Although education is often discussed in histories of the British Mandate for Palestine, it is rarely the main focus. Education, with few exceptions is described merely as a tool for the repression or development of nationalism, background for a case study of how Palestinians should be educated or an illustration of the failed British Colonial project. The discourse of nationalism and the question of who can, or should be blamed or commended for the Israeli victory and Palestinian defeat in 1948 dominates historical accounts of Palestinian education. The daily interactions and perceptions of those who experienced this education become subsumed under the weight of these linear narratives, preventing a cultural history of Palestinian participants from emerging. An examination of the category of teacher illuminates the views of those who sought to impose, transmit or modify culture within the colonial framework as well as the consequences of these actions. My paper will focus on how the ideal of "the good teacher" was constructed and adapted from a multiplicity of Arab Palestinian and British viewpoints during the course of the Mandate. Despite the imposition of a quintessentially British colonial inspectorate, and its corresponding push for bureaucratization and professionalization, Palestinian educators, villagers, students and even the inspectors themselves espoused various views of what granted a teacher legitimate authority in the classroom. Educational qualifications, character, morals, pedagogical methods, social standing, age and gender all played a role in shaping of the category of teacher. Through a close reading of teacher's personnel files, including inspectors' reports, teachers' and villagers' petitions, medical records, annual reports and other archival materials I will trace the concept of the "good teacher" from the inception of the Mandate in 1922 through its dissolution in 1948. Rather than passively accepting the roles prescribed to them by administrators, teachers used the language and boundaries of British authorities in order to redefine and contest their position within the educational system and their own communities. Through their experience of the British-run educational bureaucracy, Arab teachers articulated a type of modern subjectivity; protesting and engaging with the frameworks imposed by the colonial government and Mandate society. This paper will address not only the cultural and social impact of the Mandate educational system on the Arab teachers who filled its ranks, but also how these teachers and the villages they served pushed back, defining the "good teacher" according to local needs and criteria.