4 key skills for secondary school teachers
As a secondary school teacher, you need to be ambitious, approachable and knowledgeable. You’ll find plenty of variety in your work and relish the opportunity to teach a subject that you enjoy, and help your pupils find enjoyment in it too.
Whilst you may be career-driven and an excellent time manager, there are a number of additional skills you’ll need to deal with those everyday challenges.
1. Relationship building
In order to successfully manage classroom behaviour, you need to be able to build strong relationships. You can develop your relationship building skills in a number of ways – asking questions, listening to answers, finding out about your pupils’ interests and learning your pupils’ names.
2. Communication skills
Being able to communicate positively and effectively is essential. Your speech, tone of voice and body language all need to be considered. Use encouraging language, keep your body language positive and remember to smile!
When communicating with your students, you need to be able to explain things clearly to all classes no matter their ability or experience. Think about how you can break a topic down into each of its parts, then bring them all together in an easy to understand way.
3. Ability to demonstrate
Not only do you need to be confident at explaining, you also need to have the ability to demonstrate how to do something. By doing this you can help the learners understanding; they will see the process, the actions and decisions made along the way. It’s recognised that teachers learn to teach better by doing things themselves too; do the thing you’ve asked your pupils to do - preparing for an exam question or writing a poem for example.
4. Subject knowledge
This may seem like an obvious skill – strong subject knowledge is clearly important. However, you need to ensure you continually assess your knowledge and any potential gaps. By exploring your subject continually, you lead by example and can engage pupils fully, taking them on the learning journey with you.
One further skill to consider is a good sense of humour; this may not strictly be a “skill” but it’s certainly a useful tool for teachers. It’s important to be able to laugh with pupils. You’re not there to be a friend, but if you can make lessons fun you’ll surely leave a positive impression on your pupils.