29,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
Brilliant teachers really understand themselves and their students. By uncovering personality types teachers can transform learning in their classroom. This practical book helps teachers improve communication, develop creativity, build positive relationships and boost flexibility and organisational skills to become the best teacher they can be. David has introduced this model to hundreds of schools, primary and secondary, both across the UK and abroad to inspire students, classroom teachers and leadership teams.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Ähnliche
Personality in the Classroom
Motivating and inspiring every teacher and student
David Hodgson
Foreword
What kind of student would you be in today’s classroom?
To ponder this, try to recall your reactions to assignments, activities and events when you were the age of the students you now teach. Or, if you’re a parent, the current age of your children. Or, if you’re an administrator, the year you liked most in school. What engaged you so completely that you couldn’t wait to return to class? When did you check out by daydreaming, doodling or disrupting others?
Now, with those impressions in mind, visit a few classrooms or look through a sampling of current assignments. Would you be engaged? Better yet, compare your reactions to someone you know who thinks a bit differently than you do. Are your reactions the same or are there some startling contrasts? Chances are, you learn differently.
In this book, David Hodgson masterfully guides us through the unique worlds of sixteen types of teachers and students using the framework of personality type. Jungian type, popularised through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®), is an amazing lens for understanding how the people around us are energised, gather information, make decisions, and approach life – all key elements in helping students master not just knowledge but how to learn. Readers will benefit from David’s deep passion for educating students and his years of refining workshop exercises and information to make these concepts come alive for adults and students alike.
To discover how this rich theory might help you reach more students, read Chapter 1 to discover your own personality. If you start thinking, ‘Oh this is just a horoscope,’ choose your four letters. Turn to your type’s description in Chapter 2 – and then to the opposite description. For example, if you selected ISTJ (Polar Bear) as your preferences, also read the page for ENFP (Clownfish). Can you see how different they are? Picture what you might experience if taught by a teacher with opposite preferences.
If you still aren’t sure that the differences described by type are real, try one of David’s great exercises in Chapter 3, with several groups if possible. Both David and I have yet to see adults who engage in these kinds of task conclude anything other than, ‘Okay … type is real! My students have incredibly different needs!’
Then, immerse yourself in what David has to say with a pen or notebook or highlighter, whatever tool will help you mark what surprises you. Bring to mind a child whom you’ve struggled to reach or teach. Where might your personalities be the same? Where might they be different? Which of the tips found in these pages might be worth a try? This isn’t about labelling a child, but rather considering new strategies that wouldn’t work for a student like you but just might be the answer for someone with a very different approach to life.
I’ve been working with type for over twenty years, and the more research I gather, the more I’m motivated to help educators grasp these natural differences and the impact they have in the classroom. For example, my research – filming students completing the same maths tasks – shows that while the students that David refers to as Bears and Cats need pictures and manipulatives to master the big concepts of mathematics, the Birds and Sea Animals are more trustful of abstract numbers. And, while a few types love to complete multiple practice problems when mastering a new concept, others actually do worse the more they practice. My colleague Dario Nardi, a professor at University of California, Los Angeles, found that the brains of two types (Hodgson’s Lions and Panthers) actually show more brain activity when looking out the window than when doing traditional classroom seatwork and problem sets. Their brains need action to engage! Students are truly wired differently.
When people say, ‘Why can’t we go back to the good old days where students simply paid attention and learned what they were taught?’ I gently remind them that those days never existed. Fifty years ago, students frequently opted out of traditional schooling to pursue the trades or to start their own businesses. Now, without a diploma, those options aren’t available.
Furthermore, it’s no longer enough to help students master what is taught. Why? Roland Barth, founder of the Principal’s Center at Harvard, points out that in the 1970s, students finished Year 12 with about 75% of the knowledge they would need for the rest of their lives. Now the estimate is 3% because knowledge constantly changes. It’s imperative that we graduate students who are lifelong learners, who enjoy gaining new insights and knowledge enough to pursue it on their own.
How does type fit in? If we don’t meet students’ needs, we aren’t supporting them in becoming the best scholars they can be. They may survive, but they won’t thrive as lifelong learners. As Chapter 1 explains, the lens of type isn’t about labelling or boxing students in, but rather about understanding and supporting their natural pathways for development and growth. While millions of people worldwide have been ‘typed’, that’s different from delving deeply and applying the theory. This book makes it easy to do just that.
You might start by considering the needs of one student, as suggested above. With an older student, let them select their preferences. Then, talk about your similarities and differences. How might each of you adjust to achieve more success? Or, try one of the basic strategies, such as altering ‘wait time’ (described on pages 62–63). Some experts estimate that it takes at least six tries for teachers and students to get used to any new techniques, so give it time.
Choose your own way to start, but dig in with David as he provides insightful stories, tools for sorting your preferences, descriptions that articulate your own and other’s approaches to school and practical ideas you can use immediately – all flowing from his deep passion to make the framework of type as useful to you as it is to the countless teachers and students he has trained. Enjoy!
Dr Jane Kise
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the teachers and students I’ve worked with over the past twenty-five years who have helped me better understand type theory and human nature. We are an amazing and silly species. Having fun together under the name of Inset or training is always a pleasure and a privilege. To paraphrase an old joke: sharing the personality type model is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. A special thanks to Crown House Publishing, especially David, Caroline and Tom, and Kath Bennett for their support in pulling this book together.
I’d also like to thank Jane Kise for her encouragement and support. She is an inspiration to me and many others in the calm, warm and clear way she advocates and champions type in the classroom and beyond.
