Primary teachers are responsible for guiding children through the formation of many important life skills, and also watching over their students' social development. Primary teachers come into contact with approximately the same thirty students everyday, and teach them a variety of subjects. Many hours are spent before and after class on planning, preparation and correction. It takes a very patient, caring, yet firm, person to be able to cope with the demands of children in the four- to twelve-year-old age group.

Secondary teachers teach specific subjects to various groups of students at different times throughout the school week, and might come into contact with over one hundred different students each day. Just like primary teachers, they spend a considerable amount of time planning and preparing lessons and correcting homework and assignments — their duties are not restricted to face-to-face teaching. Dealing with twelve- to eighteen-year-olds requires a wide range of skills. Junior-secondary students start high school as children, but soon move into adolescence; senior-secondary students are young adults and wish to be treated as such. Secondary teachers, therefore, must be able to understand and relate to pupils in all three broad age groups, a very challenging task indeed. This is a factor you need to consider when deciding whether primary or secondary teaching is right for you.

If you become a primary teacher, you will need to decide whether to be 'generalist', teaching a wide range of subjects, or a 'specialist', teaching only one or two. The majority of secondary teachers are specialists. In this chapter, the differences between generalist and specialist teaching are described in some detail. A primary-school class usually has approximately twenty-five to thirty students. Generalist teachers spend the greatest part of their day with the one class, which means that they spend a minimum of about three hours per day with the same children. They have time away from their students only when the class has a session with a specialist teacher. It is therefore very important for generalist classroom teachers to develop a strong working relationship with their students.

The unique rapport you can develop with a particular set of students is one of teaching's great pleasures — you can really be a part of the development of the group. However, the disadvantage of primary classroom-teaching is that if you have a difficult student, you will be forced to deal with him, or her, all day, every day, throughout the school year. This can be difficult for both parties, as you never really get a break from one another. As the teacher, the responsibility for the relationship is yours. Teachers need to work out strategies to get themselves and their students through such difficulties.

Primary teachers today are generally four-year trained. They usually do a three- or four-year undergraduate degree, and if this degree does not include teacher-training, they will have to undertake postgraduate study in education as well.

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