CHAPTER-6 TEACHER'S ROLE

Role perception means perceiving and understanding one's role, i.e., proper recognitions of the importance of one's profession. Therefore, role perception implies how far the teachers regard their profession as important and of significance. The concept has social and psychological implications. Its social aspect is the recognition given by the society to the teacher. The teacher will automatically regard his vocation as important and, therefore, he will be more confident of his role in society. The other aspect is psychological. This implies thinking and regarding one's profession to be worthy and not otherwise. The implication is that the teacher must regard his work as socially significant and useful. This will have a good and positive impact on his role perception.Role Perception and Pupil's Learning:The role perception by the teacher has a great impact on the pupil learning. If the teachers regard their work as socially useful, they will have a lofty idea or concept about their role, and they will have a positive influence on the students which will stimulate their learning efforts. This is mainly because the teacher will perform his function with zeal and with confidence and this zeal and confidence are likely to be caught by students as well which will stimulate their efforts in learning.

Recently, a number of studies have been made regarding the role perception of the teachers as related to pupil's learning. The role perception deals with the teacher behaviour. It tries to express and explain the complex interactions between the behaviour of the teacher and its reaction in the students. The concept of the role perception has assumed greater significance in the modern times. The teacher's role can be considered only in relation to a role system, which is nothing but a system or reciprocal expectations. The role of the teacher is determined by the expectations of the school community which includes students, their parents and school authorities. Therefore, teachers have more responsibilities and controlling powers on the students. It is on account of this that the way in which the teacher's role is perceived by the students determines the extent and quality of learning.Education has been defined as the conscious and deliberate effort by a mature person to influence the mind of an immature person. Thus, it is the interaction between a mature and an immature person, or between a teacher and the student. This is exactly, what we mean by role perception. This interaction, mutual relationship of rapport is very important from the learner's point of view. It is therefore, well said that to the pupils it can be of almost fateful significance whether his teacher is capable of establishing a relationship or not; whether he can make personal transmission of knowledge. The role of the teacher is thus extremely important for learning. The expectations of the teacher, therefore, affect the quantity and quality of learning. Not only the teacher's expectations, but his general attitude towards life, whether positive or negative, also determines his role perception and consequently the pupil's learning. If the teacher is not a well adjusted personality, and is suffering from mental conflicts, these get easily transferred to the class- room situations, which give rise to undesirable pedagogic relationships. This results in deterioration in the child's learning. Therefore, it is very essential that a teacher should be a well adjusted personality with a health and positive outlook on life. This will have a healthy and positive effect on learning by the students.