ESSENTIAL QUALITIES, DUTIES,RESPONSIBILITIES AND ROLE OF A PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEACHER.

ABSTRACT 

Teaching is considered as one of the noblest profession and the teacher is of paramount importance in the field of education. The teacher is the key person on whom depends the future of mankind. In fact, teachers can do miracles, which can shape raw material into a finished product. He/She is not simply to impart knowledge but also mould the habits, traits and character of pupils. And is to achieve educational objectives through the curriculum of the school.In order to discharge his/her duties effectively as a physical science teacher he/she must possess certain qualities.The teacher should be Active and understanding. And should have Awareness , Interrelationships,Learning Ability,Punctuality ,Resourcefulness ,Skill for Effective Teaching ,Skill for Communication and Truthfulness.Besides possessing  the qualities every  physical science teacher should fulfill some duties and responsibilities. A physical science teacher must have practical knowledge of child psychology and of process of learning, must be trained in modern methods and techniques and must fulfill basic academic requirements. A role of teachers is socially significant as it affects the knowledge, skills and attitude of future adults.Teacher expected to play many roles which may be  categorized into three as a Facilitator, as a Researcher and as a Social  Resource. The main concepts that have been taken into account in this

article include  essential Qualities, Duties Responsibilities and Role of a Physical Science Teacher. 

Keywords: Teacher ,Physical Science,Qualities, Duties, Responsibilities,Role,Facilitator, Researcher,Social Resource

INTRODUCTION 

“The Destiny of a Nation is shaped in its classrooms.”

            - Kothari Commission 

The role of the school and teachers has always been vital in the all round personality development of the students. In fact, a teacher is a role model influencing every facet of the student’s growth and developing their innate potentials, in addition to being a motivator, guide and friend.Besides, the teacher of today is also responsible to enable and empower the learner to emerge as a competent youth, ready to take on the challenges of the rapidly changing world. Hence, it is imperative that the teacher continuously upgrades his/her knowledge and methodology in order to enhance the quality of teaching. If the quality of teaching is good and the commitment of teachers is high, the standard of the Institution is bound to rise.

QUALITIES OF A PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEACHER 

There are general qualities which a teacher must be endowed with to be an effective teacher. However, a science teacher must possess some specific qualities to become a successful science teacher.

1. Sincerity of purpose: A teacher should have love for his profession. He should be seriously and sincerely committed to his duties and work. As such he must be on the path of excellence both for his own personal achievements and that of his pupils.

2. Studious and learned: A very desirable quality of a teacher is his taste for learning. He should have the habit of keeping himself in touch with the latest development especially belonging to his own subjects. He should be a voracious reader of the knowledge available to him from multi-dimensional sources.

3. A good communicator of ideas: A teacher should be clear in speech and should be able to convey his ideas to his pupils with ease and effectiveness. His blackboard and sketching should be quite neat, bold and effective.

4. Plain speaking: A teacher by nature should be truth loving and plain speaking. He must have enough courage to say the right thing as right and wrong ones as wrong. There should not be any ambiguity in his thoughts and saying.

5. Impartial behaviour and attitude: A teacher should not have any biases and prejudices of any kind towards any of his students. He should not distinguish and discriminate one people from the other and should try to drop all notions of favouritism or antagonism by giving a solid proof of his impartial behaviour and attitude towards all of his students.

6. Hard worker and responsible: The teacher should be his own example of hard work and sincerity. He should inspire his students to acquire a taste for learning, doing safe work as well as sharing responsibilities with all his keenness and sincerity.

7. Affectionate behaviour: The teacher should create an atmosphere of good will, love and cooperation in the matter of dealing with his students. He should not get irritated on minor faults and mistakes of his pupils but should try to create an environment of mutual trust and affection congenial for proper work and learning.

8. Patience: A teacher should not lose his patience and unnecessarily get disturbed over minor mistakes and shortcomings of his pupils but must demonstrate a lot of patience in dealing with them. On the other hand, the pupils should not always live in constant fear of the teacher but must try to receive proper guidance from their teacher. 

