Being an Enthusiastic Teacher

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Importance of Theme “Being an enthusiastic teacher”

Through “being an enthusiastic teacher” students are more engaged, more willing to contribute in class discussions and more willing to discuss any problems or concerns with a module. The theme also has an impact on students’ overall performance in a module or a course. As a result of staff enthusiasm students are more committed to their studies and make the most of their time at university.

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Dr Phil Race, Addressing Student Satisfaction – adopted from material published in Making Teaching Work by Phil Race and Ruth Pickford, London: Sage, 2007).

How to be enthusiastic about what I teach ?

• Communicate your enthusiasm using tone of voice, body language, and eye-contact with students. Sentiments such as “the thing that really fascinates me about this is…” can help students to realise that the subject can indeed be really interesting, and that the person teaching it is already enthused about it.
• Resist the temptation to let it show when you’re not enthused about a particular subject area.
• It’s OK to explain to students that something is actually quite difficult, but not so good if students pick up the message that it’s not important. If something isn’t important for your students to learn, it is probably better to miss it out altogether, or at least not spend too much of your valuable face-to-face time on it.

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The theme is also significant in relation to the National Student Survey and the Higher Education Academy Fellowship.

National Student Survey

The theme has been taken from the National Student Survey question “staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching” under the category Teaching on my Course.

In the recent 2014 NSS results 86% of students at Swansea University agreed that “staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching”.

Higher Education Academy

The theme is also important in regards to the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) as “being an enthusiastic teacher” contributes to Areas of Activity A4 develop effective learning environments and approaches to student support and guidance.

For more information on the UKPSF follow the link https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/professional-recognition/uk-professional-standards-framework-ukpsf