Mwalimu

170px|thumb|Mwalimu wa Kilatini na wanafunzi wake wawili, 1487
Mwalimu (kutoka neno la Kiarabu; kwa Kiingereza teacher, school teacher na pengine educator) ni mtu anayesaidia wengine kupata ujuzi, maarifa na tunu. 

Kazi hiyo inaweza kufanywa na yeyote katika nafasi maalumu, kwa mfano mzazi au ndugu akimfundisha mtoto nyumbani, lakini kwa wengine ndiyo njia ya kupata riziki inayomdai karibu kila siku kwa miaka mingi, kwa mfano shuleni. Huko mwalimu anatakiwa kuwa na shahada au stashahada, kadiri ya sheria za nchi na ya ngazi ya elimu inayotolewa.

Imesemekana kuwa walimu vijana wanafundisha kuliko wanavyojua, yaani hata mengi wasiyoyajua vizuri. Wenye umri wa makamo wanafundisha yale yote wanayoyajua. Kumbe wazee wanafundisha yale yanayowafaa wasikilizaji. 

Majukumu
Majukumu ya mwalimu yanaweza kutofautiana kadiri ya utamaduni husika.for a useful discussion see, for example: Cochran-Smith,  M.  (2006): 'Policy,  Practice,  and  Politics  in  Teacher  Education',  Thousand  Oaks,  CA:  Corwin Presssee for example Cummings, W.K. (2003) 'The   InstitutionS   of   Education.  A   Comparative   Study   of   Educational Development in the Six Core Nations', Providence, MA: Symposium Books. 

Mara nyingi ni pamoja na kufundisha kusoma na kuandika, kuhesabu, kufanya kazi fulani ya mikono, kushirikiana katika jamii, kufuata dini, kuunda kazi za sanaa. 

Kwa kawaida ufundishaji huo unadai mwalimu aandae somo kwa kufuata mtaala fulani, kutoa vipindi na kutathmini maendeleo ya mwanafunzi. Pia ni muhimu atunze nidhamu.

Nje ya madarasa, pengine mwalimu anatakiwa kuongoza wanafunzi wake katika safari za kutembelea mashamba, viwanda, kumbi, makumbusho, n.k.

Sifa zinazohitajika
Ualimu ni kazi ngumu sana, kwa sababu unahusika na mambo mengi.For a review of literature on competences required by teachers, see F Caena (2011) 'Literature review: Teachers’ core competences:  
requirements and development' accessed January 2017 at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/policy/strategic-framework/doc/teacher-competences_en.pdfF Caena (2011) 'Literature review: Teachers’ core competences: requirements and development' accessed January 2017 at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/policy/strategic-framework/doc/teacher-competences_en.pdf citing Altet et al., 1996; Conway et al., 2010; Hansen, 2008; Seifert, 1999; Sockett, 2008'Teachers  Matter:  Attracting,  Developing  and  Retaining  Effective Teachers', 2005, Paris: OECD publications  

Umoja wa Ulaya umetaja sifa tatu muhimu:
Uwezo wa kushirikiana na wengine
Uwezo wa kutumia ujuzi, teknolojia na habari, na
Uwezo wa kufanya kazi ndani na pamoja na jamii.F Caena (2011) 'Literature review: Teachers’ core competences: requirements and development' accessed January 2017 at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/policy/strategic-framework/doc/teacher-competences_en.pdf

Wataalamu wa sayansi ya elimu wanazidi kukubaliana kwamba mwalimu yeyote anahitaji mambo matatu:
ujuzi (kufahamu mada na namna ya kuifundisha, mtaala, sayansi ya elimu, saikolojia, tathmini n.k.) 
vipaji (kupanga kipindi, kutumia vifaa, kuongoza wanafunzi, kuendesha makundi, kutathmini maendeleo) na 
misimamo (tunu, tabia, imani na uwajibikaji).Williamson  McDiarmid, G.  &  Clevenger-Bright  M.  (2008) 'Rethinking  Teacher  Capacity', in  Cochran-Smith,  M.,  Feiman-Nemser,  S.  &  Mc  Intyre,  D.  (Eds.).  'Handbook  of  Research  on  
Teacher  Education. Enduring questions in changing contexts'. New York/Abingdon: Routledge/Taylor & Francis cited in F Caena (2011)

Walimu maarufu

 Edith Abbott
 Howard Adelman
 Raymond Macdonald Alden
 Henry James Anderson
 Charles William Bardeen
 Lancelot Bavin
 Juan Pablo Bonet
 Yohane Bosco
 Leib Glantz
 Yohane Mbatizaji de La Salle
 Maria Montessori
 Charles Rollin
 Charles Wedemeyer

 Tanbihi 

 Viungo vya nje 

 OECD's Education GPS, a review of education policy analysis and statistics: Teachers


Category:Kazi