Student perceptions of a good teacher: the ... - Wiley Online Library

British Journal of Educational Psychology (1997).67,497-511 Printed in Great Britain 0 1997 The British Psychological Society

Student perceptions of a good teacher: the gender perspective Vena Jules The University of the West Indies, Trinidad

Peter Kutnick* Faculty of Education, Roehampton Institute London

Background. A large-scale survey of pupils’ perceptions of a good teacher in the Caribbean republic of Trinidad and Tobago is reported. An essay-based,interpretative mode of research was used to elicit and identify constructs used by boys and girls. Aims. The study explores similarities and differences between boys and girls in their perceptions of a good teacher, in a society where girls achieve superior academic performance (than boys). Sample. A total of 1756 pupils and students aged between 8 and 16 provided the sample, which was proportional, stratified, clustered. Within these constraints classrooms were randomly selected to be representative of primary and secondary schools across the two islands. Method: Altogether 1539essays and 217 interviewswere content analysed, coded for age development and compared between boys and girls. Content items identified by the pupils were logically grouped into: physical and personal characteristics of the teacher,quality of the relationship between the teacher and pupil, control of behaviour by the teacher, descriptions of the teaching process, and educational and other outcomes obtained by pupils due to teacher efforts. Results. Female pupils identified more good teacher concepts at all age levels than males. There was some commonality between the sexes in concepts regarding interpersonalrelationships and inclusivenessin the good teachers’ teaching practices and boys showed significantly greater concerns regarding teacher control and use of punishment. Males as young as 8 years stated that good teachers should be sensitive to their needs. Only among the 16-year-old males were males noted as good teachers. Conclusion. Considerationis given to the roles of male and female teachers, how their classroom actions may set the basis for future success (or failure) of their pupils, and the needs of pupils with regard to teacher support within developing and developed countries.

Within developed countries, and a growing number of developing ones, access to primary schooling is both expected and compulsory. Simple access to schooling does not necessarily *Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr Peter Kumick, Faculty of Education, Roehampton Institute London, Downshire House, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4HT,UK.

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Vena Jules and Peter Kutnick

guarantee that educational experience will actually enhance opportunities for all students male and female. In the literature, quality in education has been tied to concepts such as ‘human resource development’ (Bonstingl, 1992), and, more particularly, with equality of educational opportunity and experience for girls and boys (Common, 1987). The likelihood of enhancing the quality of educational experience for pupils of either sex will obviously be mediated by pupils’ schooling experiences which include their perceived relationships with teacher(s). Ames (1987) views a good pupil-teacher relationship as having a mediating role which directly correlates with the future efforts towards learning by the pupil; and we would expect that pupils’ perceptions of their teachers will be shaped by their schooling experience and their success within school. Where consistent and representative differences are found to exist between boys and girls with regard to their academic classroom performance one might question whether these students’ perceptions of their teachers differ. The following study focuses on the southern Caribbean, twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, where girls throughout primary and secondary schools have performed better than boys on within-class tests across all subjects of the curriculum (Jules & Kutnick, 1990) and on national examinations (Centre for Ethnic Studies, 1994; Morris, 1991). While acknowledging the difference in classroom performance between boys and girls, this study explores one aspect of quality schooling whether boys and girls across the schooling age range perceive a good teacher differently. Few studies have directly explored differences between boys’ and girls’ perception of teachers, and (possibly due to the quantitative nature of these studies) these studies tend not to be recently undertaken. At a general level, there is evidence that boys and girls have differential experiences leading to understandings of schooling. Jackson (1968), for instance, found that females have more positive responses to schooling than males and also tend to see school as a ‘social place’. However, both Bellaby (1974) and Davies (1978) found that girls’ and boys’ views of schooling do not differ generally. The school is also one of society’s main agents for socialising the child, with regard to sex role recognition. While the literature states that females are socialised to be expressive and males instrumental, educational researchers find that schools ‘not only do not challenge sex stereotypes’ existing in society but instead ‘exaggerate’ them (Delamont, 1983, p. 83). Croll & Moses (1990) hold that girls flourish in the classroom at the primary level, they are likely to excel in academic areas and are less likely to experience behavioural or emotional adjustment problems. Schools, though, are not solely responsible for sex-role socialisation. As Davies (1978) states, the ‘school is an incomplete reproducer of social and sexual divisions in society’ (p. 18). Insights into the sex-role dichotomy (towards maleness and femaleness) are of pedagogical relevance with regard to the educational process as seen within the following examples of the internal dynamics of classroom interactions. Among boys and girls differences exist in physical maturation rates, with girls maturing faster than boys (Schlegel & Barry, 1991). Boys and girls differ with regard to whom they choose to form cliques or draw on as friends or workmates (Jules, 1991~).Even within the same classroom, children with an equivalent socio-economic background will show sex differentiated academic performance (Jules & Kutnick, 1990) as well as interpersonal preferences (Jules, 1991~). If the preferences of males and females are so differentiated in those aspects involving the interaction process, important lines of differentiation may also exist in other areas equally pertinent to pedagogy and to the outcomes of schooling. How, for instance, in a