Contents
Title Page
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Part 1
Chapter 1 Personality Types and Preferences
In this chapter:
Learn about personality type theory
Discover your own personality preferences and type
Find out how type theory can be used to transform education
Chapter 2 Personality Types in the Classroom
In this chapter:
Explore your personality profile
Understand your natural teaching style
Identify your students’ personality profiles
Discover what works best for you and your students
Chapter 3 Recognising Personality Preferences
In this chapter:
Learn how to recognise and develop all eight personality preferences
Understand how crucial they are in the classroom
Introduce activities so you and your students can increase your behavioural flexibility
Chapter 4 Leadership Styles
In this chapter:
Learn about leadership styles
Explore how type can help you lead and inspire staff, colleagues and students
Apply the type temperaments model (Cats, Birds, Sea Animals and Bears) in school and beyond
Chapter 5 Teacher Resources
In this chapter:
Explore charts summarising type applications
Find out how to use them as classroom resources
Part 2
Chapter 6 Explore the One-to-One Relationships You Have with Each Student
Discover tips showing you how to overcome personality clashes and difficulties
Personalise learning to ensure every student progresses Navigation grid
Bibliography
Copyright
Polar Bear teacher (ISTJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 4
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 1
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 12
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 13
Lion (ESFP) student 7
Panther (ESTP) student 9
Tiger (ISTP) student 5
Cat (ISFP) student 16
Seahorse (INFJ) student 14
Seal (INFP) student 2
Clownfish (ENFP) student 3
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 6
Eagle (ENTJ) student 15
Falcon (ENTP) student 10
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 11
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 8
Black Bear teacher (ESTJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 20
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 17
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 28
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 29
Lion (ESFP) student 23
Panther (ESTP) student 25
Tiger (ISTP) student 21
Cat (ISFP) student 32
Seahorse (INFJ) student 30
Seal (INFP) student 18
Clownfish (ENFP) student 19
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 22
Eagle (ENTJ) student 31
Falcon (ENTP) student 26
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 27
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 24
Teddy Bear teacher (ESFJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 34
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 35
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 33
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 46
Lion (ESFP) student 39
Panther (ESTP) student 38
Tiger (ISTP) student 42
Cat (ISFP) student 43
Seahorse (INFJ) student 47
Seal (INFP) student 44
Clownfish (ENFP) student 40
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 36
Eagle (ENTJ) student 37
Falcon (ENTP) student 41
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 45
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 48
Koala Bear teacher (ISFJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 52
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 59
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 53
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 49
Lion (ESFP) student 62
Panther (ESTP) student 63
Tiger (ISTP) student 56
Cat (ISFP) student 58
Seahorse (INFJ) student 64
Seal (INFP) student 60
Clownfish (ENFP) student 51
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 55
Eagle (ENTJ) student 57
Falcon (ENTP) student 50
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 54
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 61
Lion teacher (ESFP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 77
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 65
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 66
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 78
Lion (ESFP) student 70
Panther (ESTP) student 69
Tiger (ISTP) student 73
Cat (ISFP) student 74
Seahorse (INFJ) student 79
Seal (INFP) student 75
Clownfish (ENFP) student 71
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 67
Eagle (ENTJ) student 68
Falcon (ENTP) student 72
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 76
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 80
Panther teacher (ESTP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 86
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 81
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 85
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 87
Lion (ESFP) student 91
Panther (ESTP) student 88
Tiger (ISTP) student 90
Cat (ISFP) student 92
Seahorse (INFJ) student 95
Seal (INFP) student 96
Clownfish (ENFP) student 82
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 84
Eagle (ENTJ) student 83
Falcon (ENTP) student 89
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 94
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 93
Tiger teacher (ISTP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 101
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 102
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 98
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 105
Lion (ESFP) student 107
Panther (ESTP) student 109
Tiger (ISTP) student 104
Cat (ISFP) student 108
Seahorse (INFJ) student 100
Seal (INFP) student 112
Clownfish (ENFP) student 110
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 99
Eagle (ENTJ) student 106
Falcon (ENTP) student 103
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 97
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 111
Cat teacher (ISFP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 126
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 113
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 114
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 128
Lion (ESFP) student 117
Panther (ESTP) student 116
Tiger (ISTP) student 120
Cat (ISFP) student 121
Seahorse (INFJ) student 124
Seal (INFP) student 122
Clownfish (ENFP) student 118
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 115
Eagle (ENTJ) student 127
Falcon (ENTP) student 119
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 123
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 125
Seahorse teacher (INFJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 143
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 131
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 129
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 144
Lion (ESFP) student 135
Panther (ESTP) student 132
Tiger (ISTP) student 136
Cat (ISFP) student 138
Seahorse (INFJ) student 141
Seal (INFP) student 140
Clownfish (ENFP) student 137
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 139
Eagle (ENTJ) student 134
Falcon (ENTP) student 130
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 133
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 142
Seal teacher (INFP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 153
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 146
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 148
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 154
Lion (ESFP) student 145
Panther (ESTP) student 147
Tiger (ISTP) student 155
Cat (ISFP) student 156
Seahorse (INFJ) student 157
Seal (INFP) student 159
Clownfish (ENFP) student 152
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 151
Eagle (ENTJ) student 149
Falcon (ENTP) student 150
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 160
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 158
Clownfish teacher (ENFP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 169
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 162
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 164
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 170
Lion (ESFP) student 161
Panther (ESTP) student 163
Tiger (ISTP) student 171
Cat (ISFP) student 172
Seahorse (INFJ) student 173
Seal (INFP) student 175
Clownfish (ENFP) student 168
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 167
Eagle (ENTJ) student 165
