Excellent teachers: exploring constructions of teaching.

Abstract

This study is a qualitative project. Its findings are grounded in the professional experience of secondary teachers acknowledged and recommended by their principals as excellent teachers. A cohort of twenty teachers was identified by the principals of four Catholic secondary schools in suburban Perth. These teachers have been part of a study that has involved within-class observation and four separate in-depth, semi-structured interviews spread over two years. The teachers varied in age, experience and teaching subject while their schools were situated in suburbs across the spectrum of socio-economic status. Each interviewee has addressed a number of topics that have centred around the person's self perception of their role, function within the school, abilities and talents that have been developed to this stage of their career. Issues of personal failure, challenges to personal and professional development, the central core or 'heart' of being a professional teacher in today's secondary education system, and their stance towards current and anticipated demands of the evolving education system have also been explored. While the accounts are interesting as personal stories of teachers, the unanimity of the constructions of teaching role and personal responses to the dally challenges of the profession is striking. Furthermore, the perspectives offered by these experienced teachers of schooling, education, teachers and students are remarkable in their optimism, belief in the future of education and high levels of personal commitment.

Introduction

Who are the excellent teachers, and what do they look like? This paper is going to address part of that question. Specifically, this empirical report is based on self reported data, from teachers who have been identified as "Excellent Teachers". While all such teachers might not be excellent in terms of prizes for teaching and learning, they were selected by relatively knowledgeable, independent and experienced arbiters. Hence, it is hoped that this group may be informative of teachers who are very good practitioners of teaching and learning, within the secondary school structure, to inform a discussion of the nature and development of excellence in teaching.

Method

It is clear that to research 'Excellent Teachers', we need to find some teachers who are excellent. The hard bit comes when one tries to define excellence! Is it about process or outcomes; objective measures or self-reporting; on whose standards and in what circumstances? (Wragg, Haynes, Wragg, Chamberlin 2000, pp.5-10). Does 'excellent' relate to being extraordinarily effective, whatever that means, within the every day, or successful in the extra-ordinary situations? In an attempt around this gorgon's knot, and to avoid the technical complexities of measuring excellent teaching (White 1991), a different tack was taken. In May 1999, the principals of four Catholic systemic secondary schools were asked to nominate those of their teachers they thought to be 'Excellent Teachers' (Gudmundsdottir 1990). When asked 'What do you mean by "Excellent"?' the reply was that the principals themselves were the ones who knew. It was presumed they gathered all sorts of information from parents, other staff, students, their own observations, end of term reports, and a thousand daily encounters to judge which of their staff they could nominate as "Excellent". If asked to give some idea of number, principals were told that a large school might have as many as half a dozen excellent teachers.

These four secondary high school principals nominated nineteen teachers who were individually approached and invited to become a participant. Every one of these teachers accepted this invitation and became part of the cohort that remained intact over two school years.

Sample

The nineteen teachers who were selected and agreed to participate represent the diversity of among secondary teachers. There were nine women and ten men, teaching for as long as 39 years or as briefly as 5 years. Five teachers had less than 5 years experience, and eight had more than twenty one years experience. Of these nineteen teachers, there were three teachers of mathematics, six of science, three of English, four of geography and humanities, one ESL and one history teacher. Clearly, there are more science teachers than might be expected from a random sample. But this sample is a purposive sample (Cohen and Manion 1994, pp.89-90), selected to be maximally informative of a particular group, excellent teachers.

Data Collection

Data collection started in Term 3, 1999 and concluded in Term 2 2000, with a face to face in-depth interview each school term. Each interview time was negotiated to be mutually convenient, conducted in a private room in the participant's school. Each semi-structured interview was conducted with questions unseen by the participant and the interview focused on a range of issues, in general similar to most participants but sensitive to the prior conversations of each and focusing on their story as a developing professional teacher (Rubin and Rubin 1995 pp122-138). The interviews were taped, with explicit permission of the participants at each interview, transcribed and input to QSR NVivo, a qualitative software tool. Field memos were taken and kept in note form and a research diary was maintained over the period of the data collection and analysis--which is not yet complete. In order to maintain confidentiality, the participants were asked to choose a name by which they would be known within the research.

Working with the Data

The transcripts of the interviews, field notes and research diary are the data of this project. The interviews were taken to be the informed self rationalisation of these teachers, not necessarily the 'truth' but the honest reflections of their perceptions, thoughts and feelings at the time of the interview. No attempt was made to validate, in the sense of checking for accuracy, from one interview to another, although there was reference back to significant ideas and statements to further explore particular areas. Quotations that appear in this text are meant to be indicative of the perception or view point of the person at the time and in that sense are representative. Selection of these quotations has been sensitive to context and surrounding conversation (Rubin and Rubin 1995, pp.226-242).

