This document discusses teacher behavior and its modification. It defines key terms related to teaching and behavior, and describes various frameworks for categorizing teacher behavior, such as effective vs ineffective behavior. It also outlines principles of behavior modification that can be applied in classroom settings, such as providing constructive feedback and accepting mistakes. Methods for modifying teacher behavior are presented, including microteaching, programmed instruction, and interaction analysis. The goal of modifying teacher behavior is to improve teaching skills and facilitate student learning.

1. 1
Mr. Upendra Yadav
Associate Professor
Department of Child Health Nursing
B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences,
Dharan, Nepal
TOPIC : MODIFICATION OF TEACHERS BEHAVIOUR
INTRODUCTION:
There is considerable evidence that the particular personality characteristics of a teacher
have a great influence on the behaviour, learning and adjustment of students. There is little
evidence that certain personality characteristics are more desirable than others for certain
personality characteristics are more desirable than others for teaching in general. Increasingly, it
is being accepted that effective teaching depends upon appropriate matching of a particular
situation.
DEFINITIONS:
1. Teacher:
Coombs defines Effective teacher as a unique human being who has learned to use
himself effectively and efficiently to carry out his own and societies purposes in the education
of others.
Competent teacher is one who has achieved mastery of his subject, has improved his
skills in providing adequate and appropriate learning experiences, has gained power in
communicating ideas, has developed ability in making pupil think and has acquired an
understanding of the principles of education upon which the educational practices and
procedures are based and evaluated.
Dynamic Teacher is one who can understand process of education can relate education to
other aspects of life can eradicate contradictions in educational problems and suggest
improvements and refuses in education.
True teacher is one who can immediately come down to the level of the student and
transfer his soul to the student’s soul and see through and understand through his mind such
a teacher can really teach and none else.
TEACHER

2. 2
T – Trained
E – Educated
A – Ability
C – Character
H – Health
E – Exercise
R – Regular
2. Behavior:
Behavior is defined as something a person does. Behavior may be increased by following the
behavior with a favorable consequence or positive reinforcement.
3. Teacher’s behavior:
Teacher’s behavior is defined as the behavior or activities of persons as they go about doing
whatever is required of teachers, particularly those activities that are concerned with the direction
of guidance of the learning of others. (D.G. Ryan).An implication of definition is that teacher
behavior is social behavior. Not only do teachers influence student behavior, but students
influence teacher behavior as well.
4. Teaching:
Teaching is an intimate contact between teacher, a more mature personality and
student is less mature personality. In the process of education, teacher helps in developing the
student personality by his intimate contact.
5. Behavior Modification:
Behavior Modification is a discipline that makes use of learning principles to help pupil cope
with or cure a wide range of psychological problems.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEACHER IN NURSING
1. Keeps self available to students;
 As a resource person.
 In a stressful situations.
 In a counselor- advisory role.
2. Shows skill in interpersonal relationships by;

3.  Making students feel free to ask questions or to ask help.
 Making students think and motivating them.
3
 Alleviating student anxieties.
 Conveying confidence in and respect for the student.
 Correcting student tactfully without devaluating the student.
 Being sensitive to students needs and feeling.
 Permitting freedom of discussion and venting of feelings.
 Conveying interest in students that is showing genuine interest in what they have to
say.
 Interacting well with students, patients, and staff.
 Showing genuine interest in patients and their care.
3. Demonstrates Own Ability as A Nurse and Teacher By;
 Planning for depth and continuity of care.
 Identifying principles basic to practice.
 Making students aware of professional responsibility.
 Continuing to learn and improve in her field.
 Being well informed and to communicate knowledge to students.
4. Teaching practice;
 Organized, interesting, informative lectures and avoidance of repetitive reading from books
and notes.
 Precision in objectives.
 Skill in the use of mechanized teaching aids.
 Skill in group discussion processes.
 Demonstration of manual skills followed by opportunity for students to practice.
 Encouraging individuality and creativity.
 Conferences that are productive and encouraging to students.
 A sense of timing, knowing when student is ready to proceed.
 Creating a causal, relaxed atmosphere, making learning enjoyable.
 Reviewing plan of action with student and them letting student go ahead.
 Presenting evidence in controversial issues and letting student make decision.
 Supervising and helping in new experience without taking over.

