Schools and school divisions all have rules of conduct and behavioral expectations that students are expected to follow. Part of a teacher's job is to monitor student behavior and to enforce these rules. This includes reprimanding students when minor breaches occur and reporting the misbehavior to higher authorities within the school system when more serious offenses are perpetrated. Teachers also have rules of conduct specific to their own classrooms which they have to enforce.
Teachers must pay close attention to the students in their classes. Teachers need to monitor things like the attendance record of a student and any changes to the academic trends in the student's performance. It is only through a teacher who is paying attention to such things, says the Victoria Department of Education in Australia, that students experiencing problems can be discovered. This helps to ensure that students who require extra assistance or who may be at risk for dropping out are found and helped.
According to the Connecticut Department of Education, teachers in the public school system should always work to ensure that all students in their classrooms are treated equally. This includes treatment by teachers themselves and by other students. Teachers must foster an environment of understanding and fair treatment regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, financial background or any other factor which could cause a student to be discriminated against. Teachers should not only work to eliminate discrimination in their classrooms, but to develop students into people who do not discriminate against others.
Teachers must communicate with parents regularly to discuss the status of children in the classroom. Parents should be made aware of any progress the student is making and of any problems the child may be having in class. Parents who are actively involved in the student's educational process raise children who have a better chance of completing high school. Teachers involve parents through parent-teacher interviews and direct parental contact.