Modern day specialists in the area of education face numerous issues in their practice. The case study under consideration presents a number of effective ideas on being a successful teacher. In the following paper, some specific issues discussed in this case study will be examined in terms of their significance for the educational process.
The given case study offers comprehensive dissuasion of significant educational issues on the basis of experience of Conmee Community School. Further eight of them will be addressed in terms of their correspondence to the material studied in class.
At first, the case study mentions caring for all students equally as an important condition for success during the educational process. This requirement finds its grounds in numerous sources. Students are to be provided with equal conditions and care by their teachers no matter how different they might be from their peers in any relation including their origin, race, cultural background and so on.
Ball (2004) talks about “the analytical possibilities opened up by the new sociology of education; the role of reflexivity”. The basic issues are related to the “legitimacy and authority of scholarly practice” (Ball 2004).
Secondly, the case study emphasis that the families disadvantaged in socio-economic terms are faced with especial pressure, which makes it much harder for a child from such family to achieve good academic results.
Generally, the key values a child’s academic achievement must be formed on include “the need for love and understanding, the desire for knowledge, the need to make meaning or for the satisfaction of intellectual curiosity, the need for security or for engagement with others, the need to avoid retaliation…” (Henry 2009).
Thirdly, parental involvement is shown in the case study under consideration as one of the principal goals, which is to be achieved by the home-school community liaison teacher. Finally, “the investigation of factors, influencing whether parents perceive the presence of problems or the need for services may help explain the gap between service need and service use” (Garralda 2010).
Fourthly, specific level of learning difficulty is significantly emphasized in the case study under consideration. This principle can find many reflections in the works studies in class. Among such publications is the book by Gardner.
He is of the opinion that “much of the information probed for in intelligence tests reflects knowledge gained from living in a specific social and educational milieu” (Gardner 2011). Specific level of learning difficulty is to be regulated on the basis of the student’s previous experience.
In fifth, engagement in collective and reflective practice is shown as an important goal for teachers. This idea expressed in the case study finds its numerous reflections in many publications studied in class, including the book by Bancroft and Machover.
Bancroft & Machover (1990) argue that teachers are to combine their experience, in order to provide their relevant assistance to their students during the complicated period of adolescences, as “the stereotype of the adolescent includes emotional perturbation, and certainly a proportion of adolescents have an emotionally uncomfortable time before settling into adulthood”.
Motivation is considered to be another important variable, which mostly depends upon teaching style, a teacher’s informal interactions with students, and the structure of a discipline. So, it is evident that motivation is closely related to a teacher’s behaviour.
Personality seems to be also rather important, as one of the teacher’s key tasks is to become familiar with a student’s personality, in order to facilitate the process of learning (through the so-called psychological background).
- Teaching and learning styles determine a student’s academic achievement.
- Coping and resilience skills of students enhance their abilities to learn about the world.
- Seeing increasing evidence that students were abusing alcohol or drugs is closely related to a student’s emotional state (depression, etc.).
As a final point, the case study under consideration presents important constituents, which are to be implemented by a teacher in order to overcome common difficulties occurring in one’s practice.
References
Ball, S 2004, RoutledgeFalmer reader in the sociology of education. RoutledgeFalmer, London. Web.
Bancroft, J & Machover, R 1990, Adolescence and puberty. Blackwell Publishers, the United States. Web.
Gardner, H 2011, Frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books, the United States. Web.
Garralda, M 2010, Increasing awareness of child and adolescent mental health. Jason Aronson, the United States. Web.
Henry, R 2009, Psychologies of mind: the collected papers of John Maze. Continuum, The United States. Web.