The first value that I believe teachers should have is patience. If you are going to be teaching for a very long time you are going to come into contact with a number of different classes containing children with a wide range of abilities and personalities. It is important that a teacher has patience in particular, when teaching a subject that is second nature to them. It can be easy to get frustrated if a child takes a little while to grasp a topic, and so the teacher should be patient in order to maintain a professional standard and to not intimidate the child. This could also include having the patience to take the time to think about other ways they could explain the topic, or just simply using different wording to explain it. If a teacher is patient it means that the children are not scared of taking time to figure out the answer, and so they are also probably more willing to ask questions. Another reason a professional teacher should have patience is when dealing with disruptive behaviour. It is important that the teacher doesn’t shout all the time, but figures out creative ways to encourage positive behaviour in the class and to discipline the children. Professional teachers should also have patience when in contact with other staff that they may not get along with. It is important that they maintain a professional relationship so that they can work together for the benefit of the school.

I believe professional teachers should also be honest. This is mainly so that they can be an example to their class. I personally think that sometimes if a teacher does not know the answer to a question a pupil raises, they should be honest and tell them that they don’t know, but will find the answer out for them. I think that in doing this is reminds the children that teachers are human beings too and they are allowed to make mistakes too. Hopefully this honesty will also rub off on the class. Honesty is also a good quality to have when socialising with other teachers. Professional teachers should be open to constructive criticism, and so by being honest you can share tips with other teachers to improve their practice.

Another value I believe professional teachers should have is respect. It is important that the teacher is aware of the different skills, religions and ethnicities in their class. The teacher can then help the class to overcome any pre-judgements/stereotypes they may have by teaching them to respect one another. By respecting the kids and not ‘looking down’ on them may also improve their confidence and help them to enjoy school more.

I believe professional teachers should also be kind. I believe that kindness is a fantastic quality and so the opportunity to teach children to be kind is a great one. Kindness is a quality that will shine through the teacher in how they speak to the class , how they treat the class and how they treat each other. This will inspire the children to be kind to one another, and so will improve the atmosphere in the classroom. It can help improve the children’s motivation to learn and make them enjoy school more. It is also important to be kind with your fellow teachers and school staff. It enables teacher to not just be colleagues, but to also be friends, improving the mood in the school environment. When people are kind to one another, they work better together and so kindness is such an important quality when entering the world of education.

The final value I am going to discuss is fairness. It is important to be fair and to teach the kids what is right and what is wrong. A teacher should treat all the children in their class as equals regardless of their social class, background, ethnicity, gender, religion and so on.  It is easy for a teacher to have ‘favourites’ however it is so important that they discipline and treat all their pupils in the same way. From personal experience, I know that when a teacher has a select few ‘favourites’, not being included in this group is destructive to self-confidence and faith in the teacher. Fairness goes hand in hand with respect and so by treating the class fairly will in turn teach them to treat each other with respect.

The ‘hidden curriculum’ is an unavoidable element of teaching, and so it is very beneficial if a teacher has these values I have discussed, in order to influence the class to be positive pupils with good attributes.