Edward PAJAK
This article explores the notion of “bad” teachers from a psychological viewpoint, including the possible unconscious origins of such images, and raises some questions for teaching and supervisory practice. One day, on a whim, I asked the 24 experienced teachers who enrolled in the course to list on index cards up to three characteristics of what they considered to be a “bad” teacher. No one appeared to have any difficulty with the assignment, as they all completed it quickly. I collected and compiled the responses, and recorded the frequencies. The next day I shared the cumulative list with the teachers as a group, presented a ten?minute overview of Jung’s concept of the shadow, and then asked for the students’ reactions. Five categories summarized all 72 characteristics of “bad” teachers. These categories include: having “low motivation” (29%), being “uncaring or disrespectful toward students” (24%), evidencing a “knowledge or skill deficit” (22%), being “inflexible” (14%), and possessing a “difficult personality” (11%)
