Born or made? Developing personal attributes of teachers

Abstract

Pre-service teachers have expectations of the capacity of universities to prepare them for the task of teaching. Education authorities, schools and communities also have expectations and requirements of graduating teachers. While the modes of presentation and course content in relation to knowledge and skills are readily identifiable, the extended role of the teacher is more difficult to quantify and transmit. This paper investigates the roles that teachers fulfil and the way in which they are equipped for those roles through pre-service education, in-service activity and lifelong-learning experiences. Using existing literature, the experiences of practitioners, expectations of community and education authorities along with reflections of preservice teachers, an attempt is made to focus of the acquisition of attributes considered appropriate for teachers in order to function effectively and develop roles in the classroom and the community. As such, the paper it is concerned with personal qualities, personality attributes and interpersonal skills and the transmission of such attributes to pre-service teachers through courses, the interface of university with school and mentoring initiatives.