I fully understand the meaning of this question, because my entire teaching career has been developed teaching first-year engineering mathematics (17 or 18 year old students). It is clear that over the years, the difference in age between the teacher and the student can be a disadvantage for the fact of teaching, producing that effect that is mentioned in the statement of the question. But this has a clear solution: the teacher's commitment to his teaching activity. A committed and dedicated teacher, the first thing he will do is carry out a continuous process of updating, adapting to social, didactic and scientific change, and in this case the passing of the years becomes weakness in strength. In short, the accumulated experience can be converted into added value in the classroom.

Even a classmate can teach the friends

I think this seldom is a problem. For younger pupils in mandatory levels, they always have an older teacher, an adult, of natural reasons. Some are good and some not as successful, but seldom following age or age gap. In higher, vocational and adult education the teacher can be older, same age or younger, the important thing is knowledge of the subject studied and teaching ability. Both not necessarily dependent on age teacher-student.

This is a very great question.

I am trying to figure out that one too. But my hypothesis is not so much with age difference but with generation difference.

If you wish sir, we can be collaborators in doing a research on this. If this idea sounds good please leave me a message.

Thanks Prof Subir Bandyopadhyay for your nice response. I agree with you, but my query was regarding academic and institutional facilitation of learning.

Dear Dr. Rabiul Alam,

I hope the information will help you.

With Best Wishes,

Samir G. Pandya

Dear Prof Samir G Pandya , I've liked your very valuable answer. Your simple recommendations are easy to adopt but hopefully have some good impact to reduce the gaps between students and teachers. Thanks.

Rabiul

Dr. Alam, In my opinion it depends on the subject. For instance, if the subject being taught is a technical subject the age disparity should not be as much. For example, if the instructor is teaching a class to college freshmen18-20 yrs old, the ideal age for the instructor is 29-35, the reason is the instructor is young enough to be in-tune to recent technical advancements. Now, if the same freshman are taking a history class the disparity in age needs to be greater (40-50) to project an image of wisdom. Of course this is not a scientific response but based solely on opinion.

Dear Kevin Mallory , yes, your keen observations and explanations are very interesting and correct. Thanks. Rabiul

Thanks Dr. Anders Norberg for your valued comment.

Regards- Rabiul

Education is the right of everyone. Because of circumstances of many factors, many are eithe go late to school or studies are intervened. So education can happen at point of ones life. So, I do not see any purpose to be fussy of age difference.

Yes Dr. Wangpo Tenzin , I do agree with you. But, my interest was influence, attraction and comfort of the students...specially the teenagers and UG. Is the age of teachers a factor? Thanks.

Thanks Mr. Mart Andrew Supeña Maravillas for your interest. You may please go ahead with your hypothesis.

I thing that it does not matter the gifference of the age but the tence to understant eachother.

I agree with Prof Charalampos Triantis Martinos , but do the appearance, style of expressions, culture, age and body language affect the interest of students specially the teenagers and UG grade?

Rablul Alam:

Age should not matter. As learners, we all learn at different rates and varying methods. As one that has taught undergraduate students for the last 35 years, one thing I have learned is that we have late bloomers to education. Some went to work out of high school for varying reasons, and because of layoffs, downsizing, life happening, etc. or military service have returned to the classroom as older wiser learners. I would venture that the average age of my undergrad students would be late 20's to early 30's. Part of the reason is some went away to college and were not successful, took time off and realized that for them to do what they want as a career need a degree, thus the return.

As an aside, I have had students in their 80's in class! As long as we remember that we are in an adult learning environment and we teach and learn from each other, age is just a number!!

Doris Yates

I don't believe that age difference is a factor. It is how the teacher interacts with students, the confidence level, the level of preparedness, open mindedness, and so on that make the difference. There is this perception that a young teacher is not as knowledgeable as an experienced teacher. All those can be rectified from day 1 when the teacher can exhibit that he/she is a caring person and is genuinely interested in teaching and about the students.

Thanks Navaraj Upadhyaya for sharing your valuable and practical observation.

As a language teacher for me, it is really useful to know the topics my students consider interesting and it is kind of easier when I'm dealing with students which age is close to mine so I see your point. Nevertheless, this closeness can be affected by other factors, among them, the particular interests are a very important one, even more important than age.

I think the age, the age difference, the appearance, the "style" shouldn't make any difference. But as a teacher, from my experience, I know that it's something that has an influence.

Some young, fancy, stylish, close to the students value teacher, are well regarded and more popular than others and it has an impact on the teaching and learning.

If we do a comparison between teaching and selling. In the selling field they already have study about that and they know that you have to be as close as possible to the customer to sell a lot. As an example if you want to sell skate board, you use teenager or young skate boarder. For teaching, maybe some similar strategy are relevant.

I would be very interested if any study is made in this field.

