Roles Teachers Should Not Fill

In the introduction to her article, "Backing Away Helpfully: Some Roles Teachers Shouldn't Fill," in the Beginnings Workshop Book: Professionalism, Penny Hauser-Cram observes...

"I suspect that if you asked for a definition of a good teacher most families would describe a cross between a chameleon and Wonderwoman — someone who is part developmental scholar, pediatrician, artist, and therapist, with a little bit of toy designer, janitor, and athlete mixed in.  But based on my years as a teacher and a director, I have come to believe that there are at least some roles that teachers can't and shouldn't fill.  Two roles that I have seen cause tension and hard feelings come immediately to mind: the role of family therapist and the role of parenting expert.

"Parents need and want other adults in each of these roles.  Since teachers and parents share an intimate, ongoing relationship centered on children they both care about, it is tempting for all sides to move from educational and developmental issues to personal, and even therapeutic, ones.  A big challenge for teachers is to help parents find the help they need, without adopting those helping roles themselves."

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