Falcon (ENTP) student 166
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 176
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 174
Dolphin teacher (ENFJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 189
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 180
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 179
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 190
Lion (ESFP) student 182
Panther (ESTP) student 181
Tiger (ISTP) student 185
Cat (ISFP) student 186
Seahorse (INFJ) student 191
Seal (INFP) student 187
Clownfish (ENFP) student 183
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 177
Eagle (ENTJ) student 178
Falcon (ENTP) student 184
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 188
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 192
Eagle teacher (ENTJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 196
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 202
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 200
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 198
Lion (ESFP) student 205
Panther (ESTP) student 206
Tiger (ISTP) student 195
Cat (ISFP) student 194
Seahorse (INFJ) student 201
Seal (INFP) student 208
Clownfish (ENFP) student 204
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 199
Eagle (ENTJ) student 197
Falcon (ENTP) student 203
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 207
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 193
Falcon teacher (ENTP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 223
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 214
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 215
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 210
Lion (ESFP) student 212
Panther (ESTP) student 220
Tiger (ISTP) student 216
Cat (ISFP) student 221
Seahorse (INFJ) student 217
Seal (INFP) student 213
Clownfish (ENFP) student 222
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 224
Eagle (ENTJ) student 219
Falcon (ENTP) student 209
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 218
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 211
Tawny Owl teacher (INTP) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 237
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 225
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 226
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 238
Lion (ESFP) student 230
Panther (ESTP) student 229
Tiger (ISTP) student 233
Cat (ISFP) student 234
Seahorse (INFJ) student 239
Seal (INFP) student 235
Clownfish (ENFP) student 231
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 227
Eagle (ENTJ) student 228
Falcon (ENTP) student 232
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 236
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 240
Barn Owl teacher (INTJ) with:
Polar Bear student (ISTJ) 241
Black Bear student (ESTJ) 253
Teddy Bear (ESFJ) student 254
Koala Bear (ISFJ) student 242
Lion (ESFP) student 250
Panther (ESTP) student 249
Tiger (ISTP) student 245
Cat (ISFP) student 246
Seahorse (INFJ) student 243
Seal (INFP) student 247
Clownfish (ENFP) student 251
Dolphin (ENFJ) student 255
Eagle (ENTJ) student 256
Falcon (ENTP) student 252
Tawny Owl (INTP) student 248
Barn Owl (INTJ) student 244
Part 1
Chapter 1
Personality Types and Preferences
In this chapter:
• Learn about personality type theory
• Discover your own personality preferences and type
• Find out how type theory can be used to transform education
If we all knew this stuff we would change the world.
Janice, head teacher, South Wales
If we all knew this stuff we would change the world.
Janice, head teacher, South Wales
This is the kind of Inset feedback I like. If you’re not in teaching to change the world you shouldn’t be a teacher. This book is designed to help you change the world, one child at a time, by helping you better understand yourself and your students.
Let’s start by understanding yourself, by identifying your preferences and strengths using the personality type model.
How would you define personality?
You may like to think about it for a minute or two. The definition of personality best suited to appreciating the type model, and therefore the definition applied in this book, is: The underlying characteristics that make us who we are that are pretty stable over time.
Essentially, personality is the stuff about us that doesn’t change on a day-to-day basis. Mood and behaviour can change quickly. Skills can be developed over hours, weeks or years. Personality is the stuff underneath that remains relatively stable: the qualities that are similar when we’re 15, 30 or 65. Examples of stable traits include impulsiveness, shyness or daydreaming. We can change our behaviour. One day we can be adventurous and the following day play safe. By developing skill we gain more flexible behaviour and this is a fantastic thing to do, as it invites us to embrace more choice and control in our lives.
So think of personality as our default position – the core essence of who we are when we look beyond the weather and our mood. This is important because if there are bits of us that are pretty constant throughout our lives they can help us understand ourselves and others better. They can guide us to wiser decisions.
Climate is like our personality. Weather is like our behaviour. Sunshine or drizzle is like our mood. Climate doesn’t predict the weather each and every day. It doesn’t guarantee sun or rain. But it does provide a useful overall description that informs our wardrobe choices. We know to take more t-shirts than jumpers on holiday to Jamaica due to our knowledge of climate. Similarly, personality type will not predict the behaviour of each student during each lesson but it does help teachers prepare and perform most effectively in the classroom.
Are you ready to identify your own personality preferences?
Your mission is to identify which of the following opposites are your preferences. If you access a state of benevolent scepticism you can assess your preferences quickly using the word clouds that follow on pages 112–115. If you’d like a little more detail this is provided on pages 4–11. If this still isn’t enough the frequently asked questions about type on pages 18–23 are designed to reassure you (or doubting colleagues you later seek to convert to using the type model within their work). If you are already familiar with type through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) or the many other incarnations of Carl Jung’s work on personality types you can skip merrily past this section altogether.
One who knows their opponent and knows themselves will not be in danger in a hundred battles. One who does not know their opponent but knows themselves will sometimes win, sometimes lose. One who does not know their opponent and does not know themselves will be in danger in every battle.
Sun Tze, c.500 BC
What are your personality preferences?
Although we can write with both hands we tend to just use one – our preference. It is the same with four chunks of personality. We could use both opposites but we don’t, we mostly use just one. Of the five pairs shown here, which one is your preference, the one you tend to use most? Remember, neither is better or worse – just different.
1. From where do you gain your energy – inside or out?
On balance? I’m more E or I’m more I
At their best E’s tend to be • confident • assertive
At their best I’s tend to be • careful • good listeners
Famous E preferences • Victoria Beckham • Homer Simpson
Famous I preferences • David Beckham • Marge Simpson
E Gain energy from people or things around them – recharge their batteries by being around people or being involved in activities.
I Gain energy from inside themselves – recharge their batteries by spending time alone.
How to spot an E or I? Listen to someone in a conversation. If they often interrupt they’re probably E. If they are often interrupted they’re probably I.
2. How do you take information in – detail/facts (S) or big picture/ideas (N)?
On balance? I’m more S or I’m more N
At their best S’s tend to be • practical • realistic • sensible
At their best N’s tend to be • imaginative • creative • dreamers
Famous S preferences • Shrek • James Bond
Famous N preferences • Cinderella • Dr Who
S Take information in by looking at the detail. Tend to have ‘their feet on the ground’. Good at thinking ‘inside the box’.
