Teachers: Young vs Old (er)

14 Aug

Posted by Little Mummy as Teaching

I had a discussion with someone the other day on young vs older teachers.

Are older teachers better than younger teachers or vica versa?

We talked about the pros of having a younger teacher

They’re more ‘with it’

Seem cooler to the teenagers

Have just trained, so are more aware of new methods

Keen and enthusiastic as they are just starting out

The pros of having an older teacher, or a teacher that has not become a teacher directly after leaving school

Have more life experience to impart onto children

May seem more approachable to younger children

More experience dealing with difficult situations

Can draw from experience of being a parent/aunty/granny

We came to the conclusion that due to the differing roles at primary and secondary school, younger teachers had the advantage at secondary school and older teachers had the advantage at primary school. Although clearly a mix has the most advantage, which is generally what we have.

What do you think?

4 Responses

IngeniousRose

August 14th, 2007 at 2:25 am
1

This is an interesting topic littlemummy. I have to admit that when I was at school I thought all teachers were old! My daughter is in nursery and her nursery nurse is a similar age to me (mid-thirties), this benefits her because she is like a replacement mummy and they get on well. If she was a more mature teacher then I know IJ would not like this, so I suppose it many ways it does depend on the individual child.

When I was in secondary school I found that the older teachers had a great deal of knowledge but other pupils had little respect for them. But then again with the much younger teachers had a difficult time because the pupils knew they were inexperienced and walked all over them. I think the teaching style plays an important role. I think the teachers who came across as confident and in control but were also friendly and approachable were the best. It is certainly not an easy job.
DJ

August 15th, 2007 at 1:34 am
2

I guess it depends on the age of the student and the subject being taught. For example I think older, experieced midwives make the best midwifery teachers as opposed to newly qualified midwives.
Haylee

August 18th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
3

hi nice post, i enjoyed it
daneka

September 30th, 2007 at 7:08 am
4

Ok my son is in 2nd grade this year he has a older teacher it seems she is more strict than his 1st grade teacher But his kindergarden teacher was worse and she is young i think what makes the difference in the teachers is
k= no kids of own so impaitient she stuck my son off by himself a few weeks into schoolyear and left him there overall his behaior improved greatly and she left him off by hisself the rest of the year i feel this made him socally deprived and all because she couldnt cope with 15 grade k kids for 2 and 1 half hours

1= mother of 1 child and freindly upbeat attitude i was at the school all the time helping out probally 15 times for the year she didnt take crap from the kids but she was good about handling bad sittuations and doing it without getting mad at the kids so my award for best teacher so far goes to her

2= mother of grown children friendly but doesnt seem to have the energy of younger teachers (this comes from 3 meetings and a field trip so i may be a little off on her) ok one problem for the last twp years if my son was bad at school both teachers wanted me to punish now this one tells me NO he is punished here however she did say that if he got really outta hand that id get a call then she wants me to handle it

so there for i think what makes the difference is the experience you gain from motherhood not to say that some women with no kids have no motherly instincts i just think that its the mommy factor lol