A teacher is a mentor, a supporter, a guide, a creator, a friend, and an enemy to what affects learners negatively.
A mentor has travelled along the road of life and therefore has experience. The value of experience we as teachers bring to the classroom. It is to look at a learner as a tree that is growing, trimming some branches so it grows straight and true.
Do our learners feel and understand that we are mentors? Do we share the fact that we were once as inexperienced as they are and faced similar difficulties? The image we teachers often choose to present is that we’re saints — we never gave our teachers and parents a hard time!
A supporter and guide is one you can hold on to, who does not only see the wrong but affirms the good and corrects the bad. But learners often have a perception we are always finding the vice in them. If learners are involved in misdemeanours and we have to discipline them, do we see it as an opportunity to teach and guide? If I look at my own career as a teacher, I wish I had done more to support these learners with difficulties.
A creator is one who brings something into existence, moulding it into a shape. As Membathisi Mdladlana once said when he was president of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union: ‘The union’s biggest responsibility is to create a democratic, knowledgeable society.”
Teachers and the education system are the main creators of society. If we look at our society now, are we proud of what we have created? In my opinion, we still have a long way to go before we can congratulate ourselves.
A friend is someone you trust and respect. You would not do anything to compromise a friend. Yet how many times have we let down our learners?
The respect that a teacher once held in society is no longer visible in our society. It’s not surprising, because some of our teachers share alcohol with learners and make others their girlfriends. Recent research has identified teachers as being the major abusers of girls at school.
Teachers should only ever be friends with their learners, maintaining strict boundaries. It is then that learners can build trust and confide in their teachers.
An enemy to whatever blocks the education of your learners: that is also a part of what makes a teacher. To stand up against the evils portrayed by society is to help your charges to distinguish good from bad.
When you take a hard line to guide the learners’ growth for the better, it can be misunderstood and then the teacher is seen as the enemy. But being a teacher is also about tough love and making some unpopular decisions.
But there is another challenge facing teachers today: changing the negative perception that many in our society have of the profession. It is up to each and every practising teacher to alter this image by showing that we make a positive difference to society.
I have chosen just a few words to describe what a teacher is. I could have chosen many more, but these are the qualities I believe make up the essence of a good teacher.
Ultimately, the responsibility of teachers is to create a great nation.