N Take information in by looking at the big picture. Like to think about how things could be changed. Good at thinking ‘outside the box’.
How to spot an S or N? Ask someone to look out of a window and describe what they see. If they describe with details and facts they’re probably S. If they describe by interpreting and making stories about the scene they’re probably N.
3. How do you decide things – with your head (T) or heart (F)?
On balance? I’m more T or I’m more F
At their best T’s tend to be • logical • objective • honest
At their best F’s tend to be • friendly • sympathetic • caring
Famous T preferences • Richard Branson • Katie Price
Famous F preferences • Jonathan Ross • Cheryl Cole
T Make decisions by doing the ‘right thing’ as they see it. Like fairness.
F Make decisions by considering how something will affect people. Like to be liked.
How to spot a T or F? When in a conversation if someone tends to disagree with the person they’re talking to a lot, they’re probably T but if they tend to try and agree and see the other’s viewpoint, they’re probably F.
4. What’s your attitude to life – spontaneous (P) or a planner (J)?
On balance? I’m more P or I’m more J
At their best J’s tend to • get things done • be on time and on schedule
At their best P’s tend to be • flexible • open minded
Famous J preferences • Delia Smith • Will Smith
Famous P preferences • Jamie Oliver • Bridget Jones
JJ behaviour is organised and planned. Employers tend to like J behaviour.
PP behaviour is flexible and spontaneous.
How to spot a J or P? Ask someone if they like to get things finished and sorted before they relax or can they relax anytime? First answer and they’re probably J, second answer and they’re probably P.
Your preferences:
I or E
S or N
F or T
J or P
The Perfect Teacher
If we were to create a perfect teacher to be cloned and deployed to classrooms across the land, after a kiss on the forehead from the Education Minister, what would they be like?
Does this teacher exist? Is this a perfect teacher?
Personality type theory implies that every teacher naturally possesses an innate preference for half of the above characteristics. They develop naturally with classroom experience. Great, we’re all halfway to outstanding! Fortuitously, the other half can be learned and honed.
Chapter 1 guides you through all eight preferences, helping you to confirm your four natural preferences and to explore the four that can be developed through extra practice.
Sign your name in boxes like the ones below, on the right with your right hand and on the left using your left hand.
Your four natural preferences (e.g. ESTJ) are the equivalent of your signature using your preferred hand. The opposite pairings (i.e. INFP) are equally useful in the classroom and life generally but are less well developed – the equivalent of your signature using your other hand. With practice we can develop skill using all eight letters. There are activities in Chapter 3 which help you develop all eight letter preferences so you can be a great teacher to all of your students. You can also share the model and activities with your students because the above outline for the perfect teacher looks pretty close to a description for the perfect student too. Together you could create the perfect classroom.
What are your top ten classroom challenges? These are the top ten suggested by teachers during the Inset sessions I deliver: (1) stress, (2) workload, (3) results, (4) behaviour, (5) lack of motivation, (6) stretching all students, (7) pushy parents, (8) chaotic home lives, (9) Michael Gove and (10) boredom.
Factors outside our control (e.g. the government, education policy, school leadership, Ofsted, exam results, curriculum, people – parents and colleagues) are not worth the worry. Instead, look at ways you can achieve your own objectives as a professional within the framework imposed by others. Doctors, care workers, fire-fighters (basically everybody doing a really worthwhile job) have to do this. Stress can be understood through the lens of type.
If you’d like to change the imposed framework, that will be achieved outside of the classroom – and outside of the scope of this book. Thinking about the Secretary of State for Education will not help you when you’re in the classroom.
The factors you can control are inside the classroom (e.g. stretching all students, personalisation, students’ (poor) behaviour and lack of motivation/boredom). The type framework helps teachers inside the classroom by strengthening personal relationships – the foundation of all great teaching. Personality type can at worst alleviate the top ten challenges, and at best transform and reinvigorate your classroom experience.
To remind yourself of the real reason you became a teacher think of the last time you inspired a young person. I’m hoping you can think of a recent example. If not you really do need this book.
Personality revealed?
Humans have been trying to understand what makes us tick long before psychologists joined in. However, the contribution of psychologists has been incredibly useful, especially in the past hundred years or so. Most researchers agree that personality can be broken down into separate and specific chunks that vary between individuals. There is fairly strong agreement that there are five big chunks of personality as follows:
1 Openness:
The degree to which we are open-minded, abstract, divergent and global or grounded, traditional, convergent and specific in the way we make sense of our environment. This correlates with S and N type preferences.
2 Conscientiousness:
The degree to which we crave order, self-control and conformity or flexibility, impulsiveness and options in our approach to life. This correlates with J and P personality type preferences.
3 Extraversion:
The degree to which someone is outgoing, lively, bold and seeks to impose their thoughts and ideas on their immediate environment or is reserved, reticent, private and self-contained. This aspect of personality is generally easy to spot and has been one of the most studied areas of personality difference. This correlates with E and I type preferences.
4 Agreeableness:
The degree to which we make decisions based on subjective or objective considerations is linked to F and T personality type preferences, as well as feminine and masculine roles and archetypes.
5 Neuroticism:
The degree to which we are anxious in response to our internal wiring (some people are tense, apprehensive ‘worriers’ and afraid of their own shadow while others are unperturbed and adaptive to stressors) and aroused by external events (the setting for our fight-or-flight response). Although important, this factor is not linked to type theory. For strategies on how to control this aspect of personality refer to my book The Buzz (2006). It is important that teachers attempt to appear low on neuroticism during lessons, despite the intense pressure that can engulf classrooms so quickly. It is unlikely that a highly strung and fretful teacher (or parent) can create a relaxed and positive learning environment suitable for fostering resilient young people. The ability to treat change as a challenge to be overcome by generating additional choices is an attitude children learn mostly by modelling (copying) the adults they encounter.