Perceptions of a good teacher

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profession dominated by females, do students perceive the good teacher? Do males use different categories than female students to structure their understanding of classroom experience? Of the little research undertaken exploring students’ perceptions of the good teacher, the first hint of a gender perspective is given by Allen (1959). Allen, working with secondary modem students in the UK, found boys and girls valued good teachers as ‘competent’, ‘really teaching’, ‘interesting’, able to ‘joke’, ‘approachable’ and ‘understanding’. ‘Boys valued more highly than girls a teacher’s ability to teach ... girls valued more highly the teacher’s general sociability’ (p. 258). Taylor (1962) asked UK students to rank predetermined items concerning ‘a good teacher’, and found that older secondary school boys placed greater emphasis on personal qualities than girls, who emphasised discipline. Younger boys (at the primary school level), like younger girls, placed greater emphasis on discipline than older boys and girls. Dale (1967) reported teacher training students’ statements concerning teachers who had a good influence. While Dale’s sample was not within the school age range, his findings are informative. Female students identified teachers who had a strong moral influence, were exemplary in behaviour, gave encouragement, showed helpfulness, were understanding of individual interest, and encouraged self-confidence. Males identified teachers who took an active interest, had a moral influence, showedjustice, set a good example, and had a good personality. Within the Caribbean, Payne (1987) found sex differences in student responses to what makes a teacher popular. In her Barbados study she found girls more likely to refer to the ‘looks’ (physical and clothing) of a male teacher than boys. Boys were more likely to cite popular male teachers as willing to assist pupils, gave interesting presentations and maintained good discipline. Payne’s study is the only research that gives a Caribbean and developing country perspective. However, her focus is neither on the good teacher nor comparisons of perceptions by sex of students. The following study was undertaken in consideration of the educational need to move from simple access to a school place to quality of the educational experience, and focuses on the importance of the teacher’s role in promoting that quality. Perceptions of a good teacher, which explore for differences between boys and girls, in a society where girls achieve superior academic performance (than boys) should provide valuable insight.

Method In order to ascertain male and female understanding of a good teacher, a strategy to elicit free responses rather than comparisons between preset categories was deemed necessary (see Kutnick & Jules, 1993). This ‘interpretive’ strategy (Cohen & Manion, 1981) was selected because it allowed pupils to express knowledge of a good teacher based upon their own classroom experience. Pupils were asked to write an essay entitled ‘A Good Teacher’. Essays allowed for the widest range of pupils’ freely expressed views and insights and many children can undertake this task at the one time. Essays were received from 1539 students, representing a proportional (a ratio of the total school population to the chosen school district), stratified (covering class levels in both primary and secondary schools, types of primary and secondary schools), random (schools and classes within schools were randomly selected once proportional and stratified criteria were identified), and clustered (full classes were used to generate information rather than selected individuals) sampling strategy. The sample represented 5 per cent of the following

