BOULDER, CO (March 11, 2025)—A professionalized teaching workforce is key to strong educational opportunities, improved student outcomes, and broader societal benefits. However, recent policies aimed at improving teacher quality have had unintended consequences—eroding teacher autonomy, increasing workload, standardizing curriculum and assessment, and fostering public distrust.
In NEPC’s new policy brief, Let’s Stop Asking Whether Teachers Are Professionals. Let’s Ask What Kinds of Professionals We Want Teachers to Be, authors Emilie Mitescu Reagan of Claremont Graduate University and A. Lin Goodwin of Boston College examine the ongoing evolution of teachers’ professional status. The brief explores how educators can navigate the constantly shifting societal perceptions of their profession.
As the authors explain, teachers have struggled to maintain authority over the core elements that define a true profession. These elements include specialized knowledge, standards for practice, and a commitment to public welfare. Further, while educators have played a role in shaping accreditation and certification, many of these processes have been dictated by policymakers, advocacy groups, and corporations, again limiting teachers’ professional agency.
Three recent developments—standards and assessments, curriculum restrictions, and digitalization—have reshaped teachers’ roles and further challenged their professional standing. These changes have shifted power even further away from teachers, raising fundamental questions about their professional status.
Given these changes, the brief’s authors call for a corresponding change in our collective thinking. Rather than debating whether teachers qualify as professionals, the focus should be on the kind of professionals we want them to be. A shift toward policies that empower educators—through shared decision-making and democratic collaboration—can strengthen teacher professionalism. To that end, Professors Reagan and Goodwin provide recommendations for policymakers and educational leaders to take action to redistribute power and foster teacher-led networks that drive information exchange, problem-solving, dialogue, and innovation.
Find Let’s Stop Asking Whether Teachers Are Professionals. Let’s Ask What Kinds of Professionals We Want Teachers to Be, by Emilie Mitescu Reagan and A. Lin Goodwin, at:
http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/teachers