An effective teaching model for public school teachers in the Sultanate of Oman: Students' stance

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate what is the most important characteristic that leads to effective teaching in the general education schools in Oman, as perceived by the students. Design/methodology/approach: Methodologically, this research is a survey in nature, using questionnaires for data collection. The sample size consists of 2,628 students from the General Education Schools in most of the regions in Oman. To ensure the reliability and construct validity, this research has applied the principal component analysis (PCA) to determine whether the relevant items have been accordingly loaded on their respective construct. For data analysis, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) or the measurement model was employed to determine the indictors and factors as well as the predictor that can positively lead to effective teaching and teachers. Findings: In terms of the findings, this research discovered that, the "community relationships" factor is the most important factor that leads to effective teaching and that it predicts an effective teacher in Oman. This indicates that to have effective teaching in Oman from the students' perspectives, the school must involve the society to participate and support the educational process, while an effective teacher should align his/her teaching service with society needs. Teaching strategies were found to be the second factor and predictor for teaching effectiveness. Originality/value: This research is timely, as the Omani Ministry of Education is striving to achieve quality education. The study described in the paper is aligned with the Ministry's aims and objectives and will be of benefit to the Omani Ministry of education, educational policy-makers and planners in terms of setting a standard for effective teaching and has provided a model to follow in becoming an effective teacher, according to General Education students in Oman. This paper has bridged gaps in the existing literature on providing characteristics for effective teaching and teachers in Oman. No other paper or research, based on researchers' best knowledge, has dealt with the issue of teaching effectiveness in Oman and presented criteria to follow in determining an effective teacher. Therefore, this research is unique and has taken a bold step to design a model which the Omani government can use as a standard for effective teaching and teachers in Oman.