Teachers and Students are different.

Belated post for 7 Dec
Reading the article by Barry Fraser has made it very clear that one of the things that I NEED to do as a HOD is to conduct one of these Actual and Preferred Environment tests. I am sure that there is a difference between the student and teacher perceptions and I agree that it is important to identify what these differences are so as to help in teacher development as well as increase class achievement. I suspect that some of the teachers in my department are not willing to admit to the problems that they face in the classroom resulting in the results being stuck in a rut. In conducting the assessment, the teachers will be able to reflect upon their teaching and make the necessary interventions to improve the learning environment which will ultimately benefit the teacher when the students being to perform better. As much as students require the continual feedback from the teacher, the teacher should likewise seek feedback so as to further improve the learning environment. This in particular would be useful for new service teachers as mentioned as a possible implication by Fraser. Perhaps the school can look into using this as part of the Structured Induction Programme to help the new teachers manage the learning environment.