Effective teaching is a function of

Concept: Teaching is an instrumental activity — it is carried on for the sake of a result that lies outside the act of teaching itself, and in teacher-effectiveness theory that result is pupil learning. Effectiveness is therefore defined on the product (outcome) criterion: the change produced in the learner. Presage criteria (the teacher’s own traits, feelings and motives) and process criteria (what the teacher does while teaching) describe teaching, but do not by themselves establish that it was effective.

Application: The stem asks what effective teaching is a function of — that is, which variable decides whether an episode of teaching counts as effective.

1. Read the demand: locate the variable on which the effectiveness of teaching depends, not the qualities a teacher happens to possess.

2. Apply the product criterion: teaching is effective to the extent that learning occurs, evidenced by what a student can recall, explain and apply after the lesson.

3. Conclude: the deciding variable is the teacher’s making students learn and understand. Teaching that leaves learners unchanged is not effective on this criterion, however sincerely or skilfully it was delivered.

Contrast: The other choices name attributes of the teacher rather than the learning produced:

• Teacher’s satisfaction is an affective state of the teacher; a contented teacher may still leave a class without understanding.

• Teacher’s honesty and commitment are ethical dispositions; they are conditions the profession values, but a committed teacher whose pupils do not understand has still not taught effectively.

• Teacher’s liking for professional excellence is a motive; it may drive a teacher to improve, yet a motive is not the yardstick on which effectiveness is measured.

Result: Effective teaching is a function of the teacher’s making students learn and understand — teaching is judged by the learning it produces.