Thanks Prof Doris Yates for your comment with full of practical experiences. But, I am still observing that the matter of age is somehow developing gradually in the present UG students and teenage generation.

Professor Alam:

Several comments about the age of the current undergraduates. At commencement each year, the university president goes over the graduation statistics, regarding age, gender and whether they are parents or grandparents, etc. As I mentioned in the original post, the average age of my students is between 20-30 and that is reflective of the statistics that the president discusses in his address.

The age factor of late, in my opinion, has become a matter of dollars and cents. If you have to money or eligible for "specialized" programs you can be a student regardless of age. Unfortunately, with that said some of the "non-traditional" students may bring a host of other issues into the classroom regarding mental and physical ailments and expect and demand accommodations for those needs.

So while many institutions have an increase in the "aging" student population it also brings challenges to the classroom regarding certain accommodations that may contribute to how learning environments are structured and lessons taught!

Doris

Thanks Prof Srini Vasan for your very nice and valuable recommendations.

Professor Vasan:

Demonstrating care for students as a teacher is a dicey proposition and can and does impact your teaching. Showing you "care" can cause issues of "contra power" which can be very problematic in an academic environment especially among adult students with mental health concerns!

Caring about your subject matter and teaching are where the line should be drawn to avoid "behavioral" or disruptive student behavior issues in the long run!

Doris Yates

Thanks Loay Al-Saffar for your nice comment. But I prioritized the formal, structured, institutional academic affairs here.

Rabiul

The question you raised is very genuine since there are discussions going on the very same topic. But for me age is not a factor is you can handle and communicate with the students with ease. As a facilitator, all the teacher have to do is understand their needs and make them engage in their learning.

Thanks Prof Sumi V S for your valuable comment.

age is not a factor in teaching, as a teacher we have to understand the requirement of the students and we have to support and encourage the students by giving proper appreciation. In teaching we have to upgrade our self continuously. so, we may not consider age as one of the factor

Dear Prof Durgaprasad Garapati , yes, age is not a factor in general, but my interest was in teenage and UG students. Thank you.

in teenage, obviously every one will be more active and will be eager to learn many new things as the age is increasing experience will add and thinking levels/ way of thinking will be different than that is in teenage

Thanks, Prof Doris Yates for your wonderful contribution.

I fully understand the meaning of this question, because my entire teaching career has been developed teaching first-year engineering mathematics (17 or 18 year old students). It is clear that over the years, the difference in age between the teacher and the student can be a disadvantage for the fact of teaching, producing that effect that is mentioned in the statement of the question. But this has a clear solution: the teacher's commitment to his teaching activity. A committed and dedicated teacher, the first thing he will do is carry out a continuous process of updating, adapting to social, didactic and scientific change, and in this case the passing of the years becomes weakness in strength. In short, the accumulated experience can be converted into added value in the classroom.

May I argue this topic requires further research to be conducted. This issue is of relevance as it has implications on the relationship between teachers and students. The importance of topic is clear when one focuses on the ways students perceive teachers as a leader in science. At the same time this issue has an impact on the ways teachers evalute students: the grades they give. I found a paper that illustrate the points:

Shauna W. Joye & Janie H. Wilson (2015). " Professor Age and Gender Affect Student Perceptions and Grades" Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Vol. 15, No. 4, August, 2015, pp.126-138 Available at:

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1074825.pdf

I argue that it is not possible to determine "optimal age diffference" between teachers and student. Everything is context - and case dependent, such as gender, scientific field and country®ion (culture). Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely

Thanks, dear Prof Francisco Martínez González for sharing your very useful and valuable recommendations from vast own practical experiences.

Age difference between teachers and students doesn't have any noticeable or significant impact on learning/teaching. The main thing is knowing or having the ability to teach in a way students will understand better, despite the age difference

As you all know, instruction is communication. Communication requires to have common experiences between and among people in the communication process. Commonness increase as the age difference decreases. So, though there is no clearly suggested age range that makes teachers effective in delivering courses/subjects it is preferable to have reasonable age difference between a teacher and his/her students.

There is no such recommended age for teacher-student age difference. A qualitative study among both the group's can provide perceptions regarding any difference required if any.

Many studies indicate that student perceptions are influenced by instructor gender, age, and attractiveness. Younger professors have a greater impact on students.

@Jolanda: Thanks for your valuable response. Could you please mention some related referencea?

Hi

There is no specific age difference is applicable between student and teachers, based on the circumstances and mode of study this will vary.

Less the gap will increase the impact in effective communication and transfer of information.

In my view, these studies, which indicate that the age of the teacher may affect his attractiveness to students, lack the reliability in controlling the variables, as the effect lies in the personal characteristics, teaching skills, and other competencies that the teacher possesses.

I agree with Solomon Mengistie and Jolanda Gjergji . Students identify more with the younger educators.

It will be interesting to consider this alongside research into teacher effectiveness vs. their experience level.