Can Teaching be regarded as a Profession?

Answer 1

A profession is:

1) Recognized by institutional authorities as existing as a profession. (Sometimes laws define who is a member of a profession, or establish a governmental board that defines professional qualifications).

2) An occupation that requires specialized and technical knowledge.

3) An occupation that has some sort of commitment to service to society, or work for the sake of the betterment of civilization.

4) An occupation that is self-organized, with members of the profession establishing a hierarchy or governing body that makes decisions related to who is included within or excluded from the profession, what training and experience is required in order for someone to join the profession, and what standards of competency are used to define and evaluate skills used by the profession. Professions are to some degree self-governing and have control over their own affairs, although this can sometimes conflict with regulations imposed by the wider society through, for example, laws or professional standards boards.

5) An occupation that has codes of practice and ethical standards dictating how the profession must be practiced, and what society and clients should be able to expect from the work of the profession as a whole and individual practitioners within the profession.

6) Professions usually secure privileges and rights. That is, they work to ensure that only members of a profession are allowed to do certain things.

Those are the six criteria to define a profession. Sometimes in common usage a profession is simply any specialization, craft, trade, or occupation that involves specialized technical knowledge and skills. Sometimes the term "profession" is also used to distinguish between a person who is involved in economic activities that involve providing products and services for fees in a competent manner, as contrasted with amateurs or volunteers or persons who do not take their work seriously. These meanings for "profession" are certainly just as valid as the more technical definition of the institutions of profession I've defined with six criteria above. All terms are socially-constructed, and depend for their reality on the ideas everyone in society has about what the terms mean.

Answer 2

Teaching certainly might meet the criteria for a profession. Teaching meets this particular criteria if you are a hired teacher.

Answer 3

A profession is a job so....yes.

Answer 4

Teaching is a profession.