Findings

The first expression from this sample of teachers is a realistic humility. They report a clear sense of their own limitations.

   What do I do well? I'm organised. I'm pretty well organised. I
   have the stuff for the kids. I do a lot of background reading so if
   the kids throw questions at me I'm able to reasonably well answer
   them. Honestly, truly, this is crazy because I really don't know--I
   don't know why I've been put down as an excellent teacher because I
   just do it. Is it just classroom staff you want to know about?
   (Alice)

While Alice might be read from an egalitarian stance, she is making a claim of competence in the mechanics of teaching: organisation; adequate knowledge of the content; and being responsive to student interactions, she is also suggesting that she does not see why those aspects necessarily are claims to excellence. Louis also plays down the term excellent, but adds what he considers an important part of being a teacher.

   I haven't forgotten what I was like as a 12, 13 or 14 year old,
   which makes me tend to be fairly forgiving of kids. I think that's
   absolutely fundamental. I haven't lost my sense of humour. (Louis) I
   don't think, and never have done, that I'm terribly fantastic. I
   think I get the job done. I suppose when I look around and hear
   things, I think, "I can't be doing too bad a job." I don't think
   it's for me to say I'm an excellent teacher or that I'm a very good
   teacher; I think that only comes from others who see you or from the
   kids really. (Ruby)

Allied to this modest sense of their own abilities, is a strong sense of the talents of others. It is clear that " if you're talking about excellent teachers, an excellent teacher also recognises other excellent teachers" (Brady).

How do they talk about themselves

These teachers see themselves as fully a part of the teaching profession, not apart nor above colleagues and peers.

   What makes an excellent teacher or excellence in teaching? There are
   probably some practical things like, I've always tried to get things
   done quickly and not leave them until the last minute. I've always
   thought that was an organisational thing. If there is a deadline, I
   usually get things done well beforehand, get them done and out of
   the road. Sometimes that may have meant a bit of a rush job but my
   priority was to get the thing done so it wasn't hanging over my head.
   (Chris)

Teaching has a strong dose of idealism, and these teachers aspire to outcomes well beyond the narrow interpretations of subjects.

   But you also want the kids to come out--in these subject areas, once
   again--not just knowing how to write an essay, not just knowing how
   to pass an exam--I told you I'm idealistic. You want them to know a
   bit more about the world and a bit more about life as well and to
   think a bit more for themselves. (Alice)

Boetius has a strong sense of being a learner, and this is part of what excellence means: not only to be a learner himself but to remember his own trials as a learner and at the same time to learn from his younger colleagues.

   This old dog has learned a lot of new tricks, I can tell you. My
   mind is not dead yet. I've learned a lot of new tricks and it has
   been my younger colleagues I've learned them from. (Boetius)

These teachers clearly aspire to a holistic measure of their own success. As Boetius continues to unwrap a sense of success as a teacher:

   To me measurement of success is when the kids grow through what
   you've taught them and more particularly the skills and methods and
   the inquisitiveness that you've taught them. (Boetius)

How did they become excellent

Of these teachers, most entered teaching directly from undergraduate studies. The majority of teachers expressed a strong desire to 'do good' initially attracted them to teaching.

   I started out and was motivated by a sense of idealism, as I think a
   lot of teachers are, in my generation particularly--that I was going
   to make this a better world, that I was going to change people's
   lives and all the rest of it. It's taken a long time to realise that
   only people can change their own lives and that if I'm going to
   change the world, I have to change myself. (Louis)

Some had initially explored other professions, some have had time out for parenting or exploring other jobs or even because of the demands of teaching. Not all started with a sense that teaching was to be their vocation. Some of these teachers started because it was convenient or from a lack of other options. Not all these teachers see themselves as 'academic' or even intellectually strong. The majority emphasise their experiences as learners rather than the extent of their knowledge.

   I like my subject area: I do like teaching maths. I'm not all that
   bright so it's also a challenge for me. This year, even after 30
   years, I'm teaching vectors for the first time. I haven't got a
   bloody clue. So I'm literally back to the night before or the week
   before or the month before, learning this stuff that I haven't done
   for years, knowing that I've then got to help other students learn
   this stuff. That energises me a lot. Having myself to grapple with
   the content keeps me right at the coalface of where the kids are at.
   Because they're grappling with it too? (Chris)

A strong sense of concern for the student who battles or finds the subject difficult rather than the student who finds the work easy or scores the highest grades. Clearly, many teachers speak of building upon their previous experiences and an accumulation of skills, resources and knowledge. This taps into their common expression of being organised, being competent within one's subject, having a clear sense of what needs to be done and how to do it.