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age levels: in primary schools - standard 2 (7 to 8 years) and standard 5 (10 to 11 years), and in secondary schools - form 2 (12 to 13 years) and form 5 (15 to 16 years). To code the essays for analysis, a representative 10 per cent of all essays was given a full content analysis. The analysis identified 166 conceptual items used by students to describe a good teacher. The representative essays were returned to the full sample so that each essay could be analysed for the presence of all identified conceptual items. Additionally, a reliability check (for written versus spoken content items) was undertaken by interviewing 217 further pupils, a representative subsample from all age groups. Comparison of interview results to the essay conceptual items found no significant differences in the range of items identified. Table 1 represents the distribution of pupil sex by class level. The table shows a roughly equal distribution of male and female pupils overall and at each class level except at age 16 where the number of boys attending school is dramatically less than girls.

Table 1. Numbers of boys and girls within each age level of the study (percentage of sex by age level in brackets) Sex of pupil

AGE 8

11

13

16

TOTALS

Male Per cent

222 (51.0)

270 (50.7)

205 (46.3)

136 (39.4)

833

Female Per cent

213 (49.0)

263 (49.3)

238 (53.7)

209 (60.6)

923

Results Due to the large number of conceptual items both qualitative and quantitative analyses were possible. To ascertain whether there were any statistically created groupings, the individual conceptual items were factor analysed. The factor analysis did not show significant item groupings. Results, therefore, will be reported by age level using the following logically related groupings of items generated from student responses: (1) physical and personal characteristics of a teacher, (2) qualities of relationship between teachers and students, (3) behavioural control by the teacher, (4) descriptions and explanations of the teaching process, ( 5 ) attributes related to products or results of teacher work. Each conceptual item was placed in one of the five groupings; placement into one grouping or another was undertaken only upon full agreement between each of the authors. Individual conceptual items are only reported here if, minimally, 5 per cent of the respondents used the item. Analyses were undertaken using the SPSS program which allowed focus on individual items (a nominal measure using chi square for analysis) or cumulative totals of items per logical grouping (an interval measure using ANOVA for analyses). In a developmental analysis of these items, Kutnick & Jules (1993) found distinct trends in understanding, making it necessary to undertake this analysis in relation to the particular age levels sampled. Upon initiating the analysis, general differences in the way that males and females completed their essays were compared for total number of words written in each essay and total number of concepts used. Table 2 shows that girls used a greater number of concepts and total number of words in the essays -generally and at each age level, except for the oldest students.

50 1


Table 2. Average number of concepts and words by sex (of pupils) generally and within age levels, and significance of differences within each age level and generally (analysis by ANOVA) AGE LEVELS

TOTAL CONCEPTS

TOTAL WORDS

5.83 6.57 F( 1,383)=4.943 pc.027

56.23 69.16 F( 1,383)=9.386 pM (F1,404= 4.253, pc.0398)

N.S.

Well educated

n.s.

F>M (X(d.f.=l)= 7.089. pc.003)

n.s.

n.s.

TOTAL

D M (F1,383= 18.989, pc.001)

F>M (F1,434= 6.446, pM (F1,404= 4.773, pc.029)

N.S.

QUALITY OF RELATIONSHIP Reciprocal F>M (F1,383= 4.763, pc.031)

F>M (F1,434= 34.236, pc.001)

F>M (F1,404= 14.166, pc.001)

F>M (F1,272= 3.946, pc.048)

Grouped and individual items PERSONAL Physical

13 years

F>M (F1,404= 5.997, pc.015)

16 years

M>F (F1,272= 4.999, pc.026)

Care

F>M (X(d.f.=3)= 22.73 pc.001)

F>M (X(d.f.=3)= 8.90 pM (X(d.f.=3)= 12.60 pc.006)

DM

n.s.

