for your little learners. In fact, some learning can take time, patience will surely be your best ally.
Motivation. In addition to patience, maintaining unwavering motivation and confidence in students’ abilities are the keys to becoming a memorable teacher!
Enthusiasm, again and again. A teacher’s enthusiasm is a motivating factor for students. This is what will make them want to surpass themselves.
What skills are required to become a teacher?
The training to become a teacher lasts 5 years, it instills all the subjects to know in order to be able to transmit them to students. During this training, teachers also learn certain knowledge essential to their profession, such as how learning works in children. Once the teacher takes up his position, he implicitly undertakes to transmit to the child the values of the Republic and to respect the fundamental principles of the education system, within the regulatory framework of the school.
The teacher then undertakes to serve the success of all students. According to the Ministry of National Education, in the classroom, the teacher’s skills are:
Master the use of digital technology necessary for the exercise of your profession
In addition to his work within the class, the teacher must have skills relating to the exercise of his function within a teaching team. He must know:
What is a good teacher?
From the Latin profesore “one who professes to”, itself derived from profiteri “to declare openly, to teach”. The teacher is therefore the one who transmits knowledge, who dispenses knowledge. The good teacher understands that the instruction he gives to the students will be decisive for their future. He will therefore care about their learning, but also about their development on a human level.
