מעמד המורה בחברה הישראלית של היום

The social status of teachers has received considerable attention in the public discourse in Israel in the past six decades. This article compares the social status of teachers in Israel to that of five other professions – doctors, lawyers, high-tech employees, career army personnel, and social workers – on the basis of a study conducted on a representative sample of the Jewish population over the past three years. The sample comprised 1502 participants who were asked to evaluate seven aspects of the prestige and social status of six professions in Israel (such as contribution to society, and fairness of remuneration). The main findings are: (a) The social status of teachers is lower than that of doctors, lawyers, and high-tech employees, and higher than the status of social workers; (b) the variability of the aspects of teachers ׳ status is higher compared to other professions, e.g., contribution to society is evaluated as high, whereas attractiveness of teaching is very low; (c) teachers who participated in the study perceive their status similarly to respondents in other occupations; (d) the social status of teachers has remained stable in the past three years. The discussion highlights the methodological and theoretical implications of the findings.