9. Leadership and love for discipline: The teacher must possess the traits of a good leader in whom the students may have a genuine faith. He should be able to inspire the students to seek knowledge with sincerity. A disciplined and sincere teacher will be able to inculcate the values of sincerity, discipline and obedience among students. This will channelize the energy of students towards constructive activities.

10. Self confidence: A teacher must have confidence in his abilities. This confidence must be demonstrated through his behaviour in general and his classroom teaching in particular.

11. Mastery of his subject: A science teacher should have profound knowledge of his subject of study so that he may not cut a sorry figure before his students. He should be able to keep his head high and be able answer all the questions and problems put to him by his students up to their satisfaction in all branches of his subject.

12. Knowledge of other subjects: A science should not only be an expert in his subject but should also have a good working knowledge of the other related subjects. For example, the physics teacher should have good knowledge of Mathematics and Biology teacher should know much about chemistry in order to do more justice with his teaching. Moreover, a teacher equipped with the essential knowledge of the all related subjects will be able to handle his students efficiently as the subjects of the curriculum are supplementary to each other in fulfilling the objectives of teaching at a particular stage and the application of one subject is easily found in the other.

13. Scientific thinking and attitude: A good science teacher tries to imbibe scientific thinking and attitude in his own actions and thoughts. For acquiring such traits, a science teacher must attempt to provide science education in such a way as to inculcate in the pupils a habit of testing the validity of certain beliefs and facts by their own independent observations and experimentation.

14. Efficiency in the preparation and use of teaching aids: The science teacher should have sufficient skill and dexterity in improvising and constructing his own aids in teaching of science according to the local needs and situations. Needless to say that he should have full self- confidence in handling all types of demonstration equipments and materials as well as in using all types of audio visual aids for making the science teaching as effective as possible.

15. Taste of scientific activities: A good science teacher should have taste and love for organizing and participating in scientific activities like establishment of science museum and science club, organising scientific excursions and science fairs and engaging in purposeful scientific hobbies. Such activities constitute real education and help in the proper development of scientific attitude among the students.

16. Knowledge of psychology related to science: The teacher should have knowledge of the science of behaviour of his students in order to handle them effectively in the teaching- learning process. He should try to impart knowledge and skills to then according of their mental abilities, capacities, interests and attitudes, as well as emotional and social make up. If the teacher is well equipped he may help the students to undergo a battery of intelligence tests. In this way, if scientific knowledge is imparted to the deserving students it will make the tasks of the teacher and the taught easier. Apart from this the knowledge of other tests and psychological measurement will help the teacher to understand the ability, and behaviour potential of the child at the different stages of his learning or development and consequently he may bring changes in his own mode of behaviour and methods of teaching.

17. Knowledge of methods of teaching science: It is also essential for a science teacher for being trained in the latest techniques, strategies and methodology of teaching science including the use of the all type of aids, materials and developed technology.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF A PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEACHER

⮚ Plan, prepare and deliver instructional activities that facilitate active learning experiences

⮚ Establish and communicate clear objectives for all learning activities

⮚ Identify and select different instructional resources and methods to meet students' varying needs

⮚ Use relevant technology to support instruction

⮚ Observe and evaluate student's performance and development

⮚ Assign and grade class work, homework, tests and assignment and provide appropriate feedback on work

⮚ Maintain accurate and complete records of students' progress and development

⮚ Manage student behavior in the classroom by establishing and enforcing rules and procedures

⮚ Be accessible to students, providing academic support, active listening and advocacy while observing appropriate boundaries

⮚ Participate in department and school meetings, parent meetings, and evening events as assigned by the principal.

⮚ Continue to grow as a professional by attending in-service professional development activities

⮚ Communicate necessary information regularly to students, colleagues and parents regarding student progress and student needs

⮚ Supervise students outside of class as assigned by the principal

⮚ Plan study programs to meet students’ needs, interests and abilities.

⮚ Design curriculum as per the needs of the students.

⮚ Evaluate and assess students’ progress on a periodic basis.

⮚ Monitor individual student progress.

