ABSTRACT
School teachers constitute a major occupational group in Australia, with over three per cent of the employed civilian population engaged in this type of work. This chapter explores why people choose to be teachers; the characteristics of teachers; the types of problems faced by beginning teachers; teaching as a profession; and teacher careers. Teaching, like nursing, is best classified as a semi-profession. Semi-professions typically have little control over entry to the profession because, unlike the established professions (law, medicine, clergy) they are employees of the state rather than self-employed. Teaching is an occupation which offers those who enter it the possibility of pursuing a career. That is, it is an occupation in which many different types of work, in addition to that of the classroom teacher, is available. The type of mobility and career pathway which a teacher establishes or seeks to establish within an education department depends upon a wide variety of factors.
