Students’ Opinions on the Qualities of the Preferred Teacher

The purpose of this research is to investigate the views of primary and junior high school students, regarding the teacher of their preference. In other words, the aim is to highlight the characteristics of the preferred and accepted teacher from the students’ point of view. The paper is structured into two parts, the theoretical and the empirical. The theoretical part includes the framework regarding the role of the teacher, initially approached in terms of the school mission. Then the individual roles of educator, instructor, evaluator, and supervisor, obtained by the processes of education, socialization, teaching, learning, evaluation, and supervision, are discussed. In addition, the factors that influence the teacher's effectiveness -when exercising his/her role- are mentioned with a special reference to the expectations of students, parents, and all other individuals or agents involved in his/her work. Then, the main elements of the effective teacher are identified through relevant research findings. In the second part of this paper the research methodology, the sample, and the questionnaire are described. The questionnaire includes, mostly, closed-ended questions requiring graded answers from the students. The study was conducted in the first ten days of November 2021 with the participation of the students of a Primary and a Junior High School located in the city of Ioannina, who were asked to express their views on the characteristics of the teacher of their preference appears, as well as on other questions about how the teacher organizes pedagogical communication with his students. Based on the research evidence it was found that the analyzed and interpreted results acquire special value from a pedagogical point of view because they highlight the importance of the pedagogical principle, which refers to the organization of communication -in the classroom context- by the teacher. The paper concludes with the discussion and the final remarks.