WHAT DO STUDENTS VALUE IN TEACHERS AND WHAT THEY DON’T?

Abstract

The specificity of the teacher’s vocation differs from most other professions, because the qualities of a teacher have an important function in his work. The teacher has a great influence on shaping the personality of the students, but also on their attitude towards learning and school. The characteristics of an ideal teacher were the domain of research and pedagogical direction of pedeutology, which we described in more detail in this paper. The aim of the conducted empirical research was to assess students’ attitudes about desirable and undesirable characteristics of teachers. Data were collected by surveying 137 students, third and fourth grade, from two elementary schools in Serbia, from Belgrade and Prijepolje. The survey questionnaire contained a total of eight questions, the majority of which were open-ended questions, with the aim of finding out which characteristics of their teachers the respondents value positively and which they would like to change, as well as how they imagine good and bad teachers. The obtained results show that the most appreciated quality of teachers among children is approachability, and that students do not like it when teachers are strict. The largest number of answers related to the fact that students would like teachers not to be too demanding, and that they imagine good teachers as understanding and bad teachers as strict. Considerable differences in the perception of teachers’ characteristics between genders were highlighted. Accessibility proved to be important for girls, while a large number of boys singled out the teacher’s professional abilities as important. Students of both genders stated that they would like their teachers to be younger, fulfill their promises, and love them.