Sometimes teachers get into a bind about how they should be addressed by children and students. Some believe that in order to encourage relationships, that first names are fine.

Under no circumstances would I endorse this approach. Teachers are adults, students in primary and secondary schools in a learning relationship under their guidance. Respectful address demands that teachers are addressed as Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms.

Surnames can be hard to pronounce. Teachers with difficult or indecipherable surnames often ask students to use their christian names instead. If this is done I’d strongly suggest the Christian name be preceded by Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms. Another method might be to have children use the first letter hard to pronounce your surname. In that case it would be Mr M, Ms S and so on.

Students in secondary schools tend to refer to teachers is “Sir”, “Miss”, or “Ms”. That may be a preference but personally I would recommend the use of names as outlined above.

Appropriate address of teachers by students helps when it comes to the establishment of a respectful relationship. Similarly, those relationships are in hands if teachers take the time and make the effort to learn and use student names when speaking to their learning clientele.