This video forms part of Saide's Education Series Being a Teacher module. There is reflection on the doubts and concerns that were discussed in Part One of the video; then professionalism in the health sector compared to teaching is discussed. What makes a teacher who makes a difference?

Being a Teacher, Professional Challenges and Choices. Teachers are not just teachers. They are also people. In straddling issues of both professional and personal identity, this module comes to grips with the professional choices teachers are required to make, and do make, in developing the knowledge, skills and values of learners. This module is suitable for both inducting novice teachers into the role of the teacher and for in-service programmes in which practising teachers could valuably compare their own experiences with this systematic overview of the role of a teacher and teaching as a profession. The contextual setting in South Africa is readily adaptable to other settings: the core issues are the same.Series Editor, John Gultig

This video forms part of the Being a Teacher study pack of Saide's education series. It reflects on student teachers' and other teachers' doubts and concerns about the status of teaching; and secondly gets the viewpoint of two celebrities on what good teachers meant for them.

Teachers are not just teachers. They are also people. In straddling issues of both professional and personal identity, this module comes to grips with the professional choices teachers are required to make, and do make, in developing the knowledge, skills and values of learners. This module is suitable for both inducting novice teachers into the role of the teacher and for in-service programmes in which practising teachers could valuably compare their own experiences with this systematic overview of the role of a teacher and teaching as a profession. The contextual setting in South Africa is readily adaptable to other settings: the core issues are the same.

Being a Teacher: Professional Challenges and Choices. This section argues the case for studying what 'being a teacher' means in relation to national needs and those of individual learners, and explains how the writers intended the module to be tackled. This module sets out to address each of these issues in ways that will enable you to teach with greater confidence based on deeper understanding. We have also attempted, in Sections Four to Seven, to link this understanding to practical approaches and strategies for teachers.

Being a Teacher: Section Two - Being a teacher in South Africa. This section is not as strongly rooted in South Africa as its title suggests. It addresses the basic question of what it means to be a teacher in a broader social setting.This module is an attempt to dispel much of this uncertainty, to help you understand and cope with a degree of uncertainty, and to help you to develop some of the special competences needed to meet the challenges of being a teacher. As you study this module, it may be helpful to think of yourself as undertaking a 'journey', moving towards a clearer understanding of the world of teaching as you answer questions that increase your practical competence and professional confidence. In this section, the key questions will therefore focus on the personal and public contexts in which teaching takes place in South Africa. The section begins by stepping back to question our 'common-sense' view about the need for teachers, before going on to explore what motivates teachers to take up teaching as a career.

Being a Teacher: Professional Challenges and Choices. Being a Teacher: Section Three, Teaching as a profession. The meaning and implications of teachers' professional responsibilities are developed and extended through comparison with other professions. At the end of Section Two, we posed a challenge, asking you how you could become 'part of the solution' in our current teaching context, and what you could do to empower learners to face their own challenges in the future.

Being a Teacher: Professional Challenges and Choices, Section Four, The teacher's authority: sustaining an effective learning environment. The issue of an orderly learning environment (involving rules, discipline and punishment) is explored in relation to broader issues of individual rights and freedom in a democracy. There are three main questions that propel this section: How are teachers to maintain, or regain, their authority? What is the teacher's role in a democratic learning environment? How can teachers exercise effective authority in practice -- how can they establish and maintain order that is not based on fear?

Being a Teacher: Professional Challenges and Choices. Section Five, The teacher as knowledge--worker. Should teachers be imparting content knowledge or playing the role of a facilitator in a more learner-centred approach? This fundamental question -- which may not have an either / or answer -- links well the module 'Learners and Learning'. We have just explored the 'in authority' role of teachers with respect to managing the learning environment. Now we turn to the role of the teacher as 'an authority', one who is expected to have a sound knowledge base that includes the skill of imparting knowledge to learners, in other words, a curriculum practitioner.

Nothing in teaching is free of social dimensions and value questions. Teaching can therefore not be 'neutral', and teachers cannot sidestep the issue of their role in relation to sets of values. This section explores the role of the teacher in exercising and encouraging particular values. Compulsory schooling means placing vast numbers of learners behind desks approximately 170 mornings a year. We know that the content that we teach is a selection from many things that could be taught. Under such circumstances, this selection has economic, social and even moral consequences for the learners and for society.

Being a Teacher: Professional Challenges and Choices. Section Seven | Making a difference. What essential qualities do teachers (and schools) need in order to Ômake a differenceŐ? This section provides a platform for teacher agency and reflective practice. When you have completed this section, you should be able to: demonstrate a significantly richer understanding of the term professionalism in relation to teaching; recognize the value of adopting a reflective approach to your teaching in collaboration with colleagues; practise systematic reflective practice in your teaching; and appreciate the significance of agency and the scope that it creates for teachers in education.

This video which forms part of the Saide Education series Being a Teacher module provides a reflection on the 'alternative' approaches to teaching, leading to an introduction to the teacher's social responsibility role.

This video is part of the Saide Education Series Being a Teacher module. The video shows the teacher as knowledge-worker, with a biology lesson as a basis for exploring 'lecture' type approaches to teaching factual content in relation to the learner-centred facilitation of learning.

In this video linked to the Study of Education series module Being a Teacher, the management and planning of teaching and creating a suitable learning and caring environment are discussed. Issues of discipline and freedom are also highlighted.

This audiotape is linked to Creating People Centred Schools learning guide, but carries debates which could also be used in a free-standing way by anyone interested in school organization and change.

This paper addresses the question: how do mathematics teachers make meaning from curriculum statements in relation to their teaching practices. We report on a teacher development activity in which teachers mapped test items from an international test against the national curriculum statement in mathematics. About 50 mathematics teachers across Grades 3-9 worked in small groups with a graduate student or staff member as a group leader. Drawing on focus group interviews with the teachers and the group leaders we show that the activity focused the teachers on the relationships between the intended curriculum and their teaching, i.e. the enacted curriculum, in four areas: content coverage; cognitive challenge; developing meaning for the assessment standards; and sequence and progression. We argue that the activity illuminates ways in which international tests can provide a medium for teacher growth rather than teacher denigration and alienation.

By visiting schools we learn more about two approaches to school change and improvement: the school-as-organization model based on internal reflection and action; and the schools-as-community approach based on networking.

By visiting schools, in this video we learn more about two approaches to school change and improvement: the school-as-organization model based on internal reflection and action; and the schools-as-community approach based on networking.

This audio file podcast is linked to Creating People Centred Schools learning guide, but carries debates which could also be used in a free-standing way by anyone interested in school organization and change.