Problems of Teaching Learning and their Solutions

Since ancient times there has been a close bond between the teacher and the pupil. Education rests on this relationship between the person who learns and the person who teaches. Over time, however, the way we teach and learn has changed a great deal, and today's system of teaching and learning is very different from yesterday's. We now live in an age of science and technology, which is also called the scientific age. In such an age, learning can no longer stay locked inside a teacher's hermitage or the four walls of a classroom.

Students today need chances to learn by seeing, handling and doing things themselves. To gain this first-hand knowledge and experience, they need open and creative activities. A student who plants seeds in the school garden and watches them every morning understands how a seed sprouts far better than one who only reads about it.

Good teaching also depends on more than the lesson itself. A teacher has to pay attention to:

• the aim of the lesson content
• the nature of the content
• the level of the learner
• the teaching materials available
• the background of the learner

The problems found in classroom teaching are not the same in every country. They can differ between less developed and developed countries.

To make them easier to study, the problems of teaching and learning are grouped into five areas. In each area we first name the problems and then look at the ways to solve them. Learning each problem together with its remedy makes both easier to recall.

• problems of classroom management
• problems of the teacher and the learning environment
• problems related to psychology
• problems of educational materials and technology
• problems related to evaluation

Classroom management is an important part of the teaching and learning process. Keeping a class well organised is not the teacher's job alone. The school management, the school administration and the teacher all play a big part. Picture sixty students squeezed into a small, dim room with tiny windows, some of them standing because there are not enough benches. Even an excellent teacher will struggle to teach well in a room like that.

The main problems in this area are:

• the teacher lacks the skill to manage a class
• students of different interests, abilities, levels, capabilities and backgrounds sit in one class
• there is not enough furniture and no subject corners
• the room has no fresh air and not enough light

A subject corner is a part of the room set aside for the charts, models and materials of one subject, so that students can look at them and learn even in their free moments. These problems can be solved in the following ways:

• Teachers should be given practical, skill-based training in classroom management.
• The class should be managed in an integrated or inclusive way.
• The curriculum and the textbook should be used creatively in the classroom.
• Regular monitoring and supervision of classrooms should be arranged.

A poor learning environment is another major problem in teaching and learning. The problems seen in this area are:

• teaching is based only on theory and book knowledge
• there is a shortage of educational and curricular materials
• the materials that do exist do not reach schools on time
• education fails to become life-oriented, production-oriented and skill-based
• parents are unable to give active support to teaching and learning activities

Suppose a student who studies agriculture can write about manure and irrigation in an exam but cannot grow a single vegetable in a kitchen garden. That education has stayed inside the book. The teacher has the biggest part to play in fixing problems like this. The remedies are:

• The teacher should be a role model and should help create a suitable learning environment.
• The teacher should know the subject fully and should also look for alternative teaching materials.
• The teacher should be able to carry professional responsibility, be committed to the profession, and work to make education life-oriented, production-oriented and skill-based.
• The teacher should hold a positive attitude towards the teaching profession.

Psychology plays a big part in every classroom. What children think, feel and do has a direct effect on how they learn. A Grade 6 child and a Grade 10 teenager differ in their interests, in how long they can concentrate and in how they behave, so teaching both in exactly the same way causes trouble. The problems related to students' psychology are:

• failing to recognise the problems that come from students' age-related behaviour and to teach accordingly
• students themselves have no interest in studying
• there are no up-to-date teaching materials based on child psychology
• teaching activities are carried out without understanding children's psychology

These problems can be solved in the following ways:

• Teachers should recognise students' behaviour according to their age and motivate them towards learning.
• Teachers should behave in a friendly, helpful and cooperative way.
• Students should be given the encouragement they need to wake up their interest in the subject.
• A democratic method of teaching should be adopted so that students can learn freely and of their own accord.

Using educational materials is essential in teaching and learning. Only with them can a lesson be taught and learnt effectively. Teaching the flow of rivers without a map, or the structure of the heart without a diagram, is like asking students to find their way in the dark. The problems in this area are:

• educational materials are given little importance in teaching
• few educational materials are made or used
• materials made for particular subjects are rarely used

These problems can be solved in the following ways:

• Modern technology should be used in teaching and learning activities.
• Activities that motivate students to study should be carried out.
• A daily lesson plan should be prepared and the teaching should follow it.
• Useful materials that serve the aim of the lesson should be used.
• The necessary educational plans should be made and put into use.

The way students are evaluated is another reason teaching and learning are not effective. The problems seen in our country's evaluation system are:

• the examination is treated as the only tool of evaluation
• the tools of continuous evaluation are not used effectively
• the evaluation and examination system is not scientific

Imagine a student who takes an active part in class all year and does excellent project work, but falls ill on the day of the exam. If the exam is the only measure, a whole year of effort counts for nothing. The remedies for evaluation are:

• Evaluation should be made practical.
• The continuous evaluation method should be used.
• Tools of evaluation other than the examination should be used.
• Up-to-date records of exams and evaluation should be kept, and teachers, students and parents should sit together and use them as the basis for improving teaching and learning.

Because of all these problems, teaching and learning have not become as effective as they should be. The harm reaches the students themselves: qualities such as being practical, having good character and being morally upright fail to develop in them. The five areas are linked. A dark classroom, a teacher who only reads from the book, a student with no interest, a lack of materials and an evaluation that depends only on exams together make learning weak.