⮚ Take corrective measures to enhance student learning abilities.

⮚ Prepare student progress reports.

⮚ Instruct students on proper use of equipment, materials, aids and textbooks.

⮚ Set and monitor standards of student behavior.

⮚ Assist staff members in assessing students’ attitude, learning problems.

⮚ Advice parents on students’ progress and development.

⮚ Organize class time as per the instructional plans.

⮚ Maintain inventory of instructional materials, aids and equipment.

⮚ Coordinate and support teaching aides and assistants in their tasks.

⮚ Ensure compliance of teaching objectives to state law, administrative regulations and procedures.

⮚ Preparing and delivering ability- and age-appropriate curricula

⮚ Demonstrating hands-on activities prior to assignment

⮚ Assigning homework, including supplemental reading and science projects

⮚ Evaluating student performance on tests, reports and lab activities

⮚ Collaborating with other teachers, staff, students and parents to support student progress

⮚ Staying current on the latest technology and scientific discoveries

⮚ Coordinating school science fairs

⮚ Mentoring students and preparing them for science competitions

 

ROLE OF A PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEACHER 

Teacher as a Facilitator

21st century educators are no longer the source of all knowledge in the classroom. Educators should inspire the students to take ownership in their own learning and provide opportunities for students to learn key concepts and discover the tools that they need for learning so that they can become lifelong learners. In the 21st century, teachers are the facilitators for learning who engage, lead, inspire, and encourage the students in their classrooms.

A facilitator is a person who assists a group of people in grasping at their common targets and in achieving them without any intervention on his/her behalf. Therefore, when we say the teacher has to play, the role of a facilitator in the classroom, this means that teacher should not be the king who controls the activities of the learner. He/She should grant the learners some space to let this spirit of creativity and innovations.

A facilitator of learning therefore is a teacher who does not operate under the traditional concept of teaching, but rather is meant to guide and assist students in learning for them. Picking the apart ideas, forming their own thoughts about them and owning material through self exploration and dialogue. The teacher as facilitator values subject matters knowledge, but less for its own sake and more the contributions in matters to the growth of the students.

When teacher acts as a facilitator, we find a classroom where personal growth is flourishing. Six characteristics of teachers who are high facilitators of personal growth (Wittmer & Myrick) are:

1. Effective Listener & Communicator

2. Genuineness

3. Understanding

4. Respectful

5. Intelligence

6. Skill in interpersonal communication  

Role of Teacher as a facilitator

● Teacher creates learning environment where students are active participants as individuals and as members of collaborative groups in creating, sharing, discussing, reasoning and analyzing the processes invaded in solving scientific problems/tasks.

● Teacher – motivates students and nurtures their desire to learn in a safe, healthy and supportive environment which develops compassion and mutual respect. 

● Teacher cultivates cross culture understanding and the value of diversity.

● Teacher encourages students to accept responsibility for their own learning and accommodates the diverse learning needs of the students.

● Teachers display efficient and effective classroom management.

● Teacher provides access to students in technology tool and time.

● Teacher allows students to engage in hands in experiment, discuss and process content and make meaningful connections.

● Teachers design lessons that allow students to participate in empowering activities.

Thus the Teacher as a facilitator is an educational visionary who ;

✔ Explores and invests in innovative practices and coaches learners through challenges. 

✔ Provides an educational atmosphere where students have the opportunity to fulfill their potential for intellectual, emotional, physical and psychological growth; 

✔ Evaluates the needs and abilities of students and determines methods and techniques to best present and provide instruction to students within assigned subject areas; 

✔ Ensures students show continuous improvement in learning basics and essential skills; 

✔ Embraces technology and looks for purposeful ways to engage students; 

✔ Welcomes the challenge of creating an engaging and rigorous curriculum that makes connection to important concepts and ideas within and across disciplines.

Teacher as a Researcher

Every classroom is different. It is this complexity in which they operate in that provides a compelling reason for teachers to look more closely into their own teaching practice. Increasingly, teachers find themselves faced with new and novel demands, with no right or existing models to guide them. Instead of reusing the same old teaching strategies that have worked in the past, they may have to come up with innovative ways of teaching. One way for them to do so is to conduct research, right in their own classroom.

