International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Other studies on the image of teacher are capsulized in a book that essentially emphasized the importance of positive
perception of students toward their teachers, which is generated from a cordial and friendly relationship between
the students and their teachers (Middleton & Petitt, 2010). The students mentioned that their best teachers know them
personally including their interests and strengths, smile at them, encourage them to participate in school
activities, provide descriptive feedback on assignments, connect classroom learning to real life, apologize when
they make mistakes, give meaningful activities, and show enthusiasm in what they do.
With the stakeholders’ perception of teachers comes the inquiry on the factors that might have influenced
these points of view. Brok (2006) in his study identified several factors that influence students’ perception.
These factors are student and teacher gender, student and teacher ethnic background, student age, teacher
experience, class size, student achievement, and subject. Each of these factors produces distinct effect on
students’ perception.
The 21 st century learning contexts bring forth a revitalized interest on the image of teachers because face-toface
interaction in the classroom is now challenged by other modes of learning, e.g. web-based learning. This is
also coupled with the seemingly growing number of teachers whose ethno identity, not to mention belief
systems, is different from their own students. This new context in education gives a new dimension in the study
of students’ perception of their teachers.
To contribute to how the 21 st century teachers are perceived nowadays in the context of the Philippines, it is
ideal to determine such perception from those who are directly exposed to them and those who wanted to
become them, the teachers themselves including those that developed them. Thus, this study was conducted. It is
hoped that the study will provide relevant input on how the TEIs in the Philippines should prepare future
teachers in the era of the K to 12 Reform.
As shown in Figure 1, the image of the 21 st century teacher is described in this study in three aspects, namely:
personal, psychosocial, and professional. Personal traits initially refer to the appearance, behavior, manner of
thinking, manner of talking, work ethics, social relation, student relation, and other personal traits. Psychosocial
traits refer to teacher’s reaction to various situations happening in the workplace and in the society in general.
Professional traits refer to those competencies expressed in terms of roles expected of a teacher mostly drawn
from the NCBTS as the national document that defines standards for teachers observed in the Philippines. These
traits reflect teacher’s roles as organizer, communicator, mentor, expert, motivator, classroom manager,
evaluator, decision maker, leader, reflective practitioner, adviser, action researcher, agent of change, learner,
community member, and role model. These teacher traits or “teacher image” were described by the internal
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