There are two different approaches used by psychologists to describe these five chunks. The trait approach measures chunks, usually by asking a series of questions and comparing the answers to those of large sample groups. People are then given their ‘score’ so they can be placed on a scale. For example, someone could be low on extraversion and high on neuroticism compared to others of the same age and gender – and then they go home and quietly worry about their feedback, especially if they also score high on the conscientiousness chunk! This approach is used in recruitment and it can be applied either benignly or ominously depending on the skill and intent of the professional clutching the test results.
The other approach is type. This is based on the idea that we develop an either/or preference for one type or another, as we do with our left or right hand. Although we can use both we have a definite preference. Remember, no type is better than any other type but we can all be better within our own type profile. This simple concept is at the heart of type theory and must be grasped and welcomed for the model to make sense. If not, you’ll be playing the role of cynical old buffer sat at the back of my Inset grumbling behind a raised copy of your newspaper of choice and unwilling to entertain a new idea – a dangerous mindset for teachers. Treat the concept as you would a toddler learning to walk. With encouragement and practice the child will not only be walking but will soon run, jump and shimmy like a professional dancer on Strictly.
The nature versus nurture debate has thankfully moved on and most research confirms that both play their part in child development. How they interact is the current line of enquiry. In my experience parents offer a useful insight. Those with one child sit on the nurture side of the fence. They convince themselves their child is so lovely and gorgeous due to the extensive hours of care and support they diligently provide around the clock. Parents with more than one child are inclined to sit (exhausted) on the other side of the fence. They notice that their children are so different in personality that it can have little to do with nurture. They tend to think their children were basically born the way they are and parenting has far less to do with who they become than we’d like to believe. I’m not arguing that good parenting isn’t crucial to a child’s development; it is more to do with how to help children become aware of their strengths and apply these in the world for success in life rather than actually influencing underlying personality traits. Effective parents influence by living positive values such as respect, tolerance, bravery, compassion and so on, that their children will absorb and apply; they cannot mould personality traits directly and expect a healthy outcome.
Good parenting is also crucial in helping our children understand their weaknesses and how these can be overcome through the development of skills or behavioural flexibility. Good parenting provides the framework – like a climbing frame or trellis – of positive identity, values and beliefs that allow the child’s personality to develop strongly and flourish around the strong structure.
This is the way nature and nurture can both play their part. Freud referred to parenting as the impossible profession. Personality type is one tool that helps both parents and their children better understand each other.
Personality in context
Over the past twenty years I’ve spent an increasing amount of my time in schools and colleges with teachers and other professionals learning how to apply the type model to enhance the quality of experience in the classroom, staffroom and beyond. This book, which looks at type from the viewpoint of the adult, complements The Buzz, which peered in through the eyes of the teenager. So welcome aboard.
At the start of the training sessions I deliver I often ask ‘How do you feel right now?’ I generally receive the following responses:
‘I’m a bit cold.’
‘I’m a bit tired.’
‘I’m a little nervous about what I’m expected to contribute to this session.’
‘I’m looking forward/not looking forward to putting my own thoughts across.’
‘I’m wondering what I’ve done with the last thirty years of my life.’
None of these answers are more wrong or right. They’re all acceptable. But it would be nice to have a method to better understand them.
On the following page you’ll see how we can structure these replies.
We function at different levels, stacked like the Russian dolls above, all equally important and valid. We mostly express ourselves and interact with the world around us at the level of behaviour. Our identity and personality are filtered through our behaviour. They may drive it but they are mostly unseen.
When we see cars whizzing past below us, when we watch from a service station bridge, we don’t see the driver. We see the car and can react to it, but it is the driver who is in control. The car we see is like our behaviour and our personality is like the driver. Our skill determines the success we achieve with our behaviour.
It is worth identifying at which logical level a student is operating as it has an enormous impact in the classroom. If everyone is focused on their environment – because it too hot or too cold or there is noise pollution – then there is little chance of any real learning taking place. It’s possible but unlikely. When the roof of your Portakabin classroom is straining under the weight of snow and you can see freezing breath trails swirling around your students like a load of forty-a-day smokers, you may need to adjust your learning outcomes. I’ve managed to deliver a great session in a dinner hall just after lunch with the sound of kitchen staff cackling away behind a rattling metal screen as pots and pans were being cleaned and put away. I’ve also delivered average sessions in state-of-the-art theatres. However, most learning will occur when teacher and students are united at the level of skill and behaviour in a way that is consistent with individuals applying their own personality strengths and identity to the skill or knowledge being developed. To foster learning we should build up, develop and praise positively the identity and personality of our students. Criticism of skill and behaviour is OK but don’t ‘dis’ identity.
This rule applies in the staffroom as well as the classroom; criticise behaviour not personality or identity. I recently overheard a teacher sharing the following with her colleagues in the staffroom: ‘They (the Head of Department) said my lesson wasn’t good enough. I told her I was doing my best. She’s never liked me or appreciated the effort I’ve put in over the years. It’s soul-destroying.’
The teacher had been given feedback about the lesson she’d delivered. The assessor may have offered a suggestion as to how to improve one tiny bit of the lesson. This is feedback at the level of behaviour; not skill, as a lack of skill would result in recurring mistakes or problems in the classroom. Skill can be developed if the area of skill lacking is first identified and then rectified. Occasional problems in lessons are likely to be behavioural level issues, often identified with phrases such as ‘Sometimes a lesson just goes off track’, ‘Some classes are great and others just never seem to gel for me’ or ‘I can teach most of my subject really well but dread such-and-such a topic because it never works’. The teacher was interpreting the feedback as an identity level criticism, which is hard to take because it is an assault on us as a person.
