UGC NET TEACHING APTITUDE NOTES 1

Introduction

Teaching aptitude is an evaluation of candidates who want to be in teaching profession on the basis of their knowledge and skills. It refers to must have qualities required to become a successful teacher. This includes qualification, intelligence, attitude, and many other qualities expected from a person who wants to become a successful teacher.

Apart from teaching concepts, teaching objectives, teaching methods, and teaching aids that are specifically mentioned in the syllabus, many questions have been asked on classroom situations in NET examination. The ensuing discussion will help candidates to correctly comprehend these types of questions.

Concept of Teaching

Teaching can be both formal and informal. Informal teaching is starts from the family or within community, during initial years of life. It is also called home schooling. formal teaching on the other hand is carried out by paid professionals called editors, teachers or faculty.

Teaching can be defined in the following ways:

Teaching is the purposeful direction and management of the learning process.

Teaching is skillful application of knowledge, experience, and scientific principles with an objective to set up an environment to facilitate learning.

Teaching is a planned activity, and effective teaching depends on the following

    (a) How clearly the students understand what they are expected to learn

    (b) How accurately their learning can be measured.

Teaching is a process in which the learner, teacher, and other variables are organized in a systematic way to attain some predetermined goals

Teaching is an activity that causes the child to learn and acquire the desired knowledge and skills and also the desired ways of living in the society.

Basic Teaching Models

There is no basic model of teaching that augurs well for all the situations. Two contrasting models are discussed here; these models separately or in combination could be used for different courses.

Instructor-centered Teaching

    Instructor-centered teaching is a conventional approach. In this method, the instructor, more or less, controls the material to be learned and the pace of learning while presenting the course content to the students. The purpose of this method of learning is to acquire and memorize new knowledge or learn new skill.

    Instructor-centered teaching can also be described as ‘pedagogical approach’. Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. It determines ‘how the teaching occurs, the approach to teaching and learning, the way the content is delivered, and what the students learn as a result of the process’.

    In pedagogical approach, the learner is dependent upon the instructor for all learning, and the teacher assumes full responsibility for what is taught and how it is learned. The teacher or instructor evaluates the learning processes of the students.

Learner-centered Teaching

    In this model, the learner is mostly self-directed, and is responsible for his/her own learning. The students learn best not only by receiving knowledge but also by interpreting it, that is, learning through discovery and, at the same time, setting the pace of their own learning. In this method, the instructors facilitate the learning of participants and help them by offering opportunities to learn themselves and acquire new knowledge and develop new skills. This type of teaching is also referred to as andragogical approach.

Self-evaluation is also the characteristic of this approach.