4. 4
 Utilizing varied approaches in teaching.
 Giving guidance and support in new and difficult situation.
 Referring student to additional resource persons and materials.
 Planning experiences for students when new and unexpected learning situations occur that is,
utilizing changes in clinical areas. Being considerate of students, time.
6. Personal characteristics;
 Showing warmth, sympathy, and human emotions.
 Being honest and direct with students.
 A pleasant speaking voice that can be heard anywhere in the classroom.
 An interest and enthusiasm that is catching, making students interested.
 Being patient, consistent, and predictable.
 Is willing to admit a mistake.
 Being calm, poised, and concerned in the clinical area.
 Avoiding annoying and repetitive mannerism, controlling feelings when situation could
provoke anger.
 Being physically capable and mental alert.
 Having a sense of humor.
CHARACTERISTICS OF TEACHER BEHAVIOUR;
Certain environmental influences and the learned and unlearned characteristics of the
individual teacher determine the nature of teacher behaviour. Some postulates that evolve from
this assumption may include the following;
 Teacher behaviour is characterized by a limited number of types of
responses. This includes the number of responses the individual teacher is
capable of making and the number of stimulus situations and organism
variables that may affect a teacher’s behaviour.
 Teacher behaviour is characterized by some degree of consistency and
therefore is predictable.
 Teacher behaviour is always probable rather than certain. All humans’
behaviour must be considered in light of probability instead of from the
standpoint of invariable cause effect relationships.

5.  Teacher behaviour is a function of personal and social characteristics of the
5
individual teacher.
 Teaching behaviour is a function of specific feathers of situation in which
it takes place.
 Teacher’s behaviour is observable.
 Teacher’s behaviors are distinguishable.
 Teacher’s behaviors are classifiable, qualitatively and quantitatively.
 Teacher’s behaviors are revealed through overt behaviour.
PURPOSE OF EFFECTIVE TEACHERS:
I. Good teacher perceive the purpose of teaching.
II. Positive rather than negative.
III. Accepting rather than rejecting.
IV. Helping rather than dominating.
V. Open rather than close.
VI. Encouraging, facilitating of learning.
VII. Freeing rather than controlling.
VIII. Concerned with larger than smaller issues.
IX. Understanding rather condemning.
X. Valuing rather than violating integrity.
XI. Tolerant rather than intolerant.
ROLE OF TEACHER:
 Director of learning
 Liason
 Mediator programmer building
 Professional member of a society.
COMPETENCIES DESIRABLE IN A TEACHER OF NURSING:
Teacher should;

6. 1. Maintain command of a considerable body of concrete information about world. Culture and
6
self.
2. Be able to speak and write.
3. Be a scholar of nursing.
4. Be acquainted with the skills of factual research and be able to engage in conceptual
research.
5. Be able democratically to guide individuals. And groups to desirable, stable changes in
behavior.
6. Be able to infuse teaching with moral and spiritual values, a sense of the worthwhile ness of
nursing.
7. Be able to create both clinical and academic learning situations.
8. Be familiar with a wide range of teaching methods and materials.
9. Understand the nature of contemporary professional undergraduate education, and in the light
of this.
10. Be able to make an accurate, critical, assessment of academic and clinical resources in
relation to their potential contribution to teaching and learning.
CLASSIFICATION OF TEACHER BEHAVIOR:
Many people have attempted to categorize it in order to study effective and ineffective
behavior.
 ACCORDING TO HELEN O’SHEA
Helen O’Shea has categorized it into groups;
1. Effective teaching behavior
2. Ineffective teaching behavior.
1. Effective teaching behavior:
It means those actions or activities which facilitate learning; this can be pertaining to
classroom or clinical setting.
2. Ineffective teaching behavior.
It means those actions, activities and verbalizations which interfere with student learning.
These have further been subgrouped as;
I. Evaluative behavior; That behavior which consisted of feedback from the instructor to
the student related to the student’s clinical performance or written work such as nursing
care plans.
II. Instructive / assistive Behavior: Assistive behaviors were viewed as those which
required the instructor to become physically involved with the task, often acting as a
helper. Instructive behaviors are more likely to occur during verbal exchanges between the
teacher and student.

