Patience

You have to be able to remain calm when you are teaching. If a pupil is getting frustrated about something, the teacher cannot become frustrated as well. As teachers, we are role models to our pupils and must provide a positive image for them. We do not want to teach them to be impatient and get very angry easily as this will only cause more problems for them. If that is what they see the teachers doing in the classroom, they will think it is okay to do this too.

You need to be able to understand that some children are less confident in some areas compared to others, so you need to have the patience to give them the extra help they need and not get annoyed as soon as they are stuck.

I remember whilst I was on placement not long ago, there was a pupil who was falling behind in maths, therefore I sat with her to keep encouraging her to get her work done. She was not interested at all and was very easily distracted, so it really tested my patience trying to get her to concentrate.

Fairness

Fairness for a teacher means treating the pupils equally. If you fail to do this, it could lead to suspicions of favouritism which may land you in trouble. Pupils have a right to be treated equally and you must respect that as a teacher.

Examples of times where fairness is crucial is when marking work. One answer for one person cannot be right if the same answer for another person is wrong. It is just not fair to mark people’s work differently. Another example is sorting issues between pupils that may have come up. Often, a dispute will take place in the playground at playtime or lunchtime and you have to respond fairly when trying to sort it out with the children. Often the teacher isn’t there to see it therefore cannot only give one person into trouble.

Fairness is an issue that teachers have to be aware of all day, every day. They also need to know how to address it right.

Compassion

Compassion is caring for the misfortunes of others, so for the teacher this means they have to be able to understand why some pupils do the things they do. Whether it is behaviour issues, or they are struggling with their work, you must be able to accommodate for this and be flexible enough to work round them and find a way to teach them which will help.

It is said that pupils from a poor background tend not to do as well in school as the children with a better background. When this is the case, we must understand it and help them to improve. However this is a stereotypical statement to make and is not always true. Disabilities are something else you need to be compassionate to deal with.

Kindness

Kindness for a teacher is to be friendly, approachable and nice to the children. I know from my experience in school that a teacher who was kind and friendly made a massive difference. No child wants a grumpy, horrible teacher, nor do other teachers want to work with one!

If a teacher is kind, it sets a good example of how the pupils should treat everyone in the class, including the teacher. You tend to get on with a teacher more if they are nice, therefore you’re more encouraged to listen to what they are saying and more willing to learn.

If you are kind it can go a long way. The people who you treat kindly will often return the favour and be kind to you. We need kindness to make the world go round!

Tolerance

As a teacher you must put up with a lot of things. Work load, behaviour issues and colleagues who you may not get along with are all examples of things that you may have to tolerate. You may disagree with something but you have to tolerate it because that is just what you have to do. For example, a lot of teachers have issues with the curriculum for excellence. However, they put up with it because they have no choice but to deliver it to the children. This is the way you’re told to educate them, so this is what you do.

Not only is it tolerating with things you disagree with, but you have to tolerate issues which cannot be helped e.g. disabilities. You have to be prepared to understand what pupils with disabilities are going through and perhaps change your teaching style to cater for them too.

All of the above is required in making a good teacher, along with the care for the children’s learning.