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THE ROLE AND RELEVANCE OF TEACHERS TODAY...
The 21st Century education can be considered equivalent to student-centred education. If the student is in the centre of the learning universe, not the school, not the teacher, but their academic results will improve significantly. The best teachers have the student learning at the core of their mission
This is a very ambitious goal. In many parts of the developing world, too many are left behind by not having access to school or learning the basics. Of the 121 million out-of-school children and adolescents in low and middle-income countries, one-sixth of children did not complete primary school and one-third of adolescents did not complete lower secondary. Thirty percent of countries still do not have gender parity in primary and 50 percent do not have it in secondary. Worst of all, 250 million children cannot read, write, or do basic arithmetic, although many of them have been in school for some years. “Schooling Isn't Learning” states the subtitle of the excellent book from Lant Pritchett, “The Rebirth of Education,” which analyses the challenges the developing world faces to ensure improvements in literacy and numeracy. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has described it as the Global Learning Crisis.
Teachers play vital roles in the lives of the students in their classrooms. Beyond that, teachers serve many other roles in the classroom. Teachers set the tone of their classrooms, build a warm environment, mentor and nurture students, become role models, and listen and look for signs of trouble. Teachers provide the power of education to today's youth, thereby giving them the possibility for a better future. Teachers simplify the complex, and make abstract concepts accessible to students. Teachers also expose children to ideas and topics that they might otherwise not have come into contact with.
A teacher's influence, ideas and expectations of his or her students' capabilities have an effect on student academic performance and achievements. When students are viewed in a negative way by their teachers such as, being lazy, unmotivated and having no abilities, they take on those beliefs about themselves. So, a teacher should make an impact in the life of students in a positive way rather than inducing him/her in negative way. A teacher being a mediator, he/she should believe that they are the part of a team and teaching is not an isolated work. Teachers need to learn to collaborate, co-create, plan classes, and monitor their work together. This could be in the school they are working or within a school system.
Despite this, learning through collaboration or professional development courses how to deliver classes that are more engaging and allow for the student's space to develop higher order thinking skills, is feasible even under these difficult circumstances. It just demands more structured professional development and better-prepared instructors to address these teachers' needs.
This demand mentoring and class observations, together with structured materials to support initial efforts from the novice teacher to prepare meaningful class-plans and deliver them. It also requires some additional time if the classes are as in some developing countries, too short or based on a curriculum overloaded with unnecessary content. Students may be the focus of education and schools may be the providers of education, but teachers are the ones that make everything possible. Without teachers, schools could not provide education, while students could not get the education they need. That's why teachers play a very important role in today's modern learning organizations and their success in meeting the needs of the 21st Century student. But what exactly does this role imply? Here are a few ideas:
A successful teacher today needs to be on the lookout for all technological advances and especially those that have educational potential. Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes, but a great teacher today needs to embrace the new and promote innovative leadership and pedagogy across all layers and roles of the learning community: school management, all faculty, students and parents, even citizens of their school's neighbourhood, city or state.