(X(d.f.=2)= 12.70 pM (X(d.f.=2)= 8.51 pM (F1,383= 7.802 pM (F1,434= 14.245, pM (X(d.f.=l)= 3.94 pc.05)

F>M (X(d.f.=l)= 5.41 pM (X(d.f.-l)= 6.46 pF (X(d.f.=l)= 5.56 pM (X(d.f.=l)= 9.22 pM (X(d.f.=2)= 17.64 pM (X(d.f.=1)= 9.95 pM (X(d.f.= 1)= 6.61 pM (F1,313= 16.293, pM (F1,434= 55.742, pM (F1,404= 21.231, pM (F1,272= 5.498, p < .O19)

M>F (X(d.f.=3)= 5.18 pF (X(d.f.=3)= 11.64 pF (X(d.f.=3)= 10.92 pF (X(d.f.=3)= 10.41 pF (X(d.f.=3)= 10.32 pM (X(d.f.=l)= 5.55 pF (F1,383= 1 1.706, pM (X(d.f.-1)= 4.26 pe.039)

n.s.

Stimulates student ideas

n.s.

ns.

F>M (X(d.f.=l)= 17.49 pe.001)

n.s.

Promotes discussion

n.s.

n.s.

n.s.

F>M (X(d.f.=l)= 5.05 pc.025

TOTAL

N.S.

N.S.

F>M (F1,404= 16.429, pc.001)

F>M (F1,272= 4.893, pe.028)

M>F (X(d.f.=l)= 3.96 pe.047)

F>M (X(d.f.=l)= 6.39 pe.0 12)

n.s.

n.s.

Tells stories

M>F (X(d.f.=l)= 6.27 pe.044)

ns.

n.s.

n.s.

TOTAL

N.S.

N.S.

N.S.

N.S.

OUTCOMES FROM HAVING A GOOD TEACHER: Tangible learning (general) n.s.

n.s.

M>F (X(d.f.=l)= 3.69 pc.05)

ns.

TOTAL

N.S.

M>F (F1.4-4= 16.582, pe.011)

F>M (F1,272= 4.500, pe.035)

Grouped and individual items ORIENTATION TO STUDENT LEARNING: Encourages student

TEACHING ACTIVITIES: Explains

~

N.S.

~

NOTE Fdenotes ANOVA on interval measures (identification in upper case), and X denotes chi square on nominal measures (identification in lower case)

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Control was consistently identified by all children; the youngest generally stating the good teachers maintained classroom control through threat of punishment, older children were more specific about types of control available to the teacher, but the oldest altered their perceptions to include control by lesson relevance and the shifting of responsibility for behaviour to the student. The youngest children described classroom teaching processes in terms of the curriculum areas covered, while other children identified techniques to include pupil contributions and work set at appropriate levels for the pupils. Similarly, the outcomes of good teaching were referred to by the youngest children in terms of specific curricular knowledge while older subjects saw possible developments in career and academic achievement.

Differences in the perceptions of males and females 1 . Physical and personal characteristics. In a cumulative analysis of items identified, girls were more likely to cite these attributes of a good teacher: generally (F(1,1519)=8.993, Pc.003) and with regard to the physical characteristics of the teacher (F(1,15 19)=8.569, pc.003). These findings disguise the fact that significant sex differences characterised the three lowest age levels but not the 1617 year-olds. Girls were more likely to identify the sex of the teacher that they described as ‘good’ except in the oldest age group where males were more sensitive to the sex of teacher. In focusing on pupils’ identification of the sex of a good teacher, it is curious that girls of all age levels consistently cited female teachers more often than male teachers. Boys in the two youngest age levels cited female teachers as the good teacher (in preference to male teachers), but this was reversed among the two oldest levels of male pupils (see Table 4). Table 4. Acknowledgement of sex of teacher by sex of pupil (percentages in brackets by sex within specific age group) AGE LEVEL

MALE TEACHER

FEMALE TEACHER

TOTALS

8 years

male female

21 20

(23.3%) (16.8%)

69 99

(76.7%) (83.2%)

90 119

(100%) (100%)

34 18

(34.3%) (16.7%)

65 90

(65.7%) (83.3%)

99 108

(100%) (100%)

16 4

(53.3%) ( 7.7%)

14 48

(46.7%) (92.3%)

30 52

(100%) (100%)

31 12

(73.8%) (33.3%)

11 24

(26.2%) (66.7%)

