Experiential Teaching Style A Modern Approach to the Teacher-Student Interaction in the Instructional Process.

Introduction: The profound renewals in the field of learning have had considerable effects on educational sciences, implicitly the status and role of teachers. The didactic activity of the modern teacher goes beyond making use of one's personal qualities, appreciated in terms of vocation, talent and mastery; it also implies the acquisition of a complex system of theoretical knowledge, the formation of abilities, competences and qualities, and taking on particular roles, in a rigorous and controlled manner, all of which highlight one's wide range of skills and professionalism. Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the link between the Educator's Role Profile and the results obtained by fourth grade students in the state-standardized PIRLS test, in order to help teachers better understand their own approach to educating and identify ways of optimizing results. Methods: The study, conducted in Romania, included as participants 35 primary school teachers, evaluated with D. Kolb's self-assessment instrument in order to identify their Educator Role Profiles, and 375 of their students, who underwent a standardized form of testing called PIRLS. The study sought to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference between the students' performances and ultimately raised the hypothesis that these differences could be due to the impact of their mentors' style of teaching, according to their Educator Role Profiles. This work also outlines the Experiential educator role profile as the one which unifies all four roles of the teacher, helping the learner go through the entire learning cycle. Results: This study found that the most common Educator Role Profile in Romanian schools is the Evaluator role profile, followed by the Expert, the Facilitator and, finally, the Coach. Regarding the association between the teachers' role profiles and the results obtained by students in the PIRLS test, the study showed that the Facilitator role profile was associated with statistically significant greater mean scores in the students' overall performance, followed by the Coach, the Expert and lastly, the Evaluator. Conclusions: This paper concludes that the Experiential teaching role profiles ought to be considered important additions to the school reform model, in order to increase students' performance on standardized examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]