Teachers then and now. Changes in the perception and understanding teacher’s educational-upbringing mission

Abstract

This article offers an account of the current role of teachers and their mission in contemporary education in relation to social and cultural circumstances. The author emphasises reasons for, and effects of, changes in the role of teachers. The article discusses the realities of education and provides information on teachers’ role in educating and developing students. Changes in contemporary education are related to social and environmental contexts. The author notes the current cultural and axiological aspects of teachers’ mission in relation to how previous generations understood these aspects. The text signals the arrangement of relations prevailing in the school environment from the perspective of teachers, students and parents in relation to expectations about the teacher. The study is intended as a form of updating certain issues related to the social perception of the teacher and the question of specifying a new vision of the teacher in light of the ongoing changes in the field of culture, science, upbringing and attitudes to values in ethical terms.