Marion MacLean and Marian Mohr (1999) explain that the term teacher-researcher is an important term to them because it has redefined their roles as teachers. Teachers are subjective insiders involved in classroom instruction as they go about their daily routines of instructing students, grading papers, taking attendance, evaluating their performance as well as looking at the curriculum. Traditional educational researchers who develop questions and design studies around those questions and conduct research within the schools are considered objective outside observers of classroom interaction. But when teachers become teacher-researchers, the "traditional descriptions of both teachers and researchers change. Teacher-researchers raise questions about what they think and observe about their teaching and their students' learning. They collect student work in order to evaluate performance, but they also see student work as data to analyze in order to examine the teaching and learning that produced it".

The Importance of Teacher Research to the Classroom Teacher :

Many teachers already overburdened with curriculum requirements, accountability requirements, and all the day-to-day pressures of keeping a classroom running wonder why they should take on one more thing. The goal of Teacher Research is to put "Best Practices" about teaching/learning into actual practice in the classroom. And the person who does that is the classroom teacher. Educational researchers in turn are engaging with teachers, by organising events especially for teachers at educational research conferences and collaborating with teachers in classroom research.The outcome expected from research should ideally be the solution to the problem initially observed or the improvement of the conditions which originally made teachers reflect on the problematic situation or, at least, the establishment of a path to perform a longer or deeper research attempt.

What Do Teacher Researchers Do?

● Develop questions based on their own curiosity about their students' learning and their teaching

● Investigate their questions with their students systematically documenting what happens

● Collect and analyze data from their classes including their own observations and reflections

● Examine their assumptions and beliefs

● Articulate their theories

● Discuss their research with their colleagues to validate their findings and interpretations of their data

● Present findings to others

● Talk to their students

● Give presentations (talk to teacher in room next door, go to conferences)

● Write about their research (school-wide publication, national), participate in teacher research web sites, online forums, and e-mail communications

Types of Teacher research:

Informal Research

Classroom teachers are often looking to participate in or conduct informal research that is specific to their own classroom context and practice. Teachers regularly carry out informal research in their daily work in the classroom. By the nature of their role, teachers are informal researchers. Every day a teacher enters their classroom with a new lesson to try, a new strategy to test, and a new thought about how to manage young students in the classroom.

However we know that teachers with better research skills, who are critically reflexive, and who look outside their own experience will find and evaluate possible solutions to teaching and classroom issues more quickly and efficiently. This can make their teaching more effective. 

Formal Research

Formal research is “hard and it is technical, rigorous, and accountability for validity and reliability are deeply entrenched within the system.  (e.g. ethics applications, access to literature, participant recruitment and informed consent, and the difficult work of analysing and interpreting complicated data).With so many hurdles to jump, it can take a long time to complete a formal research project. Occasionally, research is undertaken more formally, purposefully, with a broad goal of improving school or system-wide policies or processes.

Teachers’ networks and events

Teachers often seek more definite and immediate resolutions to context-specific issues. Teachers have created these networks and events to share, engage, collaborate and direct their own research, as well as the formal research available to them. These networks and events serve teachers’ aspirations for their own and their education systems’ improvements in order to achieve better outcomes for their students. 

A growing group of teachers are flocking to social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to share their resources, experiences and ideas. We know that this informal research is a normal part of the everyday work of a teacher, and teachers have found that there is much to be gained through the sharing and discussing of such work through social media. It is a great place to share research and explore teachers’ responses to and incorporation of both formal and informal research into their daily work. 

Teacher Action Research

Teacher action research is, according to John Elliott, "concerned with the everyday practical problems experienced by teachers, rather than the 'theoretical problems' defined by pure researchers within a discipline of knowledge" (Elliott, cited in Nixon, 1987). Research is designed, conducted, and implemented by the teachers themselves to improve teaching in their own classrooms, sometimes becoming a staff development project in which teachers establish expertise in curriculum development and reflective teaching.