   I guess it just reflects now on everything I do. Like I know in the
   classroom that I can cope with anything; I can probably give things
   a go and it doesn't matter so much if it doesn't work out. It's just
   given me confidence really. So maybe this excellent teacher thing--I
   think maybe three, four or five years ago I don't think I would have
   been perceived--I don't think I would have perceived myself or others
   would have seen me in that way. (Ruby)

Not one of these teachers voiced an opinion that their present levels of skill in the classroom were other than hard won. Ruby expresses the view that only recently has she felt on top of her profession and she has been teaching for 9 years. The gradual development of the necessary skills of managing classrooms was reported by most. Each of these teachers acknowledged that the mechanics of the classroom were important.

   I would say that if you wish to be an educator, your classroom
   practices and management are only part of the whole gamut, the whole
   procedure. They are an integral part of it but obviously you give
   far more into other areas.... There's a lot more to it than that.
   There's a duty of care, looking after kids, looking after their
   wellbeing--all of these types of things--and also looking more and
   more at how the kids develop, mentally, physically and emotionally.
   There's a lot more.... Classroom practices have to come first, but
   after that it's a far deeper profession and a far deeper issue than
   a lot of people would imagine. (David)

It is to this 'far deeper issue' that I want to turn.

A Unanimous Expression

There was one expression in which these teachers were unanimous. Of the 19 participants, 17 explicitly made this assertion their first criterion, while two offered it either second or third to the question:

   'What makes an excellent teacher?' "I love my job as a teacher"
   (Kathleen).

While this might be a usual comment, it reveals a deeper engagement that characterises all these teachers.

   I think the relationship of love basically--I know it sounds corny
   in academic circles. I think love--I really do. I treat them like my
   own son and daughter. I care about them. (Paul) What motivates me is
   the students, I think, because I really love them. I just enjoy
   their personalities.... and even the brash, naughty ones I really
   like. I very rarely have a kid in my class I don't like. Kids can
   sometimes drive you crazy, but I can usually get an understanding of
   where they're coming from and why that is so, and try to understand
   what makes them. (Sarah)

This affection does not blind them to the tough parts of the job, and even the unrewarding aspects of teaching.

   Yes, loving the fact--the job can be depressing, so it's important
   to--I do it because I love my kids. I put up with the negative
   aspects because I love the kids and l want what's best for them and
   what they want. I think it's really important for that. It's not
   something you could write down, to say, "Here's how you love your
   students." I would probably value that above pretty much anything
   else. For me the thing that I treasure about my job is my
   kids--them. (Shirley)

Personal and Professional Challenges

Not surprisingly, there are two concerns that irritate teachers. These two issues are salary and the day to day stress of dealing with students, 'administrivia' and staying positive and balanced.

   I'm having a bad day! But I do think that there's no reward for
   being excellent, there's no reward, there's nothing. There's no more
   money. (Emma) Why am I caring about this kid? Yes. I find that
   really hard to articulate because I do, I just care about them
   you know. I don't think there's any kid--let's put it this way.
   There are very few kids in my teaching career that I've really
   washed my hands of. I don't know. l just think, that's my job but
   it's more than that. There's something in my personality--must be.
   Sometimes you think, "Why should I care?" (Alice)

Alice introduces that positive tone of keeping on and being committedly positive to the students, no matter what. Scott states it strongly, if he thought that he was not a positive influence he would move. This is an internal judgement, Scott notes that there are few rewards, and requires an ability to balance the other, job-related, issues for the good of the students.

   I've always stated that the day I don't feel that I make a
   difference will be the day I leave. Because there are no
   thankyous--or very few. (Scott) The kids I love and I don't have a
   problem with that. Some of the egos I think within the school--I'd
   like to be more tolerant of that, I suppose. (Ruby)

It is reasonable to ask: "Why do these people stay?" Part of it is explained by the teachers as being part of their personality (cf Alice, above), but there are stronger elements. Paul summarises the belief for these teachers.

