The Extent of Social Studies Teachers' Commitment to the General Principles of Effective Teaching

Abstract

The research aims to identify the extent of social studies teachers’ commitment to the general principles of effective teaching, given that the quality of the educational process largely depends on the teacher’s competence and adherence to the foundations of good education. The study emphasized several basic principles, including setting educational objectives, using diverse strategies and methods of education, fostering positive interaction between teachers and students, ensuring effective classroom management, and employing continuous assessment tools and methods. The descriptive analytical approach was adopted as the most suitable methodology for the study. A questionnaire was used as a tool for data collecting and was distributed to a sample of social studies teachers in schools under the Karbala Education Directorate. The questionnaire items addressed aspects related to the application of the general principles of effective teaching. Data analysis using the SPSS program revealed that the overall level of teachers' commitment was generally high. The axis of “good lesson planning” ranked first, while the axis of “use of educational tools” ranked last. Moreover, no statistically significant difference was found in most axes, except for the "continuous assessment" axis, where the difference was statistically significant in favor of female teachers, indicating their greater interest in employing continuous assessment methods and tools. In light of the findings, the researcher made several recommendations, including the need to intensify professional training programs for teachers, particularly in classroom management and student performance evaluation, as well as to promote a culture of effective teaching among teachers through educational supervision.