ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the fundamental importance of a teacher possessing a repertoire of professional skills. The distinctive features of each mode and the demands it makes on both teacher and pupils will deliberately be accentuated in order to compare and contrast their different purposes and likely outcomes. Traditional 'up front' whole class teaching appears to be the most common and most popular way for teachers to teach. An accepted system of rules is obviously essential to success in any mode of teaching, but, in the case of traditional directive teaching, rules probably need to be more clear-cut and explicit than in other approaches. Classroom rules for the directive mode are long-established and well recognised. The directive mode of teaching can be illustrated by a lesson taught by an experienced teacher with a mixed-ability class of 12-year-old boys and girls in an urban comprehensive school.
