Q1: Explain the idea of William James, “Is teaching an Art or Science”?

William James was born on January 11, 1842 in the city of New York. He was the graduate of
Harvard University and was the philosopher and psychologist by profession. He was of the view
that teaching is an art.

If we talk about the word teaching, it means the way and the process through which the students
are made to learn about the knowledge, ideas and skills as well as how to behave and conduct
oneself in a society and the purpose of it is to apply this knowledge and these learned skills in
practical life. So, teaching is a very great responsibility on which the student’s achievements
depends upon. It is very important on part of the teacher to be highly proficient so he/she might
be able to direct the students in a better way.

Teaching as a science means that everything happens in a systematic way. There are many
strategies and methods that an educator makes the use of in order to get productive in his/her
teaching and in increasing the student’s learning. Teaching as a science is more of the factual and
organized sort of teaching that is based on the proper facts and figures and the teacher makes use
of these facts and figures to see if the students are learning or how will they learn best. The
science of teaching is the accumulation of information and the improvement of teaching
practices based on the information gained while on the other hand teaching as an art is something
in which teachers explore their distinctive abilities or skills and make use of their own self-
created teaching strategies which they then use to make their teaching and student’s leaning
captivating. The art of teaching involves not only knowing what to do and how to do it, but also
knowing when to do it and in what situations not to do it. it is this kind of thinking process that
takes teaching from the scientific base to an art form. Everyone don’t have this art of teaching,
the drawback of which is the poor learning of the children.

In my opinion, I too believe that teaching is more of an art than science. Bringing the students in
to such a mood that they become really motivated and excited for the class is very important for
their better understanding of the concepts and this could only be done by that teacher who has
this ART of teaching. Teaching strategies vary from grade to grade. The strategies used for grade
1 cannot be used for the students of grade 10. That’s why teacher needs to be really efficient and
vigilant in this regard so that he/she might be able to tackle every challenge that arise in the class
room environment. A teacher who only holds the information and knowledge in his/her subject
or course area, comes in class and just deliver the lecture always with the constant style will
make the students demotivated and dull during the lecture. They will not enjoy learning or
studying rather they will find it more like a burden than something stimulating. Teacher should
illustrate the subject matter in a way that it becomes thrilling and inspiring for the learners. The
teacher creates the environment of the classroom and good learning environment can only be
made if teacher know about the abilities and shortcomings of their students and device the
objectives and curriculum that best suit their mental capabilities and their interest.

Q2: Does a teacher in Pakistan have an individual autonomy or not? Discuss

Teacher’s autonomy can be defined as having independence in teaching and by independence we

mean not to have too much involvement of the institute’s authorities in teacher’s work in order to
make the teacher to work in his/her own pace or without any pressure. It is basically the
independence of making decisions regarding what to teach and how to teach the students but
sadly this concept of teaching doesn’t prevail in Pakistan’s educational institutes. Teachers in
Pakistan cannot make decisions on their own. They are bound to follow instructions and orders
from higher authorities. They have been given syllabus break-downs in which the whole
schedule is already being planned by the authorities and teacher has to follow that break-down
schedule. Teachers have the limited time span to cover a particular topic due to which they are
unable to make use of new techniques in their teaching. They have to seek permission if they
want to teach the students outside the class within the school premises. They do not have the
liberty of making these decisions on their own. If the breakdown says ‘take 3 tests per month of
each subject’, then the teacher is bound to take them no matter what.

For example, a history teacher wants to take her students to museum so they can practically view
things related to history for their better understanding of the topic. Teacher cannot execute this
on her own. She is bound to seek permission from the head of the institute and if they say yes,
only then teachers are able to execute such things. Likewise, if she wants to teach the students
from the slides but the breakdown says teach them by book, she cannot teach them by slides until
she’s being permitted by the institute’s authorities.
Sadly, it is very difficult for the teachers in Pakistan to make their lectures interesting due to so
many restrictions imposed upon them. They cannot evaluate each student’s understanding of the
topic individually in the class due to lack of time. So, it’s a high time for our Government to
improve the Education System of our country so that teachers are able to practice new teaching
strategies according to the needs of the students.