Teacher policies and professional obligations

Teachers have always been the mainstay of any educational venue whether it is K-12, college, or trade school. As such the responsibilities the teacher must bear are numerous, on going, and, most of all facilitative. Teacher responsibilities are both creative and critical in purpose and must be clearly defined and continually upgraded. The purpose of this paper is to outline those teacher responsibilities needed to be, and remain, an effective educator. To this end the responsibilities presented below have been categorized as to target population including the responsibilities to the learner, responsibilities to the community, profession, facility, and colleagues, and responsibilities to oneself. When all responsibilities have been met the teacher can then be seen as a proactive and facilitative mentor, model, and instructional guide for those who wish to learn. Each category presented below will contain those characteristics needed to fulfill the obligation to the area identified.

Responsibilities to Student.

Provide students with learning objectives, expectations, and a learning framework for all activities and assignments.

Provide content motivation and interest.

Assess and measure the level of a student's learning.

Align student and institutional perceptions.

Encourage students to learn as much as possible based on their own abilities and without harassment or hindrance.

Provide the student with a safe, comfortable, and positive environment.

Be subject knowledgeable and be able to establish rapport with students.

Keep students aware of their progress.

Respect students and teach students to respect themselves.

Be open to learn from students.

Responsibilities to Community, Colleagues, Profession and Facility.

Work and communicate with parents regarding student progress, program goals, school activities, and school policy.

Help improve technology and facilities.

Create partnerships with the community, businesses, and organizations.

Help lead community groups and organizations.

Become politically involved.

Become a mentor to new teachers.

Share ideas and programs with colleagues.

Take part in school decision-making.

Participate in teacher professional organizations.

Lead efforts to make teachers more visible in the community by conveying positive information.

Responsibilities to Oneself.

Be open about one's own strengths and weaknesses.

Able to tolerate differences, anger, and distress without getting caught-up in the cycle.

Able to laugh at oneself and with others.

Have respect for self.

Possess the ability to reflect and indulge in self-appraisal.

Possess a readiness and willingness to examine and accept new ideas.

Be an informed citizen.

Place the well-being of society before personal and private interests.

Be a self-advocate.

Be goal oriented.

Discussion

No one will argue that our children in the twenty first century will have to read well, write fittingly, and be able to use mathematics proficiently. To this end some of the needs are academic, some are social, and some are behavioral. All children must also master important scientific and cultural knowledge that is the result of the mega technological boom in today's society. Technological advances and the rapid pace of globalization has placed upon our schools, communities and families a significant burden or ownership. In order to assimilate all that is being presented students must value tolerance, cultural diversity, fair play, and civic responsibility. Unfortunately, however, the curricula in most schools is incongruent with the rapid advance of knowledge and most schools function with inadequate libraries, technological facilities, and teachers with little time to plan, evaluate, and keep abreast of new advancements. Knowing that students learn more from teachers who are better prepared in their content fields it is necessary for teacher training to change in response to new knowledge, higher expectations, and advanced technology. Teacher education programs, therefore, must be enriched, well designed, and attainable. With this in mind the curricula offered to both students and teachers must be concrete, comprehensive, culturally diverse, and continuous. With the "Four C's" at the forefront of any educational program those responsible for providing the curricula for the twenty first century must also be willing to, and acceptable of, change with respect to empowerment, leadership, communication, and opportunity.

Knowing that change benefits students, teacher and community one must be always vigilant that change in education is a process and not an event. As such curricula changes that will reap the most benefit and have the greatest impact are those that produce the greatest amount of personal and organization acceptance and satisfaction. That is to say that curricular changes for students and teachers must pay close attention to both professional and personal need within a strategic framework.