Maturity in Professional and Personal Development Will Impact on All Your Associations

There is no doubt about it! The more professional teachers are, the more mature their personal development, and the better off their students will be. Their self-respect and their relationships with colleagues and parents will be better than many would believe possible.

Our Character Defines What 'Best Practice' is ... For Us

We all vary greatly in experience, knowledge, skills and understandings. How we chose to respond to the various circumstances in life contributed to the formation of our character. The character is our thoughts and feelings combined. The character then determines our expectations, and expectations influence outcomes. Therefore teachers will vary widely as to how they define 'Best Practice'. 

This site will provide you with ideas, suggestions and resources that will enhance your professional development. You will also find articles and resources to help you in many aspects of classroom practice, relationships and personal growth. 

What on Earth is Pedagogy?

'Pedagogy is the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of education; it thus concerns the study and practice of how best to teach.' Wikipedia.

Theories are useless unless we put them into practice.

What is True education?

Is education, then, just stuffing our students with knowledge and throwing in a few skills for good measure? I suggest the goal of sound education has more to do with the optimal development of the mental, physical, social and spiritual dimensions. Within this environment, we are more likely to observe in students, growth in positive character traits. In this way, students, and educators are better fitted to be responsible citizens. They will make a positive contribution to the benefit of society. In other words, they will make the world a better place for them having been here.

Who Would You Rather Employ?

Think about it for a moment. Would you prefer to hire a graduate who is dishonest, lazy and disorganised or an undergraduate who is honest, hard-working and organised? Around the 1990's I was listening to the radio as I was driving in Brisbane, Queensland. The talk-back host was interviewing a businessman about the results of a survey, conducted among employers. In the survey, employers were asked to rank, in order of preference, the personal qualities and job qualifications of job applicants. The one, single quality that outranked all others, including job skills, was honesty! 

I Was Astounded at the Results

Again on the radio, about the same time, I was amazed to hear the results of another survey. This time it was among school children. Would you believe, the results showed that over 98% of the students interviewed admitted they would lie to get out of trouble.

What Are the Positive Character Traits?

What are these positive character traits I mentioned above? I had a good list in my head, but someone came up with a more exhaustive one. I searched the web for 'positive character traits list' and found a good list at activityhole.com. Click the link below to download a PDF containing a list of 240 positive character traits and habits.

240 Positive Character Traits and Habits

How Does One Instil These Qualities Into Children?

The principles we can employ to answer this question will be found embedded in the content of BetterHomesandSchools.com. You will find most articles in the Article Library are relevant to any discussion on character and maturity.

By
Richard Warden