This study seeks to identify classes of characteristics cited by education students (N=54) at the University of Botswana as contributing to the perceived effectiveness or ineffectiveness of their own primary school teachers. Respondents provided demographic information about themselves and the identified teachers, and they rank-ordered 14 different teacher characteristics in 1 of 3 classes of teacher variables (personality/relationship, instruction, or class management) in terms of the contribution of these variables to the perceived effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the identified teachers. Open-ended responses about factors which contributed toward effectiveness or ineffectiveness were also solicited. The pattern of the responses is compared by age, sex, teaching experience, and level of qualifications of the primary school teachers and by the characteristics of the respondents. A summary of generalizations made on the basis of the findings suggests that knowledge of subject and an ability to present good lessons are at the heart of good teaching; however, the absence of appropriate personality or relationship skills precludes the perception of instructional competence. Whether or not questions were asked in a forced-choice or free-response format appeared to influence the nature of the responses. Eight tables display questionnaire results in tabular form. (Contains 20 references.) (Author/LL)