Comparative Perspectives on Professionalism among American, British, German, and Finnish Teachers

This chapter deals with the conclusion of a research report on the history of teaching. The development of teacher education in four countries—the United States, England, Germany, and Finland—is pursued in order to see if the proletarianization hypothesis can be corroborated (Raivola 1989). In ancient times teaching was a respected profession, in authority next to the priesthood or, in fact, intertwined and embedded in it. However, as soon as teaching was separated from sacred ceremonies and became, instead, adopted for livelihood, the deterioration of the profession began.