   I think I come alive when I'm in the classroom, it gives me amazing
   energy. Oh yes, it's been good to me the profession and the actual
   work has been very healthy for me. Yes, wellbeing; spiritually
   nourishing; emotionally, intellectually--not economically, not at
   all. It is a term I haven't heard a lot applied to teaching but it's
   appropriate, isn't it? It is one of the caring professions. (Paul)

For Paul, the issue is bigger than personality--it taps into who he is and his commitments. Teaching is not only energising but life-giving: wellbeing, nourishing him emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. Paul identifies one of the joys of teaching: that teaching is life giving for both the teacher and the students, and can be so only because it is so mutual. Paul is not alone in this exact summation, several teachers used the same expression.

Teaching gives me life, you know. (Lyn)

Discussion

There are a number of threads that can be explored within these interviews with teachers identified by their principals as excellent. It might be helpful to first identify that which was not said. These teachers did not refer to a number of aspects that the naive observer might see as important for good teaching. Firstly, expert subject knowledge, or even good subject knowledge was not mentioned. Might it be that their experience as learners (cf Boetius and Ruby) suggest that knowledge can be acquired as needed? A strong sense of classroom discipline was another omission--might the focus on the student in a holistic sense (David), a forgiving attitude (Louis and Alice) replace concerns about classroom control? Teachers did not talk about their IT skills or how skilled they were in terms of curriculum planning and implementation. They did not speak about innovations of classroom practice or extra curricula involvements. It is not suggested that these teachers are not skilled in curriculum nor that they that they are inactive in extra curricula activities [because many are so committed], but they did no perceive these skills being central to the issues of excellence.

Towards an Understanding of Excellence

From discussions with these teachers, what can be said about how they sketched excellence in teaching? Within this discussion, it should be emphasised that excellence is constructed by these teachers as developmental (Ruby). In essence, these teachers listed four main characteristics of the excellent teacher. The first characteristic is being organised and having the details of the classroom under control (Alice and Ruby) There is a clear sense of getting done what needs to be done and meeting deadlines (Chris). This is likely to accord with these teachers' selection by the principals--they do get the administrative tasks done on time. So there may be a sense of mutual reinforcement with the means of their selection for the sample of this study.

The second characteristic common to the teachers was a commitment to the whole person. This commitment recognises the need for their own personal growth and awareness of their own journey (Louis and Chris). David makes it clear that it is the student one is teaching, not a particular subject, and there must to be a holistic understanding of the needs of the students. Humour is a vital part (Louis) as well as an ability to overlook the smaller issues in favour of the more important--the students (Ruby). If anything, this focus on the student favours the less able rather than the gifted (Scott), the needy and naughty rather than the best behaved (Sarah), as part of the teacher's personal preference (Alice).

The third attribute identified by these teachers is the most central: an excellent teacher loves his or her students (Sarah, Paul, Alice, Shirley and Elisha). This is their clearest statement: excellent teachers love their students. In some of these conversations the interviewer challenged "Do you mean that you want to like them (the students)?" in each case the emphatic response was 'NO!, you must love them'. These teachers see that this affective bond, which for some mirrors that of parent to child (Paul), and is basic to their understanding of how they relate to their students. Not only was this expression unanimous among the teachers interviewed, it was also the strongest expression. This force indicates that the teachers' own understanding of themselves in relation to their students requires that they act for their benefit, beyond the notion of 'service' to that of 'care' (Paul). One might suspect that the over-use of the term 'service industry' has eroded the meaning of service. Maybe 'care' encapsulates this affective commitment of excellent teachers to their students.

The last characteristic of these teachers was a personal commitment to their students They expressed a sense of wonder (Elisha and Felicity) and gratitude (Shirley and Linc). What is worthy of note is the consequence of this commitment:--energy. Paul and Lyn speak about teaching being life giving, of coming alive in the classroom, of teaching being so energising (Sarah). This life-giving sense comes at the same time as recognising the difficulties of teaching: low pay and constant work with demanding adolescents mentioned by Sarah, Emma, Alice and Louis (Robertson, 1996). It is useful to remember that the bulk of these interviews were conducted towards the end of school term 3 when teachers are tired and looking forward to a rest. Yet they speak of their commitment energising them (Wideen, Mayer-Smith and Moon, 1996). Might it be that this sense of the classroom energising, in a deep and personal sense rather than a surface mood, be one hallmark of the excellent teacher? Excellent teachers are motivated and energised by their students, they love them as individuals and this affective commitment moves them to act for their benefit.

