In a YouGov survey, pupils aged between six and 15 were asked what makes a good teacher, and the consensus was teachers who are kind, fun, and good listeners are the best and most effective in their engagement and delivery of classes.
Bill Gates – Founder of Microsoft
Kind
As as a sports coach, it’s important to remember that we are dealing with children and not adults, children who may be more sensitive and influenced by adults’ attitudes and behaviour. We are part of their formative journeys as children are learning about the world and their personalities are developing. People pick up on our tone of voice, facial expressions and attitudes. It is often said, it is not what we say, but how we say it. Kindness enables trust, relationship development and for children to develop as happy, healthy, well-rounded individuals.
Listens
Children want to be listened to and to feel valued. It may be easy to overlook children because they’re smaller, however they are aware of when they are being listened to or not. Being kind and listening to children encourages and enables them to open up, communicate and express themselves in a safe environment.
Fun
Children want to enjoy themselves and to be around fun people! Who doesn’t? Learning can and should be fun. Coaches can be imaginative and creative in delivering sessions, using a range of techniques and strategies.
A teacher’s knowledge is important to their pupils, however their teacher’s personal attributes were shown to be more important to win over their pupils’ hearts and minds.
YouGov Internal Survey Results – Back to School, survey sample of 586 children, conducted in August 2018.
