Teaching is helping other people learn. It is one of the most important ways that people relate to one another. Teaching helps people acquire the knowledge they need to become responsible citizens, to earn a living, and to lead useful, rewarding lives. Teaching also transfers knowledge from one generation to the next. Without teachers, people would have to learn everything for themselves. Few people could learn enough on their own to get along in the world. Society would change greatly as human beings lost the knowledge, skills, and ideals inherited from past generations