I’ve heard teachers make the same mistake in classrooms with comments such as: ‘You’re a terrible year group!’ or ‘You’re the worst class I’ve had since 1983!’ The mistake can be rectified by communicating at the level of behaviour. Behaviour is easier to influence than identity, offering students and teachers a chance to change and improve – which is surely one of the main purposes of being at school. A probation officer recently shared a potent example of businesses positively influencing behaviour. Their intervention resulted in the most impressive reduction in city centre violence at closing time ever recorded. As large groups of young people jostled and rutted for taxis at 2 a.m., lolly-pops were handed out. Young men with lollies in their mouths are immediately more quiet, calm and perhaps whisked back to warm childhood memories. Don’t try this if you value your ‘Healthy School’ status!
Frequently asked questions about type
How should I start using this book?
Type can be utilised in many ways. Some teachers use it to better understand the relationships they have with their students and their parents as well as partners and friends; and why not, type is a tool used by marriage guidance counsellors across the globe. Here are six suggestions on how to get the best out of type and this book. These recommendations are ideally explored in the sequence suggested:
1 Audit, understand and develop own personality and teaching style (Chapters 1 and 2).
2 Audit, understand and develop student personality and classroom style (Chapters 2 and 3).
3 Learn how you and your students can develop all eight preferences (Chapter 3).
4 Use type model to enhance your leadership skills (Chapter 4).
5 Use type resources to bring the model to life in classrooms and staffrooms (Chapter 5).
6 Audit, understand and develop better relationships with individual students (Chapter 6).
Isn’t this just pseudoscience/pop psychology?
Physicists use effective theory to make sense of incredibly complicated systems. It is a framework for modelling observable phenomena without describing in detail all underlying processes and influences. Personality type is the psychological equivalent to effective theory; it is a valuable working model which can still acknowledge deeper unseen complexity.
Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don’t know.
Bertrand Russell
Psychology is about halfway between science and philosophy.
Science transformed medicine around one hundred years ago, now it can transform educational practice.
Royal Society, Neuroscience: Implications for Education and Lifelong Learning
Science has regularly been misinterpreted on its way into the classroom over the past twenty years. However, some insights can positively inform classroom practice. Specifically, the plastic brain (it has the capacity to develop throughout our lives) and education as a powerful form of cognitive enhancement are concepts to warm every teachers’ and students’ heart as well as brain.
Each person constitutes an intricate system operating at neural, cognitive, and social levels, with multiple interactions taking place between processes and levels. It is a mistake to regard biological predispositions as deterministic, their impact is probabilistic and context dependent. If biological differences are not taken into account important opportunities to optimise learning will be missed.
Royal Society, Neuroscience: Implications for Education and Lifelong Learning
Personality is part of this intricate system.
Isn’t this like astrology?
Type does divide people into groups sharing similar traits and characteristics; as does astrology. Thereafter the similarities end. Personality type is based on each person answering questions about their own preferences of behaviour to match underlying personality traits, whereas astrology is based on the random position of planets at our time of birth. There is no convincing evidence to validate astrology.
Astrologers can produce any old tosh and, providing it is sufficiently vague and flattering, the majority of people will tick the ‘highly accurate’ box.
Richard Wiseman, Quirkology
The psychologist Hans Eysenck discovered that people who believe in astrology confirm the accuracy of its predictions, whereas for non-believers the astrological interpretations are bereft of accuracy. Astrology offers useful insights into the dangers of describing people types. A combination of Barnum statements (general and vague) and flattery (positive traits) can produce convincing personality descriptions. In the personality descriptions offered in this book positive traits relating to each type are stressed but negative characteristics are tactfully paraded, particularly when highlighting communication problems that can understood and minimised by the application of type theory.
Student Activity: Profiling
An interesting activity to introduce personality profiling to a group of students is to challenge them to write a description that is sufficiently vague and flattering for everyone in the class to agree it’s a good personal fit. For example: ‘You are self-critical and often tough on yourself. Other people have more faith in you than you sometimes do in yourself. You know you have potential but may not be sure how best to realise it. You’ve made some mistakes in the past but do know the difference between right and wrong.’
Isn’t is dangerous and/or limiting to label people?
Yes. Superficially it might look like typing people is designed to pigeonhole or categorise but that is to misinterpret or to apply the model poorly. Type is a great way to describe and explore some of the prominent differences between individuals. Before bringing this into your classroom spend at least a term getting to understand your own type. Consider and apply type in your own life inside and outside of the classroom. Introduce changes to your practice based on individual letter pairs one at a time. Read additional books (see the Bibliography) or attend type-based courses (more information is available from www.thebuzzbook.co.uk).
When you introduce type to students adhere to the following guidelines:
1 Choice and control is with the student. They decide their preferences, not you; you explain and support. If the student does not want to reveal their thoughts/preferences do not push them. They will if and when they’re ready.
2 Describe clearly to students why you’re introducing type and clarify how you intend to use it. Keep it within your classroom unless other teachers share your enthusiasm for type and have positive reasons for introducing it. If you intend to share a student’s type with others make this clear at the outset.
3 Make sure you explore how type enhances rather than limits self-awareness. Stress that all types are good and positive whereas some behaviour (as defined by aspects of a letter) are contextually inappropriate.
4 Stress type as a starting point not a finishing point.
Type reveals more than it limits so it is more of a mirror than a label. It is only when we see ourselves from a different perspective that we can really understand who we are.
What do they of England know, that of only England know.
Rudyard Kipling
We only know what it is to live in England (or anywhere) after we have travelled abroad. We need perspective for clarity. In the thick of it we cannot see. We only know that we like a proper cup of tea, fish fingers or Newsnight after we’ve been denied these pleasures during a fortnight in Mallorca. We have a comparison forged from a new experience. This is why people often make huge decisions following an accident. They suddenly see that their life is delicate and precious and not to be wasted. Personality type is an excellent way for us to travel, to view ourselves as we really are and also to glimpse who we might become. This is important for teachers and students because when we understand ourselves, and those around us, we become more honest, tolerant, open and kind; more human.
