In the classroom, a teacher is commonly perceived as someone who teaches — someone who delivers content, explains concepts, and clarifies doubts. However, this act of direct instruction occupies only a limited portion of the teacher’s daily engagement, typically ranging from 40 minutes to 2-3 hours, depending on the timetable and class schedule. During this time, the teacher addresses academic gaps, explains new topics, demonstrates problem-solving steps, introduces key vocabulary, and corrects student misunderstandings. These are core teaching responsibilities, focused on guiding students through the structured curriculum and helping them meet specific learning outcomes.
But once the designated teaching time is over, the teacher does not simply become inactive. In fact, what follows — and often what precedes — is a far more expansive and transformative role: leading. This leadership is not defined by authority but by influence, presence, and vision.
A teacher leads when they set a positive tone in the classroom, foster a respectful and inclusive environment, and model behaviours such as punctuality, curiosity, empathy, and integrity. When they design classroom routines, mediate conflicts, or manage group dynamics, they are leading. When they mentor a child struggling with confidence, listen to unspoken emotional needs, or help students reflect on their learning goals, they are leading. When they organise co-curricular clubs, facilitate a class discussion without dominating it, or guide students through project-based learning, they are leading.
A teacher’s day begins well before the first bell and often extends into the evening. It involves lesson planning, classroom management, assessing student work, collaborating with colleagues, communicating with parents, and guiding learners not just academically, but emotionally and socially.
Additionally, leading includes designing the learning environment — arranging the classroom to suit collaboration, integrating technology to enhance engagement, or curating resources that go beyond the textbook. It also involves planning assessments that are meaningful, offering constructive feedback, engaging with parents to build a supportive home-school connection, and participating in school-wide decisions. These actions go far beyond instructional delivery. They are acts of educational leadership, driven by purpose and built on relationships.
What a Teacher Does in a Day
The role of a teacher is often narrowly defined by the visible act of teaching—standing before a class, delivering content, and helping students grasp academic concepts. While this instructional responsibility is central, it represents only a part of a teacher’s daily life. Behind the scenes, and often beyond school hours, teachers shoulder a wide range of responsibilities that make them not only educators, but also leaders, mentors, administrators, planners, and community connectors.
A teacher’s day begins well before the first bell and often extends into the evening. It involves lesson planning, classroom management, assessing student work, collaborating with colleagues, communicating with parents, and guiding learners not just academically, but emotionally and socially. From handling discipline to fostering creativity, from data reporting to mentoring, the teacher’s role encompasses diverse functions that sustain the learning environment and shape the school culture.
To understand the full scope of this multifaceted profession, it is essential to look beyond the classroom walls and examine all the contributions a teacher makes—in and out of class. The table below outlines the comprehensive range of responsibilities that define what a teacher truly does in a day.
| Category | Examples |
| Teaching | Explaining concepts, conducting class activities, clearing doubts |
| Leading Learning | Setting goals, modelling values, managing classroom culture |
| Assessment | Evaluating performance, giving feedback, tracking progress |
| Administration | Attendance, records, data, exam-related paperwork |
| Collaboration | Team planning, departmental work, staff discussions |
| Student Development | Mentoring, career guidance, personal counselling |
| Material Preparation | Designing lesson aids, slides, assignments |
| Parent & Community Engagement | PTMs, calls, outreach programs, newsletters |
| Self-Improvement | Training sessions, reading, reflective practice |
| Event Management | Annual Day, exhibitions, competitions, campaigns |
Teaching vs. Leading: A Functional Demarcation
While teaching is often equated with the entire professional scope of a teacher, a closer look at a teacher’s day reveals a different reality. Teaching, in its strictest and most functional sense, includes those actions that are directly focused on academic instruction. These are the moments when a teacher explains new concepts, conducts class activities, clears student doubts, prepares question papers, administers exams, and evaluates answer sheets.
However, if one maps a teacher’s full workday—as reflected in the table above—it becomes evident that teaching in this narrow sense constitutes only a portion of the teacher’s daily engagement. The larger share of the teacher’s time, energy, and influence falls under the broader and more transformative function: leading.
