A Study on Qualities of Teachers/Professors Across the Discipline (A Meta Analysis)

Abstract

The qualities and competencies of a teacher/professor significantly influences the teaching-learning process, directly impacting the student engagement, academic performance, and overall educational success. The present study aimed to identify and rank the most valued qualities of teachers/professors based on students\' perspectives. The undergraduate students of first year and fourth year has been considered as subjects. The data has been taken from the study conducted by Assistant Professor Tu?ba Ho?görür in Mugla University, Faculty of Education, Mugla, Turkey. The data was arranged in rank order to obtain the importance of the qualities needed for a teacher or a professor. The analysis revealed five primary qualities, namely,patience, tolerance, having wide general knowledge, subject matter expertise and just, among these, patience and tolerance were ranked as the most critical qualities. These findings emphasize that while subject expertise and fairness are important, interpersonal traits but patience and tolerance are perceived as the most essential qualities for effective teaching. This highlights the growing value of emotional intelligence in academic settings and its impact on student learning experiences as students seems to be more sensitive and required emotional safety and needed to be less judged by others.

Introduction

Teaching is a demanding profession requiring a variety of qualities that ensure professionalism and meet students’ needs. Quality teaching aligns with students' expectations, fostering understanding, engagement, and achievement through effective strategies like collaborative learning, classroom management, and innovative methods including technology integration. Quality teaching develops critical thinking, creativity, social responsibility, emotional well-being, inclusiveness, and lifelong learning skills.

Research highlights key teacher qualities essential for effective teaching, including patience, tolerance, broad knowledge, subject expertise, fairness, commitment, empathy, professionalism, and communication skills. Other important traits are respect, honesty, democratic values, love for children, and continuous self-development.

Several studies reflect differing perspectives on what constitutes a good teacher: students value enthusiasm, organization, and fostering independent thinking; instructors emphasize intellectual stimulation; pre-service teachers prioritize personal qualities over professional skills. Teacher quality discussions also consider the evolving societal and cultural roles of educators, balancing skill-based assessments with broader educational impacts.

A study by Ho?görür (2012) ranked 32 essential teacher qualities, finding patience, tolerance, and wide general knowledge as the most valued, followed by expertise and justice. Traits like innovation, humor, motivation, and moral values were considered important but less fundamental compared to direct teaching abilities.

Conclusion

The ranking reflects a preference for qualities that directly influence classroom dynamics and student interactions over those related to broader personal growth. This aligns with the article’s argument that teacher education should focus not only on competencies but also on core personal attributes that shape effective teaching. A study on qualities of a teacher/professors across the disciplines (a meta-analysis)32 qualities were identified and they are ranked. Ranking suggested that patient ranked 1stfollowed by tolerant ranked 2nd, having wide general knowledge ranked 3rd, expert on subject matter ranked 4th, just ranked 5th, committed to work ranked 6th, affectionate ranked 7th, smiley ranked 8th, professional ranked 9th, understanding ranked 10th, respectful ranked 11th, empathetic ranked 12th, good communicator ranked 13th, honest ranked 14th, democratic and love ofchildren ranked 15.5th, inquisitive ranked 17th, humanitarian and disciplined ranked 18.5th, having a good diction ranked 20th, authoritarian ranked 21th, unconditional acceptance and friendly ranked 22.5th, innovative ranked 24st, responsible and humorous ranked 26.5th, motivated, moral, self-confidence, idealist, objective and continuing self-development ranked 31st.

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Seema Bhandari, Rabiya Husain, Dhananjoy Shaw. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.