As teachers, we are deemed to be professionals, charged with setting a good example to children we teach. That example also impacts upon the wider school community and is often seen by the public at large outside the school gate.

This doesn’t mean that teachers have to be pariahs, persons not able to have fun in life. It does however ask that we take into account the impact of our behaviour on those who observe what we are doing.

Within the school context student behaviour, decorum, and attitudes toward work and learning are part of our developmental brief. Teachers who model the behaviour they suggest, earn the respect of students.

If teachers are seen to act in a way that is out of kilter with behaviour suggested to and expected of students, respect held for them will quickly evaporate. Whether we like it or not, we are visible identities within our communities, people often looked up to by students both young and old.

This places us under a significant onus of responsibility. Even in retirement, people remember what educators stood for and how they lived out their professional and social lives.

It may seem unfair that expectations held for us as teachers set us somewhat aside from others in the community. That simply goes to show the power of influence we have over others. Children frequently discuss with parents the fact that things are “right” or “wrong”, because that teacher says so! Maybe we need to consider in a positive way the onus of responsibility we bear to young people.

Rather than considering this to be a burden or a drag, we should value the respect invested in us as contributors to the development of young lives.