Review Your Role, Responsibilities and Boundaries as a Teacher

| Review your role, responsibilities and boundaries as a teacher would be in terms of the teaching/training cycle. | 631 words | | Alan Marshall | |

28/01/2012 |

L. Walklin (1990) “The roles and responsibilities of a teacher evolve with time and circumstance. It is impossible to give a rigid definition of either as they change constantly, though there are some roles and responsibilities that are common to all teachers throughout the education system. It is hard to know where the roles and responsibilities of a teacher should stop and I feel is each teacher’s responsibility to know the boundaries. There exists a misconception that the only skill required to be a teacher is the ability to teach, but it goes far beyond this. A teacher must be multi-faceted.”
It is important to identify the difference between roles, responsibilities and boundaries. In order to do this the teacher should look at the dictionary definitions.
Collins Dictionaries(1999) “Role: Usual function, capacity, duty, function, job, part, position, post, task: what is his role in the organisation?”
“Responsibility: A person or thing for which one is responsible. In authority, in charge, in control, accountable, answerable, duty bound. A thing which one is required to do as part of a job, role, or legal obligation”
“Boundary: Something that indicates the farthest limit. A limit of something abstract, especially a subject or sphere of activity”
Therefore responsibilities fit within roles and boundaries would include things such as maintaining professional relationships and taking care with communication methods (and increasingly social media use).
To deal with each in order, the role of a teacher is primarily creating and facilitating opportunities for learning and will include: Schemes of work, lesson planning, finding and preparing materials, subject research. Record keeping is also an important role to ensure compliance with awarding and funding body regulation and legislation. This would include: Attendance registers, learner and teacher assessment and of course, reports.
Some of the responsibilities of a teacher are: Health and safety. An example of this would be fire regulations and the pointing out of fire exits, and assembly points. Teachers are individually and collectively responsible for the safety of everyone whilst at the place of learning. Equal opportunities, promoting equality of all, regardless of age, gender and culture. Teachers need to examine their own behaviour to ensure they are not discriminatory and politically correct. Special needs. A teacher should also be aware of students with special needs and advocate conditions for their success. Continuous professional development; keeping yourself up to date in both teaching and your field of expertise. Maintaining high standards in your work and conduct, both in and out of the workplace. Complying with the rules of the organisation you are part of as well as legislation and codes of practice.
The boundaries for any teaching role will include: Professional behaviour. A teachers professional values, rights, and responsibilities are more important than any sense of needing to be liked by others, needing to please others, or needing to make a good impression. As a teacher, discretion is required regarding what, where, and to whom personal information is disclosed. A teacher should both model and teach appropriate boundaries. The teaching environment such as the type of student and the subject will influence whether or not touching is appropriate. In short, the teacher is responsible for eliminating any possible misunderstanding.

The teaching/training cycle is about identifying needs, planning and designing, delivering and facilitating, assessing and finally evaluating before it all starts again. Becoming a professional is an on-going process. A teacher should allow time each day for self-examination and reflection. Teachers need to continually assess their own personal behaviour, learn from their experiences, and realize that they will always be faced with unpredictable challenges. This system of continual improvement is known in industry as “Kaisen” but is equally applicable to the teaching profession.

Reference List:
Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus (1999)
Teaching and Learning in Further and Adult Education. L. Walklin (1990)