The Limits of Making Teaching a Profession

While a good case can be made for better salaries, status and work conditions for teachers, this article argues that the traditional model of a profession is both of an ineffective and inappropriate basis for pursuing such aims. The article concludes that the actual historical processes by which the traditional “professions” appropriated that label, and the ways in which they have evolved to fit increasingly bure settings, do not provide a model that teachers should emulate.