All these teachers were employed in Catholic secondary schools. It could be wondered whether these teachers were influenced by this milieu or representing a 'party line'. It is not evident to the author that a party line was the case. Nearly half of these teachers had taught in non Catholic schools and made the comment, prior to the audio taped interview, that many excellent teachers taught in other schools. No sense of 'them' and 'us' was heard, nor was there expressed a sense that values and excellence were more readily identified in one sector than another. Hence, it is considered reasonable to hear these comments as reasoned expressions of the teachers' honest opinions.

These reflections of excellent teaching are not new. "Good teaching comes from the heart" claims Kraft (2000), and Hansen (1995, pp.137-161) argues for a renewed sense of vocation for all teachers as a fundamental shift towards excellence. These four attributes can be aptly summarised as a strikingly positive perspective of secondary education. This positive view is not based on salaries, conditions or advancement. It is grounded in a sense of commitment to young people, holding in balance a realistic appreciation of personal abilities, and a determination that through personal effort these teachers can make a contribution.

Developing Excellent Teachers

It may be useful to ask what this study can tell us about how to encourage the development of excellent teachers. Firstly, there is no suggestion that the daily skills of teaching, classroom management and subject knowledge are not important. This paper suggests that these matters are foundational, but that more than technical competence is required for excellence. The four characteristics that these teachers identified relate to personal attributes of each teacher (Banner and Cannon 1997, p.2). Professional development for curriculum, IT and other matters are important. Might it also be important to foster the spirit of teachers, give them a chance to develop affective skills with their students, point beyond the immediate concerns of the classroom to the holistic aims that teachers, schools and parents have for students. The messages sent by school management to younger staff might be clarified to better distinguish what is most valued by principals. It might be that 'PD' might also come to mean personal development as well as professional development. This echoes what many educational leaders already sense: that "good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher" (Palmer 1998, p. 10).

There is another task indicated here: how to develop a culture that not only values these human skills of the expert teacher but fosters them, supports them and stimulates their growth. While issues that continue to irritate teachers like perceptions of low pay and status are beyond the influence of individual school principals, these excellent teachers have identified concerns that can be addressed within a school culture that aspires to care for individuals. This data is still undergoing scrutiny, and there are further series of interviews with these teachers that are yet to be analysed. It is hoped that this project may be a small step towards understanding excellence in classroom teaching. It needs to be enriched by observational studies, comparisons of data across subjects, year levels, teaching styles and systems. It must be evaluated in the light of student outcomes, professional criteria and our deepening understanding of teaching and learning processes. It does, however, allow some teachers to speak clearly that good teaching is a matter of the heart, and that good teaching calls forth the very best of those who strive to call themselves 'teachers'.

Conclusion

This paper has explored the constructions of 19 teachers recommended by their principals as demonstrating excellence in teaching. Using qualitative interviews the understanding of what is required for excellence in the classroom was explored. The data can be seen to illustrate four main themes. These attributes of excellent teachers are: having sufficient skills of organisation and a work ethic to meet reasonable deadlines and expectations; a solid commitment to the whole person so that the needs of the students are directly addressed, especially those less academically gifted; that the teacher loves each student with an affection that is real and non possessive; and lastly that teachers make a personal commitment to the benefit of their students. This last, and possibly most demanding attribute is also the most significant, because in the midst of many competing demands it calls forth life and energy that moves teaching into the realm where role and person unite to complement the integrity of the teacher.

References

Banner, J. M. and Cannon, H. C. 1997 The Elements of Teaching, Yale University Press, New Haven.

Cohen L., and Manion L. 1994 Research Methods in Education, 4th Ed, Routledge, London. pp.89-90.

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Robertson, S. L 1996 Teachers' Work, Restructuring and Postfordism: Constructing the New 'Professionalism', in Goodson and Hargreaves (Eds) Teachers' Professional Lives. Ch. 2.

Rubin, H. J. and Rubin, I. S., 1995 Qualitative Interviewing: The art of hearing data Sage Publications, London..

White, W. F. 1991 Search for the Excellent Teacher and the Emergence of the Master Teacher, Journal of Instructional Psychology, Vol. 18 Issue 2, pp.93-102.

Wideen M. F., Mayer-Smith, J. A. and Moon, B.J. 1996 Knowledge, Teacher Development and Change, in Goodson and Hargreaves (Eds) Teachers' Professional Lives. Ch 10

Wragg, E. C., Haynes G. S., Wragg, C. M. and Chamberlin, R. P. 2000 Failing Teachers? Routledge, New York.

R.J. Vallance, The Uniersity of Notre Dame, Australia

Dr. Vallance is presently Director of the Research Centre. He teaches in qualitative methods and school improvement.