Effects of Action Research:

● Action research provides teachers with the opportunity to gain knowledge and skill in research methods and applications and to become more aware of the options and possibilities for change. Teachers participating in action research become more critical and reflective about their own practice (Oja & Pine, 1989; Street, 1986). Teachers engaging in action research attend more carefully to their methods, their perceptions and understandings, and their whole approach to the teaching process.

● As teachers engage in action research they are increasing their understanding of the schooling process. The future directions of staff development programs, teacher preparation curricula, as well as school improvement initiatives, will be impacted by the things teachers learn through the critical inquiry and rigorous examination of their own practice and their school programs that action research requires.

● Teacher research will force the re-evaluation of current theories and will significantly influence what is known about teaching, learning, and schooling. It has been said, "Teachers often leave a mark on their students, but they seldom leave a mark on their profession" (Wolfe, 1989). Through the process and products of action research teachers will do both.

Advantages of Teacher Research:

✔ Privileged access to real-life data

Teachers, by being immersed in specific teaching contexts and as long as they are properly qualified and have enough experience, also have privileged and knowledgeable first-hand access to crucial information about their students’ needs, learning styles and available resources and about the schools they work for and about the education policies framing their professions, which allow them to reflect on their own educational settings so they can provide effective, reliable and realistic possibilities to solve or improve them.

✔ Possibility to adopt a multi-functional approach

Teachers nowadays do not act as simple disseminators of information but they have the possibility to change their roles constantly, even within the same lesson. This multi-functional role allows teachers to approach learners and issues from different viewpoints, enhancing the scope of their actions as well as the quality and appropriateness of the changes and solutions they propose.

✔ Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Teachers who do research activities have to engage in a long-lasting quest for updated information about the approaches and trends to deal responsibly with the issues raised as part of their practice, with permanent activities of reflection and assessment always framed by the policies stated by the government. Should they find inconsistencies between their practice and the applicable government regulation, they could propose changes with the appropriate authorities, and by doing this, teachers will grow both as professionals and as active and responsible members of social groups.

✔ Direct benefits of research on the teaching practice, on institutions and on the society

This process, once started and sensibly and responsibly supervised, generates the need to engage the whole educational community in it. This situation makes members commit to their duties by becoming reflective and critical on their performance, improving the institution’s profile through constant self-reflection in general. Such commitment can eventually generate the need to create research groups which help assess the decisions made by the institutions as well as the regulations stated by educational authorities, replicating their effect through a network of peer institutions. They can expand the benefits of this kind of processes to the whole society, especially because once standards are applied and analysed in real-life contexts –providing there is a permanent and effective two-way communication pattern between schools and regulators, real-life situations can be solved taking into account as much information as necessary and the rules established are more likely to match real needs since accomplishable and realistic goals can be set.

Disadvantages:

✔ Specific training necessary

Teachers –even those having the best intentions, who are determined enough to carry out research because they have identified issues worth paying attention to, may lack the specific skills to carry out successful research. This indicates that most times good intentions and determination are wasted in a sea of uncertainty. Even if they get to obtain data, they need to be trained on how to work with statistical methods and processes for those data to be reliable and not biased in any manner and this kind of knowledge implies a considerable amount of time to master.

✔ Budget/Time limitations

Teachers find it very difficult to convince management or education authorities to provide the financial support needed to carry out proper research, and consequently teachers are to face two alternatives: sacrifice their own income to do research or convince the people in charge to make a decision, a process which can take longer than the solution for the problem observed. 

✔ Risks

The old proverb says “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, and in case teachers managed to convince administrators to support them, the fact they lack proper background in the field of research can lead them to mislead institutions in processes to implement or change policies constantly for the sake of supposed innovation without having done proper and well-supported assessment of the effects of such decisions on the quality of the students’ learning process or even on their lives themselves.

