11 Key Attributes Secondary School Teachers Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Michael Davis

Friday, August 21, 2015

Secondary school teachers teach students in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies at the secondary level in public or private schools. They may also be designated according to subject matter specialty. In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that secondary school teachers would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for social work environments. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 86.4%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 85%

Teaching others how to do something.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 85%

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 83.6%

Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.4%

The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%