Does a teacher's job end when the bell rings and they walk out of the classroom door? In this lesson we examine the new roles teachers take on in the contemporary understanding of education, their duties and responsibilities in the classroom, how professional qualities are reflected in everyday lessons, and the out-of-class responsibilities teachers take on at school, in their relationships with families and in society.

What will you learn in this episode?

• Explain how the teacher's roles have changed in the contemporary understanding of education
• List the teacher's duties and responsibilities in the classroom
• Recognize the teacher's roles in the classroom (representative, leader, source of information, mediator, arbiter, educator, parent figure, guide, counselor)
• Explain the benefits of a well-prepared lesson plan and effective classroom management
• Explain the teacher's duties and responsibilities outside the classroom with examples
• Evaluate the teacher's role as a model in society

Summary of this episode

Changing roles

The source defines the teacher as a person who plans teaching to help students achieve predetermined aims, organizes the learning environment, ensures students' participation in the process by creating learning experiences, and monitors and evaluates whether learning has taken place at various stages of the process. Research on the teaching-learning process shows that teachers need to move beyond the roles they are traditionally used to and take on new ones. According to the source, these new roles are:

• Taking on a role that supports the student and facilitates learning
• Being a planner, organizer, motivator and evaluator in line with the individualization of teaching
• Guiding learning
• Teaching lessons using different methods
• Displaying behaviors aimed at developing students' personalities

Duties and responsibilities in the classroom

According to the contemporary understanding of education, the teacher is not someone who transmits and distributes information in the classroom, but a guide who steers learning. The teacher enables students to reach information and helps them interpret and evaluate it. For effective learning, the teacher's main duties are to motivate students, plan classroom activities, inform students, maintain discipline in the classroom and counsel students. According to a classification cited in the source, the teacher's in-class duties can be grouped under teaching expertise, motivating, managing, leadership, guidance, environmental engineering (organizing the learning environment) and being a model.

The source lists the teacher's roles in the classroom as representative, leader, source of information, mediator, arbiter, educator, parent figure, guide and counselor. We can briefly explain these roles as follows:

• Representative: Representing the values of the school and society in the classroom
• Leader: Steering the class towards common goals
• Source of information: Helping students reach information
• Mediator: Helping resolve disagreements between students
• Arbiter: Making fair decisions in classroom situations and assessments
• Educator: Supporting the student's academic and personal development
• Parent figure: Showing the student care and attention like a parent when needed
• Guide: Helping students recognize their interests and abilities
• Counselor: Supporting students in the difficulties they face

According to the source, the teacher takes on all of these roles in order to achieve effective and successful teaching in the classroom: an educational leader when needed, a parent figure when needed, and a counselor when needed.

How professional qualities are reflected in everyday lessons

The professional qualities listed in the previous episode are the concrete counterpart of the teacher's duties in the classroom:

• Planning: According to the source, teaching is too serious a task to be left to chance, and planning teaching activities is one of the teacher's most important duties. Annual, unit and lesson plans allow the teacher to enter the lesson prepared and with confidence. A well-prepared lesson plan saves work from disorder, ensures that the lesson is taught continuously and in line with the program, documents activities, contributes to equality of opportunity and provides feedback for evaluating the process.
• Choosing methods and techniques: Choosing methods and techniques suited to students' developmental level, age and abilities saves the lesson from monotony and supports lasting learning.
• Effective communication: The most intensive communication in the classroom takes place between teacher and student. Clear and understandable language, tone of voice, eye contact and body language are all part of this communication.
• Classroom management: It means creating a classroom environment that enables learning. To achieve this, the teacher should avoid lecturing in a preachy way, start the lesson with topics students can succeed in, prepare well, convey high expectations, avoid long explanations and be patient. Effective classroom management increases participation in the lesson, reduces negative behavior, extends the time devoted to learning and develops students' ability to regulate their own behavior.
• Using time effectively: Starting and ending lessons on time and preparing materials in advance ensure that time in the classroom is spent on learning activities.
• Evaluating learning: It means determining whether, and to what extent, the intended behavioral changes have occurred; evaluation is an integral part of the teaching-learning process.
• Guide: The teacher feels responsible for students developing a healthy and balanced personality and cooperates with those who carry out student personnel services at school. According to the source, these services include social and educational activities, social assistance, special education and special training, health services, and guidance and psychological counseling services.

Duties and responsibilities outside the classroom

As a member of society, the teacher also has important responsibilities outside the classroom. The roles of facilitating learning, developing the student and providing guidance do not end at the classroom door. According to the source, the teacher is also expected to lead processes of change and development in society; this role is especially important for teachers working in rural areas.

Schools not only ensure consistency among the experiences within them, but must also guide the learning experiences in the family and immediate surroundings that constantly influence students. For this reason, the teacher also contributes to bringing about desired behavioral change in students while carrying out duties such as educational club work, social activities and school duty. The teacher also works in cooperation with parents, taking into account the student's situation within the family.

According to the source, the teacher should know that their task is not limited to learning in the classroom, but is to turn the entire school and its immediate and wider surroundings into suitable educational environments. The teacher of a contemporary society is someone who can solve problems, builds positive relationships with students and their families, and contributes to the many-sided development of society.

The teacher as a model in society

The teacher holds an important place in the society they live in and is someone who is constantly observed. For this reason, they serve as a model through their behavior not only in the classroom but also in society; the source notes that teachers should also pay attention to their dress, speech and behavior outside the classroom, embrace the values of society and uphold universal values.

In short

In contemporary education, the teacher is not a transmitter of information but a guide who facilitates, plans, motivates and evaluates learning. In the classroom, the teacher takes on many roles at once, from leader to counselor; professional qualities such as planning, classroom management and evaluation are the everyday counterpart of these roles. The teacher's responsibility does not end when the bell rings: they continue to set an example for their students and surroundings in school activities, in cooperation with families and in community life.

Key concepts

• Facilitating role: The teacher supporting the student's learning rather than transmitting information.
• Guide: Helping students get to know themselves and give direction to their development.
• Classroom management: The ability to create and maintain a classroom environment that enables learning.
• Lesson plan: A written plan that sets out in advance the aims, content, activities and evaluation of a lesson.
• Mediator: The teacher helping to resolve disagreements between students.
• Arbiter: The teacher making fair decisions in classroom situations and assessments.
• Student personnel services: Support services outside teaching and administration, covering social activities, health and guidance services.
• Out-of-class duties: Responsibilities outside the classroom such as educational clubs, social activities, school duty and cooperation with parents.
• Being a model: The teacher setting an example through their behavior in the classroom and in society.

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Sources used:
Yaşar, Ş. (2008). Öğretmenlik mesleği ve öğretmenin nitelikleri [The teaching profession and teacher qualities]. In M. Gültekin (Ed.), Eğitim Bilimine Giriş [Introduction to Educational Science] (Unit 10). Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları.

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