Many teachers are increasingly active in shaping and defining their own professionalism. However, today this is as much a source of constraint and exhaustion as it is of creativity, and many feel that they have much less control over their work.  As teachers become much more diverse as a group and face some difficult challenges there is an urgent need to re-connect teachers with their changing professionalism and to show how it increasingly lives in their everyday habits, relationships and values.

The report argues that, almost unannounced, teaching has changed fundamentally in a range of ways. Change has always been a constant in teaching, but today, with schools’ and teachers’ responsibilities more diverse than ever, the profession is developing on several fronts simultaneously. As teachers experiment with their
professional roles, they are subject to both new burdens and new freedoms. A new professionalism must equip today's and tomorrow's teachers to face this change with confidence.