7. III. Personal characteristics: Refer to a large group of behaviors which seemed to describe
either the personality of teacher or teaching practices which were not easily identified with
educational activities such as evaluation, instruction, etc.
7
 ACCORDING TO COONLEY:
 Those Behaviors That Tend To Have the Same Effect on Most Students When Exhibited by
Most –Teachers in Most situations. These are the most useful behaviors to know and the
ones that should be taught in general method courses.
 Those behaviors that have some effect on most students in most situations, which are useful
to certain teachers, but worthless to others. If these behaviors are teachable they must be the
result of individualization of instruction in teacher’s education programs.
 Those behaviors that are depending on some thing else upon the classroom situation. Among
the many factors that are reluctant would be socioeconomic factors in the student’s
background, the particular subject being taught, and type of school organization.
 Those behaviors that are properly not worth trying to teach. It is impossible to train teachers to
a point. Where every teacher knows exactly how to behave in every situation with every
student.
 Those behaviors that are effective with certain types of students only. Courses or methods for
handling exceptional children should feature this kind of behaviors.
PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION:
“When a behaviour or response is aroused by a stimulus of a situation on a number of
occasions, there is great likelihood of the recurrence of that behaviour when the same stimulus of
situation is presented later at any other place” .
 Classroom principle:
Following are some principles that are related to the teacher’s, behaviour and interaction with
students;
 Providing a psychologically safe environment.
 Offering constructive criticism-avoid giving negative remarks.
 Accepting mistakes.
 Avoid impulsive judgments and evaluating remarks- pupil should be made to do task and
assignments without of evaluation.

8.  Responding to pupil’s ideas and question- it is the teacher and peer response that sustain and
8
increase the student’s effort.
 Give feedback: if the students are given negative feedback of they sense disapproval by the
teacher, they may be unwilling or may hesitate to look at information from a different point of
view. To arise student’s curiosity, to create a desire to know, a teacher must have their trust.
 Increasing intrinsic motivation: intrinsic motivation flourishes is when teachers believe that
children should be relatively autonomous, where the approach is to offer guidance and a lot of
encouragement for children to come up with their own ideas.
DIMENTIONS OF CLASSROOM INTERACTION:
 Teacher’s acceptance of student ideas
 Teachers using student’s ideas
 Teacher’s divergent question
 Silence on account of students thinking
 Student talk
 Teacher talk
 Confusion
METHODS/ DEVICES OF TEACHER BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION:
It was postulated by DG Ryan’s theory of teacher - behaviour that teacher behaviour is
modifiable.
There are various feedback devices which are used for the modification of teacher
behaviour. These are considered new innovations and current practices in teacher- education
programme. The following are the main devices which are commonly used;
1. Microteaching
2. Programmed Instruction.
3. interaction Analysis
4. Creativity.
5. Reinforcement.
6. T- Group Training.
7. Simulated Social Skill Training (SSST).

9. 9
1. Microteaching:
Microteaching is one of the most important developments in the field of teaching practice.
Microteaching is an innovative technique of improving or bringing a change in an educator’s
behaviour. It is a tool to help the teacher- trainee to develop teaching skills under laboratory
conditions. In a microteaching procedure the trainee is engaged in a scaled down teaching
situation. It is scaled (5-10 minutes), unit of content, and complexity of task. After teaching a
brief lesson, the trainee and his supervisor prepare a critical essay of the lesson. If audio-video
recording are made of the lesson. They are played back at this time. After a critique
session, the trainee revises his lesson and retrenches thereby modification is brought in his
method and behaviour.
2. Programmed Instruction.
Programmed instruction is a new strategy of teaching. It is highly individualized
instructional strategy of teaching. It is highly individualized instructional strategy for the
modification of behaviour. It is used for instructional purpose, but it can also be employed as a
mechanism of feedback device for improving teaching efficiency.
Programmed learning in short is designing a strategy in which various kinds of intellectual.
Emotional and motor experiences are provided to the learner in a controlled situation through
a variety of devices like a book, teaching machine, teacher, radio. Television. Etc.
Programmed instruction has been defined as a method of giving individualized instructions
in which the student is active and proceeds at his own pace and is provided with immediate
knowledge of results. The physical presence of teacher is not essential in this strategy.
The principles on which programmed instructions is based, were discovered in
psychological laboratories. There are five fundamental principles of programmed instruction;
 Principal of small step.
 Principal of active responding.
 Principal of Immediate confirmation.
 Principal of Self-pacing.
 Principal of Student-testing.
3. Interaction Analysis
The theory and practice of interaction analysis teaching have been uses to modification of
behaviour of the teacher. The interaction analysis is a technique for analyzing and observing the

