좋은 교사의 자질

Abstract

With the recent controversy over teacher assessment there has been much lively debate about the nature of teacher quality and who is a good teacher. Although the quality of a good teacher is difficult concept to define in a quite clear manner, it is obvious that the persons called as ‘good’ are recommended or praised. Thus ‘a good teacher’ means a person who successfully accomplishes the tasks that s/he is supposed to undertake, that is, a teacher having qualities particularly appropriate to a teacher. Assuming that a good teacher is the one who does his/her proper duty faithfully, based on related laws and regulations, the standard of teacher qualification, and definitions in the dictionaries, the teacher quality our society requires was characterized as threefold: a teacher who is a man/woman of good character, a teacher who has profound professionalism, and a teacher who has the ability our future society needs. Specifically, a teacher who is a man/woman of good character was described as the one who has close relations with his/her students and hold mutual trust, a teacher who has professionalism was described as the one who is able to maximize students' potential for academic success, and a teacher who has the ability our future society needs was described as the one who has strong leadership skills. The teachers who have taken active part in ‘school community for learning and caring’ were thought of as good exemplars who try to meet the three requirements for a good teacher mentioned in this paper. Pointing out two problems in current schooling, poor students ‘learning’ and lack of ‘caring’ among people in school, they have practiced for learning and caring to improve teaching and to build up better sense of school community at a grade level or at the whole school level. Practicing for ‘learning’ would be viewed as a specific aspect of a teacher who has professionalism and practicing for ‘caring’ a specific aspect of a teacher who is a man/woman of a good character respectively. Participating in community activities would be also viewed as a specific aspect of a teacher who has strong leadership skills.