Leadership in the teaching profession is subtle yet profound. It encompasses everything beyond direct instruction—maintaining classroom discipline, modelling values, planning lessons, managing class culture, mentoring students, preparing learning materials, collaborating with colleagues, guiding co-curricular activities, communicating with parents, and participating in school development. These responsibilities require vision, empathy, foresight, and adaptability. They shape not just what students learn, but how they learn and who they become.
In this sense, teaching is an act of delivery, while leading is an act of direction. Teaching focuses on content; leading focuses on context. Teaching addresses “what” students need to know; leading addresses “how” they grow. The leadership role of a teacher is not an extension of teaching—it is an integral, indispensable function that sustains the educational process.
Teaching and Leading: The Iceberg of the Teaching Profession
In the popular imagination, teaching is often reduced to a simple picture: a teacher standing before a class, explaining lessons, asking questions, and writing on the board. This image, while familiar and foundational, represents only the visible portion of a teacher’s work. Like the tip of an iceberg rising above the ocean’s surface, this act of “teaching” is just the most noticeable—and perhaps the smallest—part of the profession. Beneath the surface lies a vast, often invisible body of work that sustains the learning experience. That hidden mass is leading.
Teaching and leading are not two separate professions. Rather, they are interwoven functions of the same role. But while teaching is usually recognized, leading is frequently overlooked—not only by society, but often by teachers themselves. Many teachers have come to believe that their sole responsibility is to deliver content. Tasks beyond this—planning, mentoring, organising events, managing student behaviour, collaborating with colleagues—are often seen as burdens or distractions. This perception limits the scope of teaching, diminishes the identity of the teacher, and restricts the potential of education itself.
Why the Leadership Role Is Often Ignored
There are several reasons why this submerged leadership work remains unacknowledged:
- It is not always quantifiable
While teaching hours and exam scores are easily tracked, it is harder to measure how much time was spent mentoring a student, calming a classroom, or resolving a conflict. - It happens quietly
Much of this leadership work is relational, emotional, and cultural. It takes place in conversations, routines, and the silent shaping of attitudes. - It is seen as ‘extra’
Many teachers have internalised the belief that anything beyond the syllabus is an add-on, an unwanted burden. Tasks like decorating a bulletin board, planning a field trip, or helping students through personal crises are often perceived as peripheral rather than essential. - There is a lack of professional language
Many of these leadership activities are not named or described in formal training or school appraisal systems. Teachers may not realise that what they are doing is leadership because no one has ever told them so.
Strengthening What Lies Beneath
To redefine the role of the teacher, we must begin by reclaiming the full iceberg. Teaching is not diminished when we call teachers leaders; it is elevated. Leading does not mean giving up the classroom; it means shaping it with greater purpose.
1. Name the Invisible Work
Start by recognizing and articulating the full range of your responsibilities. When you support a student emotionally, mentor a peer, design a learning environment, or coordinate a school event—you are leading. Give yourself permission to claim it.
2. Reflect on Daily Practice
Begin or end your day by reflecting on moments of leadership. Ask: Where did I guide rather than teach? When did I shape a student’s behaviour, values, or confidence? When did I contribute to the larger ecosystem of learning?
3. Engage in Professional Conversations
Bring the language of leadership into staff meetings and teacher training. Use terms like “student agency,” “culture building,” “collaborative planning,” and “distributed leadership” to reframe how we speak about teaching.
4. Mentor and Be Mentored
One of the most powerful forms of leadership is mentoring. When teachers guide each other—whether formally or informally—they build a culture of learning leadership within the school.
5. Advocate for a Broader Definition of Teaching
In policy documents, school charters, teacher handbooks, and public discussions, advocate for a definition of teaching that includes leadership. Let appraisal systems and training modules reflect the full scope of the teacher’s work.
When teachers understand themselves not just as conveyors of knowledge but as leaders of learning, they begin to work with greater purpose and power. They stop seeing non-instructional duties as “extra” and start seeing them as opportunities to lead with empathy, insight, and integrity. In the end, the strength of a school lies not only in how well its teachers teach—but in how deeply they lead.