# How Americans, Britons and Australians see teachers differently

> A survey of over 3,000 people reveals teaching is seen as coaching everywhere, but Americans compare it to parenting and clergy while Britons and Australians see nursing and social work.
- Title: How Americans, Britons and Australians see teachers…
- Summary: A survey of over 3,000 people reveals teaching is seen as coaching everywhere, but Americans compare it to parenting and clergy while Britons and Australians…
- Keywords: teaching, teacher perceptions, united states, england, australia, survey, education, occupational comparison, Americans, Britons, Australians, see
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/10/16/teacher-perceptions-survey-us-england-australia
- Author: Gustavo E. Fischman
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: teaching, teacher perceptions, united states, england, australia, survey, education, occupational comparison
## Survey asks what teaching resembles
Researchers asked over three thousand people across the United States, England and Australia between May twenty twenty-five and March twenty twenty-six to compare teaching to other occupations or activities.
## Coaching leads in all three countries
Coaching was the most common answer everywhere. Thirty percent of U.S. respondents named it, compared with twenty-three percent in England and twenty-three percent in Australia.
## Britain and Australia see professional roles
Respondents in England and Australia more often compared teaching with institutional, credentialed and paid professional roles such as nursing, lecturing and social work.

> Nursing. They care for and look after people whilst they are at their most vulnerable. Teachers do a similar thing by caring and teaching young people some of the skills they will need later in life.
## Americans see parenting and clergy
U.S. respondents were more likely to describe teaching through caregiving roles such as parenting and through religious figures such as priests, pastors or rabbis.

> Being a parent, you are caring for young minds and shaping them through learning.
## All three countries emphasize relationships
Despite differences in schooling models and cultural norms, people in the United States, England and Australia had remarkably similar ideas about how relationships are at the heart of teaching.
## AI barely appears in responses
Out of more than three thousand responses, artificial intelligence came up only a handful of times and never as the reason teaching and another occupation were said to be alike.
## Quality relationships define good teaching
Experts and citizens agree that what separates very good teaching from poor execution is likely the quality of the relationship between educators and children.
## Key takeaway

A three-country survey found Americans view teaching as parenting and religious work, while Britons and Australians compare it to nursing and social work, though all three countries see coaching as central.