KERALA SCERT TEXT BOOK CLASS 1 - 12

Soft skills and teaching

Soft skills is a sociological term relating to a person's EQ, the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness and optimism that characterize relationship with other people.

'Soft skills refers to the cluster of personality traits, social graces and facility with language, personal habits, friendliness and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirement of a job.'

According to World Health Organization 'soft skills are nothing but psychological skills, which insists upon accepting the behavior of others along with their culture'. Fundamental soft skills put forth by WHO are , self awareness, self esteem, critical thinking skills, decision making skills, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, empathy, coping with emotions, handling peer pressure, and negotiation skills.

Soft skills are very important as they help:

Ø  to handle interpersonal relations

Ø  to take appropriate decisions

Ø  to communicate effectively

Ø  to have good impression and impact to gain professional development.

Significance of soft skills in teaching

Both technical and soft skills complement each other and the balance between these two is what makes a teacher a complete professional. Soft skills help a teacher by the following ways,

Ø  To communicate effectively

Ø  To become an organized teacher

Ø  To avoid teacher burnout

Ø  Help to develop strategies to become an effective teacher

Ø  Helps to motivate students

Ø  Helps to create incentive ideas and modern methods of teaching, listening skills

Ø  Know how to give good feedback for others work

Ø  Win peoples cooperation

Ø  Helps in goal setting

Ø  Helps to positively deal with criticism

Ø  Keep discussions from turning into arguments

Ø  Resolve conflict

Ø  Helps to know interpersonal skills and their empowerment

Ø  Helps in objection handling and problem solving

Essential soft skills required for a teacher

1.    Communicative skill

Ø  Ability to deliver idea clearly, effectively and with confidence  either orally or in writing.

Ø  Ability to practice active listening skill and respond.

Ø  Ability to discuss and arrive at conclusion.

Ø  Ability to communicate with individual from a different cultural back ground.

Ø  Ability to expand one's own communicative skill.

Ø  Ability to use non oral skills.

2.    Team work

Ø  Ability to build a good rapport, interact and work.

Ø  Ability to give contribution to the planning and deal effectively with others.

Ø  Ability to understand and play the role of oneself and follower alternatively.

Ø  Ability to recognize and respect others attitude, behavior and beliefs.

Ø  Ability to coordinate group work.

3.    Leadership skill

Ø  Ability to lead.

Ø  Knowledge of the basic theories of leadership and leadership qualities.

Ø  Ability to understand and take turns as a leader and follower alternatively.

Ø  Ability to supervise members of a group.

4.    Time management skill

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.

The major themes on time management include the following:

Ø  Creating an environment conductive to effectiveness.

Ø  Setting of priorities.

Ø  Carrying out actively around those priorities.

Ø  The related process of reduction of time spent on non priorities.

Ø  Incentives to modify behavior to ensure compliance with time related deadlines.

5.    Event management skills

Event management is the process behind planning, executing and evaluating corporate, association, government social and educational events. Some of the key skills involved in event management are:

Ø  Attention to detail

Ø  Creativity (not just in designing the look and feel but also in how to get round the inevitable problems)

Ø  Planning and rehearsal

Ø  Budgeting

Ø  Multitasking

Ø  Team work

Teacher Competencies Required : listed by NCTE

1) Personal

• Physically fit and healthy.

• Active and Energetic.

• Emotionally stable.

• Aware of self.

• Socially warm & friendly.

• Intellectually – love for teaching.

• Have principles & values.

2) Professional

• Subject Specialist with grasp and depth & up to date knowledge about subject.

• Appropriate teaching skills.

• Ability to try out innovative methods of teaching.

3) Social

• Develop inter personal & interactive skills.

• Be open to Criticism.

• Achieve the goals of the institution.

• Working in collaboration & coordination.

• Be a leader.

• Developing rapport and creating congenial & friendly environment.

