Teachers in China have the highest levels of public respect, according to an international study comparing their status in 21 countries. Teachers in the UK were in 10th place in the global index which was compiled by the University of Sussex professor Peter Dolton. The study was based on surveys of 1,000 adults in each of the countries. This examined public attitudes to professional status, trust, pay and the desirability of teaching as a career. The study confirmed the high status of teachers in China, where there is a strong cultural emphasis on the importance of education. “Teachers are revered,” says Prof Dolton.
A large majority of adults in China believed that students would respect their teachers – in contrast in the UK, only about one in five adults believed that students showed their teachers respect in school. And while teachers in China were compared with doctors, in the UK they were more likely to be bracketed with nurses and social workers.