✔ Challenges

Research done by teachers seems attractive and useful at first, but careful attention must be paid to carry it out in a responsible and sensible way, especially with enough financial and time support from authorities and guidance from experts. In order to do so there needs to be short-term, mid-term and long-term planning ranging from pilot research projects at schools which could be supervised by research groups at universities to the establishment of long-lasting education policies seeking to provide student teachers with the tools they need to do research on their own and schools with the awareness of the benefits of supporting them. It has to be taken into account that teachers, just as every other member of society who has access to any kind of power to change conditions for members of a society, are obliged to observe and abide by ethical issues which foster equality for everyone, so in case they are interested in engaging in research activities, they should seriously start training in types of research, statistics and educational policies to minimise bias and adverse effects on the population while doing their projects.

Teacher as a Social Resource

“ If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds. I strongly feel there are three keys societal members who make a difference.They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”

                               - Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam

“The teachers role in society is of vital importance. He/she  acts as the pivot for the transmission of intellectual traditions and technical skills from generation to generation and helps to keep the lamp of civilisation burning."

            - Dr. S.Radhakrishnan

The role of a teacher in society is both significant and valuable. It has far-reaching influence on the society he lives in, and no other personality can have an influence more profound than that of a teacher (Shiben Raina, 2007). The teacher plays a lead role in determining the future of students and society. The teacher is an architect of any future generation. So to assume the responsibility of a teacher, one has to be competent, morally upright and knowledgeable.

Actually, the roles of the teacher are numerous and challenging. Aside from the classroom, the teacher must also be known outside the school system. He/she must be ready to go into research and community service. In many societies teachers are looked upon as the individuals who can help to bring about positive changes in the lives of people. In addition to subject matter information teachers can help students discover the inner resources and interpersonal skills they need to become proactive contributors in a complex and diverse world. Teachers are an extremely important facet of any society for a number of reasons and their role in society is both significant and valuable.

Role of Teacher in the Society

▪ Teachers are the people who educate the youth of society who in turn become the leaders of the next generation of people

▪ Teachers are the people who are teaching children and imparting knowledge upon them in their most impressionable years

▪ What children learn from their teachers at a young age will most likely stay with them in some facet for the rest of their lives

▪ Teachers play an extraordinary part in the lives of children for the formative years of their development and they involve themselves in moulding their students into responsible citizens of the country.

▪ The teachers through the classroom imbibes the feeling of share & tell, give & take, think & do in the students which is later on generated in the society.

▪ Teacher should be flexible in her approach. She should encourage new trends in the field of education. Ready to make the teaching learning process effective by keeping in view the new trends in the modern society. 

▪ As the technological advancements are taking place rapidly, the teacher welcomes the changes and makes the society ready to face the new challenges and trends. 

▪ A teacher should be a counsellor. People look upon him as a person who really can give a good piece of advice. 

▪ Teacher is one who carries the higher values, virtues within him so as to become a role model of the society and thus strengthening the moral aspect of the society. 

▪ Teacher should be the architect of our future. Teacher is just like a lamp who burns itself to light others. 

▪ A teacher not only instructs but also inspires the students. She has to influence the life and character of her students and give them ideas and values which will help them to be worthy citizens. They must be acquainted with noble humanistic sentiments of our constitution and impressed with a passion to translate them to socio- political realities. 

▪ Through education students should acquire the capacity to discriminate between good and bad, eliminate/ reject what is bad and strengthen what is good. 

▪ Teachers should be the instruments to develop in students a high character, energy, national awareness, dedicated social responsibility and a firm democratic loyalty. 

▪ To be able to prepare our young people to face the future with confidence, purpose and responsibility, the crucial role of teachers cannot be overemphasized. Education is necessary for politicians, businessmen, artists, farmers, religious groups, students etc. for their respective career growth. Some of the great teachers were the cause of political and industrial revolutions around the world. Their vision helped various societies to gain self-sufficiency and financial freedom. The role of a teacher is to shape the minds of the younger generation.

 

Teacher Initiatives for Community Development:

The development of a country would continue to crawl should our education system remain purely bookish and classroom-based. The teacher has the role of facilitating student learning, as well as being a part of the school and community. Studies reveal that a hard working teacher is often admired by students and members of the general society. For a student to grow up as a responsible citizen, the teacher is needed.