ROLE AND COMPETENCIES REQUIRED OF THE TEACHER AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL

At secondary level consolidation takes place and also students are prepared for the future life.

The aim of secondary education is developing leadership, democratic citizenship, self – reliant skills, political ability and social values.

The different roles teacher performs at the secondary level are :

1) Manager

As a manager teacher develops human resources i.e. students by creating interest for the academic, correlates the subject with other subjects. Also as manager to develop skills of time management, class room management and material management.

2) Facilitator

• Keeps in mind the intellectual development of the students.

• Develops ability for abstract reasoning & conceptualization.

• Emphasis on understanding / comprehending rather than memorizing.

• Orgnaised form of learning.

• Values and attitudes crucial for desirable way of functioning in the society.

• Developing critical thinking and scientific attitude.

3) Evaluator

• To monitor learning development.

• Developing an awareness that role of evaluation is directly proportional to teaching.

4) Guide and Counsellor

• Give guidance for the development stage i.e. adolescent about rapid physical growth, emotional changes.

• Guidance for type of career to be chosen, i.e. professional / technical etc.

• Developing healthy attitude towards work.

• Act as a role model.

The professional science teacher

Profession

The term profession stands for an occupation which requires some specialized study and training and the purpose of which is generally to provide skilled services and guidance. A profession is a calling and implies acquisition of a fond of knowledge, range skills and their application in service of humanity. They services rendered by a professional may be direct as will the case of teachers and doctors or indirect as is in the case of teacher educators, ie. Teacher of a teacher. It is a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.

Profession - Definition

According to Halliday 'a profession in an occupation with a set of competency based on knowledge acquired through many years of academic training, the goal of its members being a commitment to service guided by a code of ethics. It requires formal qualification, mastery of skills, specialized knowledge and prolonged training.

A professional is a skilled practitioner. "Teaching is a profession laden with risk and responsibility that requires a great deal from those who enter into it" - John I Goodlad

Characteristics of a profession

Defining profession is the most challenging task at hand in general and teaching as profession in particular. Redefining teaching as a profession is no less a critical task in the world of today where everyday the same age old concept gets a new meaning in the light of experiences emerging out of interactions and confrontations with changed meaning of life. However, some characteristics of profession can be enumerated that are found to be relevant towards determining its existence as a profession.

1. A profession requires specialised knowledge with extensive training and an advanced level of intellectual skills in carrying out its service to society.

2. A profession provides an essential service that is both unique and definite to society and only the people within that profession should provide the service. For instance, only doctors practice surgery in this country as opposed to a variety of individuals who believe they have the skill.

3. Members of a profession enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy and decision-making power. They are largely free of closely supervised performance. Members of a profession primarily make their own decisions and regulate their own activities.

4. Members of a profession are required to accept personal responsibility for their actions and decisions.

5. A profession is responsible for monitoring its own members and self-governing. The implications of the previous statement make it essential for professional groups to perform various duties to keep the level of their services high and to watch for the economic and social well–being of the members of the profession.

6. A code of ethics exists within a profession that sets out acceptable conduct for its members. The existence of this code is necessary to enforce a level of high standards.

7. A profession emphasises the services it provides over the financial rewards.

8. It is generally agreed that members of a profession not only get paid for their work, but receive a high salary commensurate with the time and effort required to obtain their specialised knowledge and skills.

9. Society must recognise an occupation as a profession.

10. A profession is considered a lifework or terminal occupation. Those involved usually stay in the field for the rest of their careers.

11. Professional development of a person in a profession is a continuous process.

It is important to remember that a profession needs not have all the above characteristics we have discuss above. Many professions do not satisfy all of the characteristics. You can reflect on the nature and dynamics of action of a teacher as a professional. Teacher needs to recognise herself as a professional endowed with the necessary knowledge, attitude, competence, commitment, enthusiasm, spirit of seeking new ways and means of dealing with teaching-learning situations and capability of reflection on her own practices. She should be sensitive and perceptive not only to the learners and the institution but also the emerging concerns in a larger social perspective within which one functions.

