CHANGING ATTITUDES: STUDENTS, TEACHING AND EDUCATION

The concept of teaching and education are a far cry from what they were a century ago, and we won't be exaggerating if we say, even a decade ago. Issues such as how to motivate students, what makes an effective teacher, and how to improve education, have and continues to be an engaging topic that many in academia have not yet reached any consensus about. For example, literature and the studies conducted about what makes good teachers have to some extent varied depending on the different times and contexts being examined. Whether it is having a good knowledge base or having the personal qualities that students are looking for in a teacher, the search for motivating students, improving, reevaluating and reassessing effective teaching and what makes effective instructors seems to continue. Such issues become even more crucial in today's modern times where there are major changes not just in the student makeup of the classrooms, the curriculums that need to fulfill the demands for 21st century skills and integrate new technology that fits the needs and expectations of tech savvy students, but where there are changing attitudes towards teaching and education in general. This paper aims to review the literature on these changing attitudes concentrating on the student's perceptions about education, teaching and teachers in general, and it aims to investigate the perceptions of the Middle Eastern students in particular.