✔ The teacher must be well-resourced to be able to satisfy fully the needs of students and society.

✔ After teaching students language, Science and Arithmetic, for instance, virtues such as punctuality, truth, hard work, honesty, simplicity, hygiene, patriotism, love and sincerity, obedience, tolerance, etc, must also be propagated. Society needs these values to develop.

✔ There are sectors within the society where the services of the teacher are needed. In the areas of agriculture, commerce, sanitation and health, culture, social welfare, governance, adult education, environmental protection, tourism and hospitality, the teacher is important. 

✔ Educate the public on good nutrition, drug abuse, promoting healthy lifestyles, hazards of smoking, digital media addiction, energy conservation, value erosion, waste management etc. 

✔ The teacher can identify pressing issues within the society and try to give some enlightenment to society. This can be done during holidays, meetings, seminars, workshops, public lectures and conferences.

✔ Teaching should be extended to society where parents/guardians and other citizens can also have a feel of what the school stands for.

✔ Encourage students to identify community needs and develop projects that will address those needs.  

✔ Encourage collaborations between classes, clubs, associations and schools and even collaborate with community organizations or government agencies.

✔ Working together with the society in planning, implementing, evaluating and monitoring community development projects.

✔ Working together with NGOs with an interest in improving the living standards of the people and contributing towards enhancing the lives of the poor and protecting their basic rights.

✔ Mobilising the population for development activities that will result in the alleviation of poverty, hunger and ignorance in a better way;

✔ Facilitating access to basic human needs such as clean water, health, training facilities, thus improving the living standards of the people.

✔ Improving the level of awareness and skills base of the less advantaged people through training and education activities.

✔ Increasing diversity of opportunity in society by promoting human rights, equal rights and democracy.

✔ Through membership in community-based organisations, teachers are participating in community development activities by linking the local people with outside organisations.

Strategies for promoting teacher participation in community development:

⮚ Make provisions in the aims and objectives of courses offered at colleges to equip teacher trainees with relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes to enable them to take part in community development activities and programmes.

⮚ Train teachers in community development by means of seminars, workshops, and in-service staff development programmes.

⮚ Encourage teachers to conduct research projects on community development in their school locality.

⮚ Provide training and opportunities to work with stakeholders in community development, so as to develop and publish local resource recommendations by informing local government leaders and citizens about possible alternatives.

⮚ Set up community agencies in local schools in order to involve teachers in the training of community members for jobs that provide needed community services.

⮚ Use mass media to encourage and popularise teachers’ participation in community development, to report positively on teacher-community relations and the potential of their possible rapport, to call for more action and to celebrate local progress in teachers’ participation in community development.

⮚ Design inventories of capacities or skills of teachers and distribute them to NGOs, rural district councils and community-based organisations, who may need technical advice and other forms of assistance;

⮚ Encourage NGOs, government and district councils to involve teachers in identifying key assets of each community and jointly creating a guidebook for community development, thus educating others about the community while at the same time cultivating a harmonious working relationship.

⮚ Introduce incentives for teachers who participate in community development activities.

 

This spirit of creativity in young minds will be imbibed only by knowledgeable and effective teachers. Hence the active involvement of a teacher in general and in particular is the need of the hour in transforming the status of the nation. A good teacher helps us to become good human beings in the society and good citizens of the country. Teachers know that students are the future of any nation. So the future development of any nation is in the hands of teachers. The role of the teacher in a positive teacher/community relations setting is extremely important since it is the teacher who is the backbone of the educational system.

CONCLUSION

A science teacher not only helps answer questions, they inspire their students to seek out the answers for themselves. Through lab experiments, field trips, mixed media materials and research, teachers will have the opportunity to encourage students to explore the natural world around them and learn new and evolving scientific theories.

“ An ordinary teacher tells, 

   An average teacher explain,

   A good teacher demonstrate, 

   A great teacher Inspires”

      

Be  an Inspiration. 

REFERENCE

https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com

https://www.thoughtco.com

Prof. J.K. Sood :Teaching of Science 

R.C.Das : Science Teaching In Schools 

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