42 36

(100%) (100%)

1 1 years

male female 13 years

male female 16 years

male female

2. Quality of relationships between pupils and their ‘good teachers’ was described in two distinct ways: how the teacher generally interacted with pupils and particular sensitivities

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that teachers maintained towards their pupils to encourage learning. Girls cited more of these items (F(1.15 19)=22.675, pe.001) than boys. Significant item differences were found among the youngest pupils: girls were more likely to cite caring and nice. Boys were more likely to state that good teachers should be sensitive to individual needs. Among the midage groups (11 to 13) girls were more aware of their relationships with a good teacher, citing caring, kindness, non-school problems, nice, like a parent, and patience. The only significant item difference among 16-year-olds was patience. 3. Behavioural control asserted by the teacher was more likely to be acknowledged by males than females (F(1,1519)=5.643, pe.018). Boys were more likely to cite types of corporal punishment to control classes. Older girls (13-year-olds) expected the good teacher to control classroom behaviour through humour (girls 22.6 per cent, boys 13.0 per cent). There were no significant sex differences found among 16-year-olds in these items. 4. Understanding of the teaching process described how teachers interacted with pupils to enhance their learning as well as listing activities undertaken in the classroom. Cumulatively, girls were most likely to cite items which the teacher used to engage students in learning (F(1,1519)=27.190, pe.001) but males cited particular teaching activities (F( 1,159)=3.818, pe.05). Young males cited activities as explaining work and telling stories more frequently than girls, while older girls (13-year-olds) described teacher-pupil interactions such as encouragement and promoting discussion. 5. Educational outcomes were identified as specific curriculum-based learning and longterm developments. Table 3 shows limited sex differences in these items. No significant differences were found in the overall sex comparisons. One difference was found among 13year-olds. Boys were more likely to identify the teacher as helping to learn generally and this is mirrored in the quantitative total within the age group. Among the 16-year-olds girls were more likely to identify items involved in the general promotion of learning by the teacher. Issues From the results outlined above six main issues are identifiable. First, while the individual female pupil identified more good teacher concepts than her male counterpart, both male and female pupils made a number of similar responses. Some commonality therefore exists in all pupils’ perceptions and expectations of the good teacher. Second, in spite of this commonality, there are significant areas of difference in the perceptions of male and female pupils. More girls underscored the importance of interpersonal relationships among the qualities they expect or desire in the good teacher. Boys of all ages emphasised a desire for the good teacher to demonstrate assertive control, including the ‘beating’ of students. Third, a significant perception of 8-year-old males was that good teachers ought to show sensitivity to student needs. Fourth, there is an increasing perception with age among both sexes, but significantly more so among females, that the good teacher encourages student learning through inclusive, participatory activities which stimulate ideas and allow a mutual sharing. Fifth is the student emphasis on the sex of the teacher. For girls of all ages and males up to age 14, the good teacher is generally denoted as female. For the 16-year-old male, the good teacher is strongly perceived as male. This leads to the sixth issue, that many of the differences that characterised male and female pupils were not found among the oldest age group. This lack of difference may signal either convergence of perceptions with age or that the males who stay on in school until age 16 are those who have similar, personal levels of academic expectations as their female counterparts.


507

While these issues arise out of students’ perceptions or expectations, there is a large and growing body of thought which links the individual’s perceptions with hisher view of reality and stresses the importance of perceptions to the individual’s consequent actions in the immediate and distant future. Fetterman (1988) summarises thus: ‘the most significant reality or set of realities is found in the subjective realities of human perception. People believe what they perceive and they act on what they believe’ (p. 18).

