In our current days, there are two educational theories that predominate: Constructivism and Behaviorism. Let's define them and see what's the role of teachers according to these theories.
Constructivism is an educational theory that is based on how people learn. The theory establishes that every person constructs their own learning, using their own understanding of the information given by the teacher or tutor. In this theory, the teacher plays the role of a helper or facilitator, and the student is the star of the class.
Experience is very important in this approach. The student experiences new things and reflects on those things; then, the student compares and contrasts the new knowledge he has just gotten with the old previous knowledge. In this process, the learner would have to change some concepts and beliefs, but at the end, that learner is creating his own knowledge. Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activities developed in the class help them understand the target contents.
Behaviorism, on the other hand, establishes that only observable and measurable learning is worthy; thus, learning is effective only if it changes the behavior of the learner. The theorists of Behaviorism say that every student can learn if the correct environment is given to them; it strongly opposes to the constructivist theory, that focuses more on meaning than the environment. The main role of teachers in the behaviorist approach is prompting the correct response of the students, and providing them material. The role of the learner in this theory is passive, they are most of the time receivers of information.
Apparently, those theories are opposed; however, they both can be applied in the classroom, resulting in a good combination in which the student is quite benefitted.
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