Teaching is one of the most important and rewarding occupations to become a part of. Teaching takes a number of different forms from pre-school education to primary and secondary schooling through to college, university and other higher qualifications. Each of these different roles requires different qualifications and although the job varies the basic skills required and job description remains the same. Primary school teachers will have a basic grounding in a large variety of subjects, while secondary and higher education teachers tend to specialise.
Pre-school education is quite different as it involves getting much younger children ready to go to school with some of the basic skills to help them in early education. Teachers tend to work long hours after classes have finished to prepare lessons, mark work and organise activities and the pay is often criticised, but along with the vocational benefits there is also the advantage of long holidays outside of term time. This is not a career choice that should be taken lightly and will require high levels of self motivation and bags of patience!
The main responsibility of a teacher is to ensure the students are prepared to take and pass the next level of assessments and to continue to the next stage of education. How this is achieved and the actual specifics depend entirely on the institution being taught at. Primary education, for example, deals in more general terms whereas higher education involves more critical and independent thinking on the part of the students.
Many skills are involved in teaching, but the most important are good communication and organisational skills so the relevant material can be accurately and effectively engaged. The long hours of the job require the person to be highly motivated and have a lot of energy, especially when teaching younger children. Teaching is a profession constantly evolving so it is vital to make sure all modern standards are understood and adhered to.