10. class room behaviors. It provides the structure, components and flow of behaviour of classroom
activities. The interaction analysis can also be used as a mechanism of feedback device for the
modification of teacher- behaviour. The pupil teachers are trained in both theory and practice of
interaction analysis for use in it as feedback device. They should be acquainted with encoding
and decoding process of interaction analysis. During the teaching practice programme the
classroom teaching of teacher’s trainees are observed by using the interaction analysis. The
record sheet of classroom observation should be given to the teacher concern and he is asked to
decode his own behaviour by preparing the matrix table. The decoding process provides of his
own teaching components and flow of behaviour.
The interaction analysis as a feedback device may be useful for developing the following
10
teaching behaviour;
1. The classroom verbal interaction can be made more effective.
2. The teacher can increase student participation in his teaching.
3. The direct behaviour of the teacher may be shifted to indirect behaviour which is more
suitable in democratic way of life.
4. The creative behaviour patterns can be developed by giving the awareness and practice of
interaction models.
5. The pupil teacher can develop the insight and understanding of flow of events which
process and which follows for effective teaching.
6. The tape recorder and videotape can be used for recording the classroom events. The
trainee can encode and decode his own behaviour.
7. This technique can also be combined with other feedback device such as microteaching
and simulated teaching.
4. Creativity.
Creativeness is a constant state of experimentation. This experimentation involves
planning, testing and revising. This creative teacher has to be up and doing in his task.
Teacher should encourage students to think, try and evaluate for themselves, instead of
imposing his own ideas. Teacher shall decide upon appropriate of needs and personality of
students and limitation factors of the situation.
5. Reinforcement.

11. An environmental event that is the consequence of a response and that makes response
more likely to occur again is known as reinforcement. A positive reinforcer is a stimulus which
increases the like hood that response will be made again.
A negative reinforcer is a stimulus or event, which when its cessation or termination is
contingent on a response, increases the likelihood that causes will occur again. In other
words, it is the response that causes the termination of an event.
11
6. T- Group Training.
T- Group is also a feedback device for the modification of teacher- behaviour. It has been
developed by Bathel and Mine in 1947. It is a leaderless group which meets without any
agenda or schedule. T- Group consists of eight to twelve trainees discuss their own problems
of teaching and suggests some solution on the basis of their experiences.
T – Group provides the opportunities and situations to express their feeling regarding the
training programme freely. Pupil- teachers become honest, straight forward and insightful by
attending the meeting of T-Group regularly. The teacher- educators provide most thoughtful
guidance for the problems of teaching.
It requires an experienced trainer. T – Group meeting is very informal, unstructured and
unplanned group discussion. It can meet even outside the institutional setting to avoid the
consciousness of the group.
7. T- group as a feedback device:
It is used as a mechanism of feedback device for the modification of teacher-behaviour.
during teaching practice programme, T-Group meeting should be organized by the
subject teachers. It should meet twice in a week or at least one in a week. The subject teaching
groups should meet informally to discuss the problems of teaching practice. This unplanned
group discussion emerges real problems and solutions of classroom teaching practices. It may
provide deep insight into the problems of teaching. The trainer provides the feedback to group.
The pupil-teachers realize their own mistakes and try to improve them. This device is helpful for
developing social relations.