Hidden curriculum

The phrase hidden curriculum was originally coined by Philip Jackson to draw attention to the idea that school do more than simply aid the transmission of knowledge between one generation and next. It is a process that involves the transmission of values as a body of socially approved knowledge. The basic idea behind the concept of hidden curriculum, therefore is that pupils learn things that are not actually taught in the formal curriculum and, in this respect the concept hidden curriculum refers to the way, the learning process is organized.

a) consciously - in terms of physical organization of the school itself, a place separate from the home, work place and the like. The organization of the class room- the teacher standing at the front, pupils seated and arranged in rows.

b) un consciously - the way individual teachers interpret the behavior of pupils. The way teachers have different expectations of pupils based on interpretations of behavior in the class. 

NUFFIELD FOUNDATION SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY PROJECT

The influence of BSCS was felt in the UK as the people there wanted a new syllabi in science subjects - physics, chemistry and biology. In 1962 the work of Nuffield biology began with financial support from Nuffield foundation.

The original Nuffield science  project was concerned with the production of course materials for the three branches of science (physics, chemistry and biology) at GCE(general certificate of education) O-Level , that is a five year course in the respective the three branches of science for students between age group 11 and 16 (class 7 to 10). The developed course was used on experimental basis as a representative sample for schools in Britain. The experience of O-level team was then used in framing the Nuffield Advanced level (A-level) courses in the three branches for the students aged between 16 and 18.

Objectives of NFSTP

·         Provide sound introduction of modern biology to those who leave school at the age of 16 with no more formal science teaching.

·         Develop and encourage an attitude of curiosity and enquiry.

·         Develop the skill of scientific investigation, formulation of questions and designing experiments.

·         Develop an understanding of man as a living organism and his place in nature.

·         Let the students realize the variety of living organism and their interrelationship.

·         Develop a link between biology, chemistry and physics teaching.

·         Develop suitable courses in 'Science for All'.

·         Provide a basis for additional courses of science suitable for those not pursuing science as a specialist subject.

Nuffield foundation Biology series

In 1962, the work on Nuffield biology series began. The first four textbooks were published in 1966 and the last in 1967. It took notice of the constraints of time and facilities, and allowed some flexibility in substituting practical work in class room. It also encouraged sharing of findings of experiments performed by different groups or classes.

To achieve the objectives of the course, considerable emphasis was given to the teaching methodology. However a sense of achievement in practical work was understood. The strategy used were identification of problem, formulation of hypothesis, collection of data, analysis of data and drawing conclusion. Due emphasis was given to the structured discussion method and projects were recommended. The details of the Nuffield biology project were discussed here in brief.

Course content - It focuses pupils attention on living organisms, not just biological principles. An attempt is made to develop a link among various biological themes such as population, genetics and ecology. The whole course is divided into five texts with titles Book I to Book V.

Teaching approach - The emphasis was placed on experimentation and critical evaluation of evidence. Learning is based on project and laboratory work. Scientific method and problem solving approach are used. Demonstration method was also used.

Project - Individual and group project were given. But the emphasis was put on individual project work.

Reading materials in the form of book - The course provides self study material in the form of books. At the end of each chapter references are given for teachers and students. The course has included at the end of each chapter a short section called background reading.

Films, film loops and other materials - films are meant: to deal with process, to illustrate experiments and to show the sequence of technique. The film loops are of three minutes duration and some of them can be used to stimulate experimental situation for discussion in the class.

Evaluation - The traditional type of test was removed and various new patterns of question were introduced to test the all round development of the child. Six categories of question used in this course are as follows: simple recall type, association recall type, experimental recall type, experimental design type, deductive type and continuous prose type.

Teachers guide - Every teacher is provided with a teacher's guide to help make his style of teaching more lively and dynamic. It helps in proper planning, presentation and evaluation of the lesson in the class. 

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