faculties or faculty?

Hallo,

When faculty refers to Teacher what does it exactly mean?

Does it mean a group of teachers or a single teacher?

Can I say

'he is a great faculty in ecience'?
Or

' we have great faculties in our school'?

Thanks

bubu

>>When faculty refers to Teacher what does it exactly mean?

>>Does it mean a group of teachers or a single teacher? "

It refers to the entire staff of teachers at a school.

"The faculty at John F. Kerry High received praise for their efforts in curtailing the dropout rate at the school."

You would say...
He is a great science teacher.
We have a great faculty at out school.

You can also say...
We have great faculty members in our science department.

<<"The faculty at John F. Kerry High received praise for their efforts in curtailing the dropout rate at the school.">>

Why not "...praise for its efforts..."?

<<Why not "...praise for its efforts..."?>>

Perhaps in British English? In America, "...praise for its efforts..." sounds way too formal. Something someone would have said a hundred and fifty years ago. I'm not saying that it isn't correct, just that it sounds odd to my ears. (And to the two other people I posed this question to.)

I think part of the reason is that we don't use "it" to describe people. Ever. And since we think of faculty as a group of people, saying "it" dehumanizes them.

It was amusing when I was learning German, that child was neuter. Das Kind.