Teaching is not just a profession, it should be utilized as a powerful way of touching the lives of the children, always uncompromising in giving the right directions and always doing what is best to inculcate not just the usual lessons taught in school but also essential knowledge that could be utilized in helping students become responsible citizens in the years to come.

At a glance, effectiveness and efficiency in teaching is quite confusing but upon analyzing, you will find out that these two qualities are related and both are important in teaching.  But have you ever stopped to ask yourself – Am I being effective, or just being efficient? The first thing to clarify is the difference between being efficient and being effective.

When you say a teacher is efficient, a teacher can exhibit efficiency in the manner she gets things done, how she manages her class and her time in getting things done. A good example wherein a teacher can be called efficient is when she always comes to her class (and leave) on time, with well-prepared lesson plan, instructional materials, engaged time on task, and everything is organized regardless of output or result produced in the teaching-learning process. You get through your to-do list quickly and, in any given task, you eliminate time-wasters.

On the contrary, when you say a teacher is effective, a teacher is effective when she gives her best in teaching and able to make her students learn or master the skills and turned them meaningful, relevant and applicable in real life situations. She is a teacher who reaches out to her pupils and can make a difference in their lives.  You eliminate time-wasting activities or “busy work” from your day.

Another way to look at this is to think of effectiveness as the big picture. If you want to be truly effective, you need to think about what your values are and what you want to achieve in your life. This is hard work – and it’s the sort of work where you don’t get to show off an empty inbox or a neatly filed set of papers at the end of it. But it’s absolutely essential to do this big-picture thinking if you’re ever going to accomplish anything meaningful.

*Peter F. Drucker was a writer, professor, management consultant and self-described “social ecologist,” who explored the way human beings organize themselves and interact much the way an ecologist would observe and analyze the biological world.                     In general, efficiency and effectiveness in teaching are two different things. According to *Peter Drucker, efficiency means doing things right while effectiveness is doing the right things. Anyway whatever definition we gather, these two concepts should complement each other because it’s hard to be an effective teacher if you are not efficient. Likewise, if you are an effective teacher, most likely you are efficient. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that if you are efficient, you are effective but you have the chance to be one. Always remember that your students don’t care what you know (efficiency) until they know that you care (effectiveness).

By: Priscila Concepcion | Master Teacher I | MNHS – Poblacion | Mariveles, Bataan