Outline and explain with clear example of roles of a teacher in school and community
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Broadly speaking, the function of teachers is to help students learn by imparting knowledge to them and by setting up a situation in which students can and will learn effectively. But teachers fill a complex set of roles, which vary from one society to another and from one educational level to another. Some of these roles are performed in the school, some in the community.
Disciplinarian or controller of student behaviour
Parent substitute
Confidant to students
Judge of achievement
Organizer of curriculum
Bureaucrat
Scholar and research specialist
Member of teachers’ organization
Roles in the community
Public servant Surrogate of middle-class morality
Expert in some area of knowledge or skills
Community leader
Agent of social change
In terms of the professional responsibility of teachers for what they teach, there is a major distinction between the university and the elementary- and secondary-school systems. At the level of higher education, teachers have the power and the responsibility of defining the curriculum—its contents and its methods. This is the essence of academic freedom in higher education. The governing board of the university, whether it be a government or independent university, does not tell teachers what to teach or how to teach. There are nevertheless some external requirements operative on the university teacher. If the instructor is preparing students for examinations not under university control (civil service examinations, state bar and medical examinations, examinations for a certificate as a public accountant, or the like), his or her autonomy is limited by the necessity that the students be well prepared for these external examinations.
In contrast to the power of the university governing board, the board of an elementary- or secondary-school system has, but generally delegates to the school administration, the power to determine what is taught. The school administration, consisting of the superintendent, school directors, inspectors, and curriculum specialists, has effective power over the curriculum and brings the classroom teacher into the process as much or as little as it chooses. With the growth of teachers’ unions and organizations, however, it appears that collective action by teachers is tending to increase the effective autonomy of the classroom teacher. Administrative and legislative prescriptions for the school curriculum are generally resisted in principle by the teaching profession; the profession presumes itself better able to decide what to teach and how to teach i
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