Discussion A core commonality of perceptions of a good teacher by boys and girls was not totally unexpected in this study. Davies (1978) found a similar commonality of perceptions among both sexes in her study of pupils’ views of schooling. More critically, in a context in which the academic achievement of girls so far outdistances that of boys (Jules & Kutnick, 1990), are the areas of significant difference in the perception of male and female pupils. Differing perceptions indicate variations in gender socialisation and schooling experiences received by either sex. Taking a long-term perspective, a few of the variations may signal far-reaching and possibly unhappy implications if no remediation is attempted while students progress through schooling towards adulthood. Take, for example, the significantly greater emphasis by 8year-old males that a good teacher ought to show sensitivity to student needs. From a developmental perspective, a belief by an 8-year-old that this sensitivity, as a type of social support from a significant other is not available to him, could have catastrophic outcomes in later years (Campos & Campos, 1989; Erikson, 1968; Eron & Huesmann, 1984; Evans, 1989; Sarason, Pierce, Shearin, Sarason & Waltz, 1991). At the very least, such a perception of allocentric behaviour by 8-year-old males shows these boys have developed emotionally and cognitively to appreciate the feelings, experiences and attitudes that others should have. They marry this knowledge to their expectations of those whom they perceive within their ‘convoys of social support’ (Levitt, Guacci-Franco & Levitt, 1993) - good teachers; yet, these same 8-year-olds and older boys perceive that behavioural control through threats, punishment, even ‘beatings’, is appropriate. According to Donaldson (1978, p. 138) being 8 years old is a time in a person’s life when the group situation is being internalised or being ‘rebuilt on a new plane’. Eron & Huesmann (1984) mark age 8 as a sensitive and critical period for the developing child (in the United States) with respect to modelling the behaviours of prominent others. A cry from an 8-year-old for ‘sensitivity to needs’ may also be a signal of an unmet, personal need. An expectation of sensitivity to felt needs is an expectation of understanding, of empathy, of social support and back-up or a social reference point within an environment in which the pupil is attempting to stand on his own feet (Erikson, 1968, p. 111). Erikson has theoretically linked lack of social support and absence of empathy or social referencing to growing mistrust of self and other; feelings of personal shame, self-doubt and guilt in place of the more empowering personal characteristic -autonomy. Those who are competent and confident in their interactions and relationships are more likely to see themselves as successful and able to adapt to new situations and challenges (Sarason et al., 1991). Two desired outcomes in the process of socialising the young are a person who is selfregulating and at the same time a person who is capable of feeling, who can empathise, who is cognisant of the needs of others. Important too in that process is the role of modelling to

508


prosocial or antisocial behaviour acquisition in the developing individual. Staub (1979) has illustrated that empathy is a personal response learned or modelled from others and, while the evidence is not clear on how it happens, there may be correlations between its presence or absence and prosocial or antisocial behaviours such as aggression and violence especially among males. Results presented on this study show that boys as young as 8 years old hold that behavioural control asserted through threats and punishment is appropriate from good teachers. Thus, 8-year-old boys perceive that the locus of their behaviour is out of their own control, even as they recognise the role of sensitive teachers. Campos, Rosemary & Barrett (1989) remind ‘how distressing it is to the child to have significant others ... emotionally unavailable’ (p. 397). Within a Caribbean society, Evans (1989, refemng to Jamaica) links childhood experiences of continuous disapproval or withdrawal of love or physical punishment with ‘above average levels of aggression, low self esteem and an external rather than an internal moral orientation’ (p. 189). Teachers, whose behaviours allow a feeling of sensitivity to pupil needs to be among the personal experiences pupils have in their classrooms, may well be taking that first important step towards reversing an antisocial behaviour trend in this and subsequent generations. These actions will need to be coupled with moves towards having pupils take greater responsibility for their own behaviours and less overt dependence upon measures of behavioural control by the teacher. Another significant difference in expectation of the good teacher stated by male and female pupils was in the area of teacher classroom management and teaching styles. Similar to findings by Dale (1967), female pupils in this study expected the good teacher to maintain good interpersonal relationships and use classroom teaching strategies which facilitate pupil participation. Males, on the other hand, emphasised that the good teacher would show more assertiveness and control over pupil behaviour, even beating pupils. Irvine (1985) states that children perceived as not conforming to behavioural expectations by their teacher are viewed as having less potential and lower ability. Goodlad (1984) found that where teachers accepted or perceived their pupils as ‘high track‘ (more academically able), they spent less time on student behaviour problems and encouraged their students to become independent, questioning and critical thinkers. ‘Low track’ saw their teachers as less concerned and punitive. These latter students were also more apathetic and not concerned with ongoing classroom activity or failure. The girls sampled within this study had in-class academic results superior to boys at parallel year levels, a situation which may indeed lead a teacher to perceive girls generally as being more able, and boys less so. Within the findings reported girls showed that they expect a learning environment that allows for discussion, explanation, reasoning and therefore a greater sense of personal efficacy and self control. Boys, from as early as age 8, indicated a desire for good teachers to be sensitive to their needs but called for assertive control over their behaviour, including punitive action. Evans (1989) argues that in boys ‘... physical action and punitive control ... correlate with lower levels of motivation for intellectual performance’ (p. 189). A further difference in perception of the good teacher between male and female pupils relates to the sex of the teacher. By age 16, male students thought in terms of a male teacher as ideal while female students and young males consistently identified female teachers as good. This ideal can be related to many factors: (a) differences in gender socialisation; (b) a perceived need for gender appropriate role models; and (c) classroom climate. In the classroom setting the teacher is the adult with authority and power. For the younger child, the role of this significant adult has parallels with that of parent. As the child grows older,


