Teacher Attitudes toward the Teaching Profession

Mark B. Ginsburg & Nagwa M. Megahed

In discussing their work, teachers often employ the ideology of professionalism and related concepts: that professionals have an ideal of service, that they have a comparatively higher position in a hierarchy of jobs and remuneration, and that a certain amount of power and authority is attached to their role. This entry explores these commonsense conceptions of professionalism expressed by teachers, teacher educators, and the authors of reform documents and then examines how these conceptions relate to broader ideological and structural dimensions of society. Qualitative studies involving interviews—and sometimes observations—of teachers in Egypt, England, India, and the United States have explored how teachers conceive of professionalism and how they draw on this notion in interpreting and shaping their work and lives in schools and communities. Research has also examined these issues through interviewing teacher educators in England and the United States, as well as through analyzing documents promoting reform in teaching ...

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