12. 8. Simulated Social Skill Training (SSST).
The simulation technique is to induce certain behaviors in artificial situation. A pupil-teacher
has to play several roles as a teacher, as a student and as a supervisor.
Simulation gives us a teacher control over the teaching variables. It is based on
sociodrama. The sociodrama is very much related to the practice. The most important
aspect of simulation is the introduction of the student to teaching is no stressful conditions.
The simulated social skill training can be defined as mechanism of feedback device
to induce certain desirable behaviors among pupil-teachers by playing the role of teacher
in their own group as an artificial situation of classroom teaching.
Procedures of SSST:
Certain steps have been outlined merely as suggestions. The teacher educators
can develop their own procedure of SSST. Generally, the following six steps are used in
SSST technique;
Step- 1. The pupil-teachers are assigned roles which they have to play in SSST. Each
individual has a
chance to be as teacher, student s observer.
Step- 2. After assigning the role, certain social skills are discussed which are to be
practiced. The
skills are discussed for a topic. Each candidate has to select a topic of his
interest.
Step-3. A schedule of organizing SSST is prepared who will start? Who will stop?
When it should be stopped? And who will intervene the conversation?
Step- 5. The schedule is followed for the first practice session. The teaching is
organized and observations are taken for evaluating the teaching task of the actor.
The teaching is followed by discussion and demonstration to provide the feedback
to the pupil teacher by giving the awareness of his social skills of teaching and
suggestion for the improvement.
Step-6. The procedure is now changed, by changing topic, teacher, pupil observer
and social kills. Every pupil-teacher should have the interest as high as, possible in
playing the every role which is assigned to him. The topic and social should not be
too easy or too difficult.
12

13. 13
RESEARCH ARTICLES:
1. Madan lal, J. K., A descriptive correlational survey to determine the
relationship between the student-teacher interaction pattern and
teacher effectiveness during clinical instructions in a psychiatric
setting, as perceived by students and supervisors. Unpublished Master of
Nursing Thesis, University of Delhi, 1980.
Objectives:
1. To determine the kind and extent of verbal interaction between the teacher and the
students during clinical instruction as per Flanders Interaction analysis.
2. To assess the effectiveness of teachers as perceived by the students and supervisors.
3. To determine the relationship of the pattern of teacher behaviour with the perceived
effectiveness of the teacher.
Findings:

14. 1. During the classroom verbal interaction the behaviour categories related to students
participation occurred more than the behaviour categories related to teacher talk.
2. Teachers with more experience seemed to encourage more interaction behaviour
14
related to student’s participation.
3. Teachers who had higher professional qualification, that is M.Sc. (N), Spent less time
in silence as compared to teachers with les professional qualifi8cation.
4. In interaction, emphasis was placed least on “ Acceptance of feelings” of the students.
5. The students seemed to perceive these teachers who asked more questions less
effective as the correlation T or with teacher effectiveness was found to be negative.
6. Students and supervisor perceived, those teachers who tended to react to students
ideas and feelings as more effective in the area of presentation.
7. Students, look more participation in interaction as compared to Flanders’s Normal and
Vatsa’s findings.
2. Chacko, Annama, A Study to identify the Traits of an effective Instructor
as Viewed by the students of college of nursing. Unpublished Master of
Nursing Thesis, University of Delhi, 1969.
Objectives:
1. To identify the traits of an effective clinical instructor.
2. To develop the meaning of traits as understood by the students.
3. To identify those traits to which students attach greatest importance in an effective clinical
instructor.
4. To determine how various groups students and teachers view the relative importance of
traits.
Findings:
It shows the traits as viewed by all students as group traits;
1. Is a competent nurse.
2. Tries to understand the student’s need.
3. Has depth knowledge in clinical speciality.
4. Is a conscientious nurse.
5. Has patience to guide students in clinical toward teaching.

15. 15
6. Has leadership qualities
7. Has acceptable social manner.
8. Is objective in evaluation.
9. Maintains professional relations.
3. Vatsa, M. A Study of the relationship of classroom climate during
Clinical instruction and the teacher effectiveness of the clinical instructors as
perceived by the students. Unpublished Master of Nursing Thesis, university of
Delhi, 1978.
Objectives:
1. To describe the climate of the classroom during clinical instruction in climate of the
Classroom during clini9cal instruction in terms of the kind and extent of interaction
between the teacher and the pupils.
2. To describe the effectiveness of clinical instructors as perceived by the students.
3. To determine the relationship of the pattern of teacher behaviour with the perceived
effectiveness of clinical instructors. And
4. To assess the effectiveness of FIAC, to clinical instruction situation.
Main findings:
1. Three fourths of classroom verbal interaction was in the form of teacher talk out of which
most common category was lecturing.
2. Least emphasis was placed on interaction that indicates that acceptance of feelings of the
students.
3. The student participation in the classroom verbal interaction was mainly in the form of
responses to teacher talk.
4. Clinical instructors asked relatively less questions during classroom interaction as evident
by low mean.
5. Pupil initiated statements was very less.
6. The teacher’s tendency to react to students ideas was greater than the norms.
7. There was a high emphasis on content and the classroom interchange was relatively
slower.
8. Maximum variation in the effectiveness scores of clinical instructors was in the area of
personal attributes.

