The Teaching Profession: A Comparative View

Abstract

This article reports on a comparison of the views of teachers in Italy and the UnitedKingdom on their profession in relation to other professions. Common constructs about their profession are discussed for each national group, followd by a commentary on the similarities and differences between the groups related to their embedding culture. For example, both groups perceive teachers 0s having much in common with social workers and the clergy in terns of high demand for emotional involvement and creativity, while both express concern over low income for effort conjoined with erosion of professional autonomy. This latter concern is more pronounced in the data from Italy, reflecting the more centralized control of cum'culurn, a policy only currently being initiated in the United Kingdom.