A teacher consultant works with classroom instructors to develop innovative learning methods for pre-kindergarten through high school age students. She is very involved in daily classroom activities, working closely with teachers, students and parents. Prior teaching experience is required to hold the job, in addition to having up-to-date teaching credentials. Many schools also require the teacher consultant to have a master’s degree in education.

Build a Relationship with Parents

The teacher consultant builds a positive rapport with parents. She attends parent-teacher conferences to meet parents and learn more about their child’s history and specialized needs. To keep the lines of communication open, she stays in touch with parents, providing updates on their student’s progress and answering any questions they have. She offers advice on ways to assist their child’s learning at home, to improve grades and make greater strides in the classroom.

Administrative Support for the School District

In addition to working with students and teachers, some teacher consultants also provide support to the school district. This may include participating in a wide variety of activities, such as providing input on teacher assessment tools and mentoring programs, offering advice on learning support programs and writing curricula. This allows the entire district to benefit from the knowledge of the teacher consultant, rather than just select teachers and students.

Participate in Ongoing Training

A teacher consultant generally follows the same hours as a teacher, but may be expected to put in extra time to receive training. To keep up with the latest practices in education, he may need to attend weekend workshops during the school year and spend part of his summer vacation going to additional training seminars. He brings this added knowledge back to the classroom to continuously improve the learning process at his school.

Direct Classroom Support

The teacher consultant provides individual support to teachers. She regularly visits individual classrooms to build a rapport with students and determine the instructor’s strengths and weaknesses. She uses this information to provide constructive feedback and help the teacher plan more effective, engaging lessons. Afterwards, she follows up by returning to the classroom to gauge the progress made by students as a result of the suggested changes. The teacher consultant may even arrange for teachers to visit one another’s classrooms to observe different teaching practices.