Role of the teacher

In these clips the historians featured talk about what teachers need to do to foster effective student learning. The emphasis is not upon the possession of subject knowledge or mastery of a set of techniques, but on the ability to work flexibly with students in ways that facilitate students’ learning. The teacher plays many roles – as performer, adviser, coach, counsellor, co-worker etc. – but, as these clips make clear, these demand sensitivity to the students in a particular class context and the ability to create an environment that supports active learning. This is also emphasised in the clips in the section on Approaches & methods and those featured in Memorable teachers.