What is the difference between having a young inexperiences teacher and an old experienced one? Does expert knowledge of a particular subject necessarily imply an ability to teach the subject?

Many people think that working in school is very easy and convenient. Now, I am doing a teaching practice in secondary school and I know that this theory is not true. Being a good teacher requires talent and involvement in this job. Age however is not important.

Firstly, it is not important how old the teacher is. Both a  young inexperienced teacher and  an old experienced teacher face the same problems, for example they must work with aggressive pupils, students with family problems or to convince young people to study a lot materials. To be a good teacher is required talent and involvement to this job. What I have in mind is that age is not important. I know a lot of young teachers at the begginning of their career and this job is only as a means to earn money, and others who have a lot of energy and want to teach a young people. On the other hand in Poland we have a lot elder teachers who wait for retirement and other teachers who have a calling to teaching.

Secondly, the difference between a young inexperienced teacher and an old experienced one  is their knowledge of the technology. A lot of schools have new equipment and this could be a problem for an elder teacher. In school, where I have a teaching practice every classroom has a computer, new multimedia board and in the school teachers do not use a paper class register. For a young teacher this type of technology is not a problem but a lot of elder teachers must learn how to use this type of equipment. This could to lead to differences between their lessons. A young teacher could vary a lessons for example prepare a presentations or give online exercises, which an elder teacher would not do.

Thirdly, we can see a difference in work experience. Work experience is very important for teachers. An older teacher who has worked in school for years knows how to help a pupils. Also, in my opinion older teachers command more respect. What I want to say is that young teachers can be seen more like friends not teachers. I had this situation in secondary school during my practice. It is very important for a  young teacher to create something like a barrier between him or herself. The pupils must know that a young teacher is professional and is in school to teach them and not to be their friend.

To sum up, the difference between young and older teacher is not important. The most important is talent and involvement in this job. We can see the difference in topic of technology, work experience or in level of respect.