There have been many stories told about teachers, both real and imaginary.  Two contrasting stories, both fictional, highlight very different types of teacher - Terence Rattigan's play and film The Browning Version and Muriel Spark's book and film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

The Browning Version tells the tale of a teacher who is near retirement, the kind of teacher most of us have experienced in our school life, a humourless, very strict man, dedicated to teaching, but as remote from his pupils as you can get.  One day, a pupil he has taught, presents him with a farewell gift, Robert Browning's translation of Homer's The Illiad.  This boy, like so many young people, sees beyond his teacher's austere demeanour.  The effect of this kind act devastates the teacher and makes him realise that his nickname, 'Himmler' is well earned but something, right at the end of his career, that he bitterly regrets.  At the final assembly, he apologies profoundly to the pupils for his severe approach over the years.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a cautionary tale about charismatic teachers.  Jean Brodie is almost the opposite of the teacher in Rattigan's story, a woman so involved with her pupils that she is resented by most of her colleagues, and especially by the headmistress.  Miss Brodie is one of those teachers whose charisma overwhelms most of her pupils - to the extent that one of them dies as a result of her teacher's misguided enthusiasm.  Eventually Miss Brodie is reported by one of her pupils.  The girl rightly says to her:
"You're not good for people".

I once heard a teacher say:
"Heaven save us from charismatic headteachers."
The problem of such heads is that though they might improve schools during their tenure, when they leave, the schools decline.  If the culture of a school is good, then the head will not have to be either charismatic or uninspiring.