Isn’t type a bit simplistic?
When asked to summarise the appeal of country music Dolly Parton suggested it is simply three chords and the truth. Apparently simple ideas are so often the most compelling. Framing personality around four interacting dimensions may seem rudimentary but it is remarkably accurate and robust. Understanding the model is not difficult; applying it in your life is a different matter and will last a lifetime.
Personality type theory is based on the concept that people are fundamentally different. The earliest description was offered by Hippocrates around 400 B.C. Carl Jung formalised some of these differences, specifically how we perceive the world (S and N) and how we decide to act upon these perceptions (F and T) in his book Psychological Types in 1920. He also identified extraversion and introversion as part of a natural difference between people that is neither better nor worse but just different. This contrasts with much psychological theory, which seeks to find, describe and treat ‘bad’ personality characteristics, which is at the heart of its purpose. His work was brilliantly popularised by Myers-Briggs in the 1950s and is now the most widely used personality assessment in the world. They added the Judging/Perceiving scale and created a questionnaire to help people identify their type from sixteen descriptions. This book draws upon the decades of research started by Myers-Briggs and others such as David Keirsey, Otto Kroeger, Paul Tieger and Jane Kise.
The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.
Carl Jung
Surely we’re more than our ‘type’?
Absolutely. Type explains much but not everything. The type model can positively transform relationships by helping us appreciate differences and similarities. The following statements are both true:
• We are all the same (every human shares common needs, desires and dreams – to be loved, respected, able to make a contribution).
• We are all different (there are seven billion humans and we’re all unique – even identical twins differ; we all have our own exciting path to follow).
There are times when we may deny our underlying type preferences. We can all surely succumb to peer pressure or be influenced by mood, alcohol, social occasion and other factors. Jung described it as the mask of appearing different to type. At a wedding reception we are likely to behave far differently than we would at a funeral; jolly, invigorated and slightly giddy with joy at one event; sober, reticent and taciturn at the other. This doesn’t undermine or obliterate our essential character. It shows us that we can override our preferences at the level of skill and behaviour, unless you’re my Uncle Jason who behaves with equal debauchery at all family gatherings, with or without his false teeth.
I’m no prophet. My job is making windows where there were once walls.
Michel Foucault
French philosopher Michel Foucault summarises the best way to apply type in our lives. It is not meant to describe completely who we are and what we might become. Nor is it to be used as a weapon of power over others. It provides welcome windows in the huge wall covering our complex personalities. The light shining through these openings reveals fascinating glimpses of who we are and who we might become, and who our friends are and what they might become.
Is there a best type to be?
All types are equally valid. Each type has natural strengths and weaknesses. Some types are more likely to excel in certain situations than others. For example, traditional classroom situations are likely to be more challenging for Falcons and Panthers than other types. This prediction is based on their preference for action, variety and a willingness to challenge authority. However, these qualities can be useful in other contexts such as jobs involving advocacy and debating, but these fidgety students are the most likely to be labelled hyperactive or troublemakers. An awareness of type preference helps us understand students (and boosts student self-awareness) at a deeper level and directs us towards strategies that enhance relationships and performance rather than antagonise and negatively label students.
Can I change my type?
The theory suggests not. We do change as we age (it would be terrible if we didn’t), but it is not our underlying personality preferences that alter, it is our skills, knowledge, confidence, circumstances and attitudes. There are three phases of type development. First, as children, we explore all preferences through learning and experience to gain an accurate awareness of our strengths, glimpsing what our best might be. Second, we apply these strengths and preferences in our career and relationships so we can be our best as adults. Third, we begin to develop an interest in our non-preferences (the four other letters) so we become adaptable and effective in all, or most, situations. We hopefully reach this level of maturity by the time we’re parents. However, many people say we reach this stage when we’re grandparents! In this book I’m proposing teachers and students consider moving through all stages together in the classroom. Now that’s what I call education.
Where do the ‘animals’ come from?
People often forget their four type letters. I’ve added animal names as I thought these would be easier to remember and this has proven to be the case. Students tend to remember their own and their friends’ animal type, which brings type to life in a way four abstract letters doesn’t. Positive animals were chosen deliberately to avoid labelling some people as a Fox, Shark or Earwig! Occasionally a student may be disappointed with their animal but stressing the positive aspects of the actual personality traits dissipates any initial frustration and rightly focuses the student on the content rather than the label. The groups of animals also incorporate the work of David Keirsey who uses the concept of four temperaments to neatly summarise the sixteen personality types. Professionals familiar with Keirsey’s work can easily apply the animal groupings to explore type and temperament.
Comparison of type descriptions
Is education the problem or the solution?
Homer Simpson once said alcohol is the cause of and the solution to all the world’s problems. At the risk of putting teachers and alcohol together, this epigram equally captures the attitude of societies across the world to education: the cause of and the solution to all of the world’s problems.
This sumptuous dichotomy places education on the front pages of The Guardian and Daily Mail, fills politicians’ postbags and makes some parents move house to be within the catchment area of a ‘good’ school. Across the world nothing is considered more important than a good education; quite right too. When do we know if we had a good education? When we (a) see the grades printed out in front of us on the results sheet, or (b) when we see a happy, confident adult member of society? Each teacher must decide (a) or (b) or (a) and (b). You may add your own (c).
The teacher is cast as both villain and hero. This book is designed to help teachers release more of their inner hero by helping them really connect with each student – the basis of teaching as the solution. Go on, you deserve it and so do your students.
Which is better for development, praise or criticism?
