Swiss teachers enjoy high regard
The Swiss have great respect for their schoolteachers, but doctors and lawyers continue to enjoy the best image overall.
That’s the main finding of a survey rating 16 professions, including six different teaching jobs.
The Univox study, carried out in 2003 for the GfS research institute, quizzed 720 people about their perceptions of the different careers.
Those surveyed said that although teachers enjoyed a good level of pay and public respect, they had a stressful job, and limited chances of progressing in their career.
Six criteria were considered: salary, career prospects, autonomy, stress, job security and social prestige.
The authors of the study, which was released on Wednesday, said the six professions with the lowest score were dominated by women.
Top jobs
The four top ranking professions, in order of preference, were doctor, lawyer, architect and psychologist.
Slightly less attractive were the careers of journalist, grammar school teacher, secondary teacher, primary teacher, engineer and bank employee.
The jobs of social worker, nursery school teacher, crafts teacher, home economics teacher, nurse and medical receptionist came bottom of the scale.
The report’s authors said schoolteachers continued to have a good image, but there was a widely held belief that their job had become harder.
The main reasons respondents gave for this was that cultural differences between pupils were too big and students lacked discipline and motivation.
Little change
The study found little change in attitude since a similar survey carried out in 1994. But it noted that the profession of journalist had overtaken that of grammar school teacher in the public perception.
The image of primary school teachers and secondary school teachers had improved slightly.
The Univox study found that the teaching professions were generally more highly regarded in French-speaking Switzerland than in German-speaking areas.
swissinfo with agencies
The Univox study questioned 720 people about their perceptions of 16 different professions, including six different teaching jobs.
They rated these jobs according to criteria, including pay, career prospects and stress.
The top ranked professions were doctor, lawyer, architect and psychologist.
Social worker, nurse, crafts teacher and nursery school teacher ranked bottom.
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