Determination of quality of primary, secondary and tertiary classes by the application of fiacs model

The teaching process at the all level (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary) is too weak and our classroom environment is totally based on rote memorization. Moreover the role of teacher in making classroom climate conducive to improved learning is highly crucial. The classroom climate is built up by the pattern of interaction between the teacher and student verbal exchanges, asking questions and responding and reacting. The most important factor in a classroom situation is the interactions and exchanges initiated by the teacher and students. There is no provision for the development of intellectual and thinking skill among students who are given very little attention in the classroom. The teacher seems to be in a very dominating role in the class. They are the sole authority to manage the class room environment and maintain the quality teaching –learning processes. Based on a large-scale meta-analysis conducted by Walberg (1986), research indicates that the following seven factors are key elements to the effectiveness of teaching: engaged academic learning time, use of positive reinforcement, cooperative learning activities, positive class atmosphere, high-order questioning, cues and feedback, and use of advance organizers. Jackson (1968) reports that teachers are typically involved in more than 1,000 verbal exchanges with their student are every day. Unfortunately, the poorly structured classrooms quickly deteriorate into a vacuous waste of time (UNDP, 1997). In this context it is very essential to know the current status of quality of primary, secondary and tertiary level classes. Several technique has been designed to observe the teacher behavior and interaction pattern with the students in the class room. The term interaction is used in a general sense in this study, referring to any sort of interaction: student-student or teacher-student discussions, group discussions and any type of classroom participation. The focus on interaction was mainly based on the assumption that it leads to better learning, and will activate learner’s competence (Malamah-Thomas, 1987). It is also maintained in literature that an increase in the amount of classroom interaction will help learners learn the target concept easily and quickly (Brock, 1986). Among those techniques one of the most popular techniques was used in this study known as Flander’s interaction analysis category system (FIACS).