Neither. It is how the message is delivered that demolishes or builds a child. We need to fail before we can really excel. The best individuals and teams need to taste defeat and be chastened prior to success. This is how resilience is developed. Learning is the same. To learn we must start afresh, without preconceived ideas and theories. The journey must begin by learning about us (and type can play its part). Success and failure are interesting concepts and are regularly misrepresented.
Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.
Bill Gates
Not quite, Bill. By applying this logic, failure must be an equally lousy teacher as it seduces not smart people into thinking they can never win. Lavishly praised and success-rich children only ever achieving ‘A’ grades can be in for a shock when they head off to university or leave in search of a job, unfamiliar with the real meaning of success and failure and its place in learning. Many children receiving no grades at all, because they weren’t entered for any exams, never recover a belief in education or themselves.
The danger of this definition of success and failure is that it operates at the identity level. It brutally marries a child’s worth and value to their performance in a given task or test. Wise teachers define success and failure at the level of skill, thus protecting student confidence and love of learning. It is better to discuss with a child what they might have learned and what they might do differently to develop their skill in a task, rather than whisk them off to the low-achievers’ table plagued with existential doubt and the thought that they’ll be sat at this table with the thick crayons until they’re 16.
Here are some better definitions of a mistake:
What is a mistake? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better.
Wendell Phillips
An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.
John F. Kennedy
There are so many new ideas and initiatives, why should I choose this one?
We need approaches, ideas and techniques that will work for us with our students. Type is a unique model to help enhance your own flexibility of performance and understand students individually. John Corrigan, founder of Group 8 Education, neatly summarises the development of educational approaches of which there have been two basic models: the obedience model (‘Do as you’re told or we’ll hit you’) which was replaced by those pesky hippies in the 1960s with the conformity model (‘Work hard and you’ll get a good job’). A new approach is now needed.
Business models have developed in a similar arc. The most recent business models are based on an engagement model – around themes of coaching, mentoring, personal development, partnership and progress. We do not persuade students by asking them to do something for us or themselves; we do so by doing asking them to do something interesting and valuable. Interesting and valuable is far closer to most teachers’ definition of education than those ideas linked to the obedience and conformity models, and these new approaches have trickled into schools. Personality type fits these new approaches as snugly as a new pair of M&S pants.
Tom Sawyer was asked to whitewash a fence. He really didn’t want to but his understanding of how motivation works helped him unearth a perfect solution. When his friends asked him what he was doing he excitedly declared he was buzzing because he was going to have so much fun painting the fence. Buying in to his excitement they offered to help Tom. Cleverly, he initially declined; it was his treat. Only after his friends offered to pay to join the fun did he relent. A satisfied Tom not only sat and watched other people complete the chore; he was being paid to do so. Teachers can learn much from Tom.
Which teaching methods work best?
We should be concerned with how we teach as we have been traditionally concerned with what we teach.
John Bruer, Schools for Thought
Personality type can have an immense impact as a model for exploring how you teach and how you can adapt your teaching to suit all the students in your class. Recent research by Professor Steve Higgins of Durham University for the Sutton Trust, aimed at helping schools effectively spend the pupil premium, identifies three ripe areas:
1 Effective feedback
Teacher providing clear, specific feedback to students, linked to defined targets (adding an additional 9 months progress per student).
2 Meta-cognitive and self-regulation strategies
Teacher helps student identify the ways they learn best in specific subjects and tasks (adding an additional 8 months progress per student).
3 Peer-tutoring/peer-assisted learning
Teacher introduces peer-tutoring and peer-assisted learning where students support each other (adding an extra 6 months progress per student).
These three approaches had the most positive impact in schools. Other interventions studied and considered less effective were: early intervention, one-to-one tutoring, Assessment for Learning, increased participation in sport, lower class sizes, ability grouping, uniforms and parental involvement.
Other research will reach other equally valid conclusions contradicting those reported above. The explanation is context. The only factor that really matters is the relationship between teacher and student, and student and student. If these are good any of the above factors will be positive; and if these are poor all of the above factors will have a negative impact. At a recent Inset day a PE teacher was dismissive of this research after I revealed that increased participation in sport did not have a positive impact on students. He had personal proof that it did boost confidence, attitude and friendship within the groups of children he’d worked with over the past five years. This intervention worked for him because it suited his style and strengths. It may not work for other teachers but that’s not the point.
Teachers can reach more students more of the time when they better understand themselves and their students. Type theory helps transform classroom relationships and thus has a positive impact in all lessons. It is a prerequisite to techniques, not another technique. Arthur C. Clarke encapsulated the essence of teaching when he was asked if technology could one day replace teachers. His reply, ‘Any teacher that could be replaced by technology should be’, reminds us that the most important and irreplaceable thing going on in any classroom are human interactions. All the theories and approaches only work when these are healthy.
Why is type so good then?
Most people who discover and then apply type in their life are amazed at how useful it is. Some even become overzealous in their type appreciation and try to convert the world, convinced even their pet cat or hamster displays type preferences! One of the reasons it is such a useful model is that it allows us to view ourselves with kindness, as most of the time we’re our own harshest critic. Few of us, when we stare into the bathroom mirror in the morning, think kind thoughts; it’s more likely we mercilessly focus in on our flaws like Paxman tearing into a naive politician, rather than congratulate ourselves on our age-defying beauty and burgeoning wisdom.
There are moments in life when we stop pretending; moments we stop trying to be something we’re not; moments when we stare into a mirror or the eyes of a loved one and say ‘This is me, this is who I am.’ As we bare our true self we must wait an eternal second for their reply. Repulsion and rejection or respect and rejoice. In that moment we are broken or built, crushed or connected. In a breath we live or die. In these dazzling moments we dare to see who we really are. Type and teachers are at their best when they reveal to a student their best.
No one is big enough to be independent of others.
Dr William Mayo
