Teachers play a big role in preparing young people for work and life. They've been working hard to teach important skills like reading, math, and speaking well. But the job of teachers is always changing because of new rules and challenges, like artificial intelligence and government changes to the curriculum.
One reason for these changes is a global ranking called PISA, which checks how good students are at these skills when they're around 15 years old. Other countries like Finland and South Korea do really well.
Besides the basics, there are lots of other things that teachers want to teach, like science, art, managing money, using computers, and life skills. So, teachers try to give students a wide range of skills to help them succeed in the future.
Literacy, Numeracy, Digital Skills & Personal Finance
Teachers and schools face increasing pressure to excel in what they teach. The skills teachers acquired during their own school days remain extremely important, such as reading and mathematics.
However, there are also new skills to acquire, like digital literacy and knowledge about personal, social, and economic topics. Some of these subjects weren't part of teachers' education when they were in school, so they need to learn and incorporate them into their teaching. Teachers accomplish this through ongoing training, often with support from their schools.
Accountability, Empathy, Being Entrepreneurial, Resilience
Teaching is a team effort where teachers collaborate by sharing skills and supporting each other to provide the best education for their students. They must also be empathetic, as they work with diverse students with various backgrounds, abilities, and needs.
Furthermore, teachers need to be resilient to help students achieve their best grades despite the challenges they face. This means they must be strong, patient, and understanding while managing the pressures of their profession.
Aiming High, Attention to Detail, Communication, Problem-Solving, Staying Positive, Teamwork
Teachers have to learn some important skills to be great at their job:
Business, Finance, Systems, Processes & Tools
Teachers are part of a big school, which can have many different parts, like departments and functions. Some schools are part of different groups, like academies, private schools, or state schools. It's essential for teachers to know how everything in the school works, like getting permission for field trips, using the budget for extra stuff, making the class schedules, checking student work, and learning new skills. This can be a bit tricky because there are various types of schools, but really important to help a teacher do their job.
Sector-specific elements of understanding required for the individual's role.
It's vital for teachers to keep learning, even after they finish their own schooling. So, when they're training to become teachers, they need to learn not just about what they're going to teach but also about important things like math and reading.
This means that teachers should get really good training and keep on learning throughout their careers to make sure they teach the right stuff, help students do well in exams, and give them a great start in life. As they become more experienced, they might even teach more specialised subjects or become head of a department in their school, so their knowledge has to keep growing.