16. 9. The instructors were relatively similar to each other in their effectiveness in the areas of
preparation and organization, discussion and questioning, and assignments.
10. More experienced teachers were perceived to be more effective by the students.
11. Teachers who asked more questions were considered to be less effective by the students.
12. Teachers who tended to react more to student ideas were considered more effective by
16
the students.
13. The instructors who put more emphasis on content were perceived as more effective.
5. Mann. A.S. “Eleven Tips for the New College Teacher”. Journal of Nursing
Education, 204, 43(9), pp, 389- 390.
This article offers 11 strategies to make the transition from clinical nursing practice to academic
easier, and the teaching role more effective.
1. Do not use a red pen to correct.
2. Feed and masses.
3. Agree to review a test answer only if the request is in writing.
4. Take roll.
5. Set boundaries.
6. Evaluate advice.
7. If it isn’t written down, it did not happen.
8. Do not change textbooks midyear.
9. attend every in-service on teaching you can
10. Teach to their level.
11. Prepare for a new year.
6. Theis, E.C. Nursing students, perspectives of Unethical Teaching
Behaviour. Journal of Nursing Education, 1988, 27 (3), pp.102-106.
This preliminary study set out to collect free response data from Nursing Students about the
nature of unethical teaching behaviour they had encountered in the classroom or clinical setting.
Senior Nursing Students enrolled in three baccalaureate Nursing programmes were used as
subjects. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Unethical teaching behaviour, as described
by the subjects, were classified according to three major ethical principles that had been violated.

17. Respect for persons, justice and beneficence. Results revealed that the largest number of
unethical teaching behaviour involved violations of respect for students.
17
CONCLUSION:
The educationists and psychologists have make efforts to solve the problems
related to teacher and student behaviour. The behavioral technology has contributed
significantly in this direction. The teaching process can only be developed and improved when
teacher- education institutions could prepare effective teachers. The major assumption of
training technologies is the fact that the effective teachers are not only born but they can also
be cultivated (Sorenson, H. , 1964).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
BOOKS.
 Basavanthapa, B.T. NURSING EDUCATION, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (p) ltd,
New Delhi-110002, India. 2003, Pp.259 -276.
 Wilbert, E., et al. Behaviour Modification and the Nursing Process. St Louis: The C.V.
Mosby Company, 1973, pp. 1-25.
 Conley, C. Curriculum and instructions in Nursing. First Edition. London: Churchill
Livingstone Company, 1973, pp 420-430.
 Hildgerker, L. Teaching- learning in schools of Nursing. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott
Company, 1965.
JOURNAL.
 Mann. A.S. “Eleven Tips for the New College Teacher”. Journal of Nursing Education,
204, 43(9), pp, 389- 390.
 Theis, E.C. Nursing students, perspectives of Unethical Teaching Behaviour. Journal of
Nursing Education, 1988, 27 (3), pp.102-106.
THESIS.

18.  Madan lal, J. K., A descriptive correlational survey to determine the relationship
between the student-teacher interaction pattern and teacher effectiveness during
clinical instructions in a psychiatric setting, as perceived by students and supervisors.
Unpublished Master of Nursing Thesis, University of Delhi, 1980.
 Chacko, Annama, A Study to identify the Traits of an effective Instructor as Viewed by
the students of college of nursing. Unpublished Master of Nursing Thesis, University of
Delhi, 1969.
 Vatsa, M. A Study of the relationship of classroom climate during Clinical instruction
and the teacher effectiveness of the clinical instructors as perceived by the students.
Unpublished Master of Nursing Thesis, university of Delhi, 1978.
18
INTERNET
 www.learningandteaching.info/learning/behaviour_mod.htm
 www.thecanadianteacher.com/archives
 home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~capsi/capsipeople.htm