Teaching

The need to recruit and retain teachers and to improve their morale has focused attention onthe status of teaching as a profession. This article suggests that the generic term ‘status’ has three relatively independent components, here labelled prestige, statusand esteem, the recognition of which as relatively distinct phenomena could enhance the debate. Factors affecting the relative prestige, status and esteem of schoolteaching are explored and possibility of enhancement on each of the dimensions is discussed. Finally, the argument that ‘the new professionalism’ will enhance the ‘status’ of teaching is examined.