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the pupil sees that power and authority go with the role of teacher and are maintained or increased in the classroom situation through the use of rewards and coercion as well as knowledge and information consultant (Kutnick, 1983). The role of consultant also generates feelings of faith and trust, and causes leadership qualities to be a summarily ascribed to the teacher. In Trinidad and Tobago, as in most developing countries, authority and power are characteristics more generally attributed to males. Yet, in a situation where the person (teacher) having this role is most often female, there could be strong associations between the status or significance the profession carries and the numerically dominant sex. To the adolescent male attempting to strengthen an identity or resolve an identity crisis, maleness takes centre stage. School could therefore come to be seen as a maleness-threatening, ‘woman thing’; and this is verified in the incremental drop-out rate of boys in the developing years of secondary schools (Centre for Ethnic Studies, 1994; Jules, 1991b). In preadolescence, the ever present female teacher as a symbol of authority and power may not have been threatening to males. However by age 16, the psycho-social atmosphere of the classroom could be very different. The 16-year-old male is not as comfortable with the female teacher as is his female counterpart. How the female teacher deals with the male student is not how she deals with female students, her own sex role socialisation being incompatible with the socialisation of the male pupil (Irvine, 1985). Noting that there is a significant drop-out of male students by age 16 in Trinidad and Tobago, the male student who is still attending school may be registering a desire for same-sex figures as the role model he believes compatible with his current need. Alternately, there may be a recognition that good teachers can exist among members of either sex, or simply that one outcome of successive years in school may be the increasing equivalence in perception of ‘things school’ among the sexes. This insight finds support in the relative lack of sex differences in cumulative and individual item analysis and a post hoc analysis of social class and stratification of school placement by sex of pupil. The post hoc analysis showed, overall, that girls came from significantly higher social class backgrounds and studied in higher status schools while among the 16-year-old group the social class and school status differences were non-significant. Gitlin & Price (1992). referring to school structures, state that personnel within schools can reward and disenfranchise their pupils. This study, drawing upon the widest possible range of freely expressed views and insights of the good teacher, provides students of a developing country with a collective voice. It is hoped this voice will allow others within the school structure who occupy positions of status an opportunity to refocus on the expected characteristics of the good teacher and consider the particularly disenfranchised state of the male ‘learner’ and, more generally, the quality of relationships between teacher and student. Students’ voices may appear as a micro aspect within the school structure. Yet their insights provide a real view of the functioning of the system. Their voices recommend action with the expectation of improvement in quality of schooling perhaps even the quality of life in the wider society. We ignore them at our own peril.

References Allen, A. E. (1959).Attitudesto school and teachers in asecondary modem school. MA thesis, University of London. Ames, C. (1987). The enhancement of student notification. In M. L. Maehr & D. A. Kleiber ( a s ) , Advances in Motivation and Achievement. Greenwich, C T JAI Press.

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