Unit 301 Understanding Roles leaflet

Following my professional enquiry, I have felt that it was important to make further improvements in my teaching pedagogy in order to move forward. Therefore, I have put the next steps into place. Through the professional enquiry, I have gained a further understanding into which areas of my practice need further development.

As a teacher I have roles, responsibilities and boundaries affecting my learners, which I aim to explore using the various pieces of legislation, regulations and codes of practice, then analyse my own experience and reflective ideas.

Teaching also involves varied relationships among various individuals. A teacher must know how to work effectively not only with

Meeting children’s needs is a vital aspect of teaching whereby the needs of all children must be taken into consideration. Teacher’s professional practice is developed over time in various ways, for example through experience, preparation and reflection (Tack et al, 2014).

What is teaching? Teaching is something many people desire to do in order to help those learn with different teaching approaches. A lot of time is devoted to the ‘what’ of teaching and what areas we should we cover, what resources do we need and so on. The ‘how’ of teaching also gets a great deal of space and how to structure a lesson, manage classes, assess for learning for learning and so on. “Do we ask the “who” question – who is the self that teaches? How does the quality of my selfhood form – or deform – the way I relate to my students, my subject, my colleagues, my world? How can educational institutions sustain and deepen the selfhood from which good teaching comes?”- Parker J. Palmer (1998: 4).

However, there are also several definition of teaching given by various psychologists. Wells (1982) defined teaching as an activities involving teachers to explain, deduce, question, motivate, keep record of students’ works and etc. Edmund Amidon has defined teaching as an interactive process between teacher and students in an activities which involve classroom talk while Greens state that teaching is a task performed by a teacher for the development of a child. Alberta Teachers’ Association (2012) also have defined teaching as a specialized application of knowledge, skills and attributes which have been developed to provide unique service to meet the educational needs in person and society. Basically, the responsibility of the teaching profession is to choose learning activities, provide students with learning opportunities, develop the values and guide them in their social relationship to meet the goals of education in school. That is why the direct interaction between teachers and students plays an important element in

Over the next several pages I will discuss many aspects of education. This will include the role that I am employed, the demographics of the area I work in and specific responsibilities I have as a paraprofessional. I will explore the classroom setting I am in, including the relationship to my students, supervisors, and other disciplines within the educational system.

Teachers can be seen to wear many hats, they have several crucial factors under their job role as well as their legal and moral obligations. They fundamentally have a duty of care to teach the national curriculum. As well as provide essential knowledge, that enables the learners needs to become well rounded, educated citizens. Combining this with a broad level of ongoing and up to date curriculum and subject knowledge, to make effective personalised learning objectives for all learners. With careful consideration for learners that may have special educational needs, disabilities, or for whom English is a second language. Whilst taking practical account of diversity, promote equality and inclusion across all teaching.

In this essay, I will identify and explain five key aspects that are important for the professional development of any teacher. Furthermore, I will decide which of the key aspects I will prioritise in my own development and provide a reflective justification for my choice.

Teachers must also determine student needs prior to planning a lesson, so that differentiated instruction can be given to those who need it – this isn’t always just for lower level learners – it is just as important to address those who might need extra work or more difficult assessment to stretch their capabilities.

Defining the roles and duties of a Primary Teacher can be quite difficult. Gipps et al. (2000) define teaching as:

Different people have varied views of teaching; some take it to be a vocation while some view it as a profession (Langford 51). Those saying teaching is a vocation, base their argument on the fact that anybody can be a teacher, from parents, relatives, peers, the media, the politician, the preacher and so forth, and this depends on the knowledge they are disseminating to their students. On the professional point of view teachers need professional qualifications and certifications for them to practice as tutors and instructors. In all these circumstances, as a vocation and as a profession, teaching has proved to be the mother of all professions. This paper explains how teaching has become the genesis of all professionalism.

The role of a teacher can be broken down into various stages taken from the Teacher Training Cycle.

A teacher role in education is to teach the learner but it’s more than that, it’s to be a role model, it’s someone who a learner can depend and rely on. In 1984 David Kolb published his model for the learning cycle. “Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 38). The cycle is broken down into four parts;

Evaluate your role of teacher/trainer explaining its responsibilities (including the promotion of equality and valuing diversity) and limits. A/1.2 A/1.3 A/1.4