I think that the role of a teacher is not just to teach their pupils but also to act as a role model and to guide them in life. I think that in order to be “he perfect teacher” you must do more than teach, you also need to treat the pupils as adults and as you like to be treated yourself.

In my opinion the most important things you need to do to be a good teacher are be patient and get the subject across to your pupils.

In other words explain everything well, and don’t assume if someone doesn’t understand they either should because you do or that they were not listening as it is not there fault.

It also doesn’t help if instead of explaining better you just shout or say the same explanation louder than the time before.

Another equally important feature is you need to have the right personality, by this I mean that you need to care about your pupils and you need to listen to what they have to say.

It is no good if you ignore your pupils all the time and to be a good teacher you also have to deal with other problems like bullying or if something has been stolen.

You may think that the job requires you to teach the pupils and not have anything else to do with them in which case you will be surprised because pupils get on better with teachers who deal with outside problems that have nothing to do with the subject.

Pupils find it a lot easier to like and respect a teacher who is willing to help them with other things apart from school work than a teacher who will not get involved with their personal life when they are asked to.

Also a teacher who tries to get involved when they are not asked to or too often will not get any respect from pupils who will feel as if they cant have any personal life. Another thing the teacher needs is the ability to produce good exam results in accordance to the pupil’s ability.

The second most important thing about a teacher is their attendance punctuality organisation and deadlines.

These are very important because if the teacher has bad attendance there isn’t much point in them being there as the pupils will have a supply teacher a lot and then will not learn enough to get good exam results.

Punctuality organisation and deadlines all come in to the same thing really and they are important because they effect the children.

(E.g. if a teacher forgets to mark homework then pupils may think it is not important and not do it.

Also if a teacher often turns up late to a lesson then the pupils will think it is ok to do it there self. Teachers should set good examples and not examples that may get pupils told of for following.)

Another important thing is appearance because a teacher should take pride in what they look like.

For instance a teacher who tells a pupil of for wearing trainers or not wearing a tie will only lose respect and become disliked if they are not wearing a tie or are wearing trainers themselves.

Discipline is another important thing although it ties in to the teacher’s appearance. A teacher shouldn’t be too strict or too relaxed, teachers should also give a suitable punishment for what the pupil did not a big punishment for something small or vice versa.

Where the appearance and discipline are tied together is that a pupil will take advantage of a teacher who looks like they have just been dragged of the street and will refuse punishments (i.e. not turning up for detention).

Homework also ties in, as if homework is set even if the teacher does mark it every time if he doesn’t give punishments for late homework it will always be late. This also works if there are no punishments for not bringing homework at all as then pupils will never do or hand it in.

Lastly is the thing that I find quite important yet not essential, while it may be of some relevance it is a quality that you don’t need to have to be a good teacher.

This thing is experience. While experience is important it is not essential, as there would never be any teachers because once you are qualified you still don’t have any experience until you have done a teaching job.

Another thing is age, it isn’t very important because any age person can teach just as well. The only problem with age is a very young teacher say twenty two years old may not have as much power in class as an older teacher of forty five because the pupils may think that they shouldn’t have to listen to people that close to their age.

(I.e. a year eleven would think it didn’t matter, as there is only 6 years difference)

One last thing of little importance is qualifications. While it is important in that some one teaching a top set should have a very good degree it isn’t essential, as person with not many qualifications or qualification that are not as good can teach as long as they can still get the subject across.

However a teacher can have all these skills but still not be very good as the pupils may not get on with them. Also there could be a clash of personalities with some of the more strong-minded. All in all there is no such thing as a perfect teacher but you can have a bad or good teacher.