The Role of the Teacher

The role of the teacher has always been undervalued. The devalued role of the teacher may have stemmed from the notion that teacher has been traditionally a “women’s job” or because teachers have summers off. People believe that teachers are overpaid and that anybody can walk into a classroom and teach. These beliefs need to change. Teachers play many roles during the day. They are a teacher, friend, mother, discipliner or any other role that may come about during the day.


The current trend that is occurring is trying to teacher-proof the education profession. Pre-made workbooks, tests, and quizzes are marketed to teacher lowering the creativity of teaching. What educators need to do is stop buying these pre-made worksheets. Teachers need to create what they are going to teach. The producers of these pre-made items aren’t in the classrooms and they don’t know the students individually. Only the teacher knows the students individually and they should decide what materials they should use in teaching the class.



Standardized testing has also devalued the role of the teacher. The public tends to believe that teachers only “teach to the test.” While this may be true, most teachers would like to change the way they are teaching. Some teachers have little choice in what is taught in the classroom and how much time is spent on preparing for standardized testing. Many teachers have stated that they would like to do more projects and spend more time on certain units. However, this is not feasible in many classrooms. The move to standardized testing needs to be changed because teachers need their power back.


Teachers need to re-evaluate the way they are teaching. Teaching should go beyond “the test.” Teachers should make learning fun and worthwhile and make students experts in the different subjects. Teachers shouldn’t teach just enough to pass the test. If teachers do these things then the view of teachers would change.