Republic of the Philippines
President Ramon Magsaysay State University
(Formerly Ramon Magsaysay Technological University)
Iba, Zambales, Philippines
Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683
College of Teacher Education
College/Department COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Course Code FTC3
Course Title THE TEACHING PROFESSION
Place of the Course in METHODS AND STRATEGIES
the Program
Semester & Academic First Semester, AY 2020-2021
Year
MODULE 5 WEEK 6:
THE TEACHER AS A PERSON AND HIS ROLES
IN THE SOCIETY
Intended Learning Outcomes/Objectives:
After completing this lesson, you will be able to accomplish the following:
1. Recognize the role of teachers by establishing their importance in the society.
2. Identify the various roles performed by teachers in the society.
3. Enumerate the observable values practice by teachers in the society.
Topics:
1. Various roles of teacher in the society
1.1 The teacher as an expert.
1.2 The teacher as an individual
1.3 The teacher as a professional
1.4 The teacher as a community leader and social advocate
1.5 The teacher as a model of good character
“The medium is the
message.”
-Anonymous
Lesson 8: Various Roles of Teacher in
the Society
“Teacher are also unique individuals, practicing professionals, community leaders,
parents, experts, and models who are looked upon by students’ parent, the
community, and other sectors of the society. Hence they should be recognized by
their own identity.”
Beyond and above the role of teachers in the teaching-learning process in which they
are considered as expert and authority, they played other roles in the society.
The teacher is an essential component of the teaching and learning process. The
quantity of learning achieved by the pupils has been established a highly correlated to
the quality of teaching done by the teacher.
The Teacher as an Individual Person
Teacher like no other human being is an individual perceived as role models and ideal
person. As a person, he or she grows up as individual with his or her own set of
values, beliefs, and perceptions about the smallest or the biggest things and issues
around. She/he has developed certain feelings or emotions, and just like any other
persons, acts with a keen awareness of different situations either rationally or
impulsively.
Teacher’s identities are shaped by personal, environmental and cultural factors,
teacher’s life experiences, the level of education, skills, vocation or occupation which
are all contributory to the teacher’s identity and personality. Teachers are likewise
into problems, confusion, conflicts, and stressful conditions.
Teachers like the learners are also diverse.
The talents, skills, strategies, performance levels, intelligence levels, social behavior,
and abilities in dealing with tasks vary from person to person or from teacher to
teacher. There are teachers who are great in music and art, others are good in math,
and some are creative in making their classroom aesthetically pleasing and good to
look at.
Teachers have needs.
Teaching is a difficult but challenging source of livelihood. It entails patience and
strong heart to face the challenges confronting the day to day duties of a teacher. The
teacher usually ignores the overwhelming nature of the job and chooses to serve
instead.
Greg T. Pavilion identified and listed the following needs which have to be met in
order to have productive and globally characterized teachers:
1. Security and Justice – feeling secured with your environment and with your
life is basic among human needs.
2. Emotional Needs - the need to feel safe regarding how you feel about
yourself and your emotional needs must also be fulfilled. There is a need to
boost the morale of the teacher, so he/she will feel enthusiastic and energetic
to carry his/her work. Her/his outstanding works and accomplishments should
be recognized and appreciated.
3. Economic Need – money may not be the most important in one’s life though
it makes life comfortable and easier to survive and sustain man’s everyday
needs. Time and again, teachers fought hard for salary increase to cope with
the rising cost of living.
4. Spiritual Needs – the enormous tasks of a teacher are sometimes heavy to
bear. They put many stresses on teacher’s shoulder which sometimes affect
her moods and attitudes. Teaching instruction will be also likely to be affected
if this situation is not immediately addressed to.
5. Social Needs – teachers link together students, other teachers, school
administrators, families and community members to foster the learning
success and healthy development of their students. By nurturing positive
relationships with stakeholders, particularly the students, the teacher brings
downright strong impact on the learning process of the students.
6. Role Clarity – the clearness of the description and responsibilities of a job
eliminated possible conflict in the workplace. Lack of role clarity can lead to
tension and conflict between and among workers and leaders as well. Poorly
defined or conflicted roles in a worker can be a stressor which may result in
job inefficiency.
7. Coping Skills - teachers just like any human beings, experience stresses
brought about by the various tasks they need to perform every working day.
Stressors can come from the people they mingle with in and outside of the
school.
Economic
Security and Justice Emotion
Role Clarity
Spiritual
Social Coping Skills
Figure 2. Teacher’s Needs
The Teacher as Professional
Semantically, a profession is a type of job that requires special training and gives
status and prestige to the individual. A professional is one who has competent skills,
observes high standards of the job and abides by the code of ethics. (Bilbao, P.P. et.al
)
The Code of Ethics of Professional Teachers, 1997 clearly states that:
Teachers are duly licensed professionals who possess dignity and reputation with high
moral values as well as technical and professional competence. In the practice of their
noble profession, they strictly adhere to, observe and practice this set of ethical and
moral principles, standards and values.
The definition of what a professional and what is stated in the Code of Ethics both
agrees that professional teachers should possess sets of professional and personal
qualities. To qualify as professional, one should:
1. Have passed the Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (LEPT);
2. Have technical and professional competence;
3. Have dignity and reputation with high moral values; and
4. Observe excellence in the performance of the job.
Personal qualities that a teacher must be include:
Obtaining bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree alone does not classify a person as
a professional in the truest sense of the word. Professionalism, the act of being a
professional encompasses not only the degrees acquired. It also includes the many
tasks that the job requires which should be done responsibly and effectively.
The Teacher as a Community Leader and Social Advocate
“No man is an island” is a concept shared by John Donne. It means no one is self-
sufficient and everyone relies on others. Teachers too need to connect with other
stakeholders outside the school. The school cannot survive in isolation and teachers
need to step out of the four corners of their classrooms for their student’s education.
Teacher should be active leaders in the community. They should develop stronger
links in the community to carry out some of the school programs.
A teacher in California, Alex Kajitani, pointed out that teacher leadership means that
a teacher serves as a bridge between the front lines of the schools and shaping of
public policies in the community.
The need for advocacy and collaboration in the community is vital to support student
learning. Teachers reaching out to the community and voicing out the academic
needs and the financial constraints experience by schools is one way to be understood
by the public at large and lawmakers.
The Teacher as a Model of Good Character
Teaching is a profession that occupies a public trust. It requires the
services of morally upright individuals whom the community regards
highly and holds accountable for the student’s learning. Since way
back then, teachers were expected to display good character.
Steven Covey, American educator, one said “What you do has a far greater impact
than what you say.” Teachers are being looked up to by their students and the
parents, including the public, who put so much trust on them. Teachers action must
be reflective of moral virtues, such as fairness and honesty and to adhere to
professional code of conduct. Integrity is a vital character that the teacher must
possess. A person with integrity behaves in virtuous ways, such as keeping promises
and refraining from lying and cheating.
The Teacher as an Expert
What makes a teacher an expert? According to Professor John Loughran, teaching is
such a complex activity because it revolves around decision making involving various
concerns and issues. Teachers are constantly making decisions about a range of ideas,
issues and events: content, student behavior, homework, catering for different
learning styles, assessment and so on, not to mention the paper works, reports and
data needed to be complied and submitted to authorities.
Expert teachers know what they are doing and why because they carefully consider
how to structure their teaching in ways that will have a positve influence on their
students’ learning.
Carol Findell in her study titled “What Differentiates Expert Teachers from Others”
listed some of the attributes of an expert teacher which are not common to others. She
said that an expert teacher:
1. Identifies key ideas, presents them in several ways and highlights connections
among key ideas.
2. Makes careful plans, but remains flexible
3. Listens to students ad asks questions to help them make sense of their own
understanding of key ideas.
4. Provides “low threshold, high ceiling” task problems.
5. Helps students think for themselves; and
6. Never stops learning.
SUMMARY:
In conclusion, what differentiates expert teachers from others is that former
understands their subject matter and they also understand their students.
This understanding allows teachers to provide rich problems, to adapt these
problems so that they can be used at many levels of difficult, to listen to
student’s reasoning, to help assess students understanding, to use good
questioning techniques that help student reflect on their own reasoning
processes and to adapt lessons to maximize the learning for all students .
(Findell, 2011).
