The article considers a problem of determining the most important qualities of modern teachers in the assessments of school graduates in the context of social expectations. The scientific significance of the topic is determined by the need for a theoretical understanding of the reform of the Russian education system and the dynamically changing relations of the subjects of the educational process. The theoretical understanding is presented in establishing the interdependence of the qualities of modern teachers with Russian and Soviet traditions in education, and the ideas of foreign philosophical and pedagogical science about the meaning of education. The methodological basis of the research is the historical and logical principles of cognition, structural and functional analysis, and an institutional approach that considers education as a significant element of social relations. As a result of the sociological survey, it was found that the requirements of the Ministry of Education and the basic social expectations regarding teachers mostly coincide. The activities of modern teachers and a number of their professional qualities correspond to social expectations. The most sought-after qualities of a teacher are his professional qualities and, above all, didactic competence, the desire to understand students, and the formation of teamwork skills. Kindness and respect for students, the desire to help them - these qualities inherent in modern Russian teachers reflect traditional national values in school education. The novelty of the work consists in obtaining new information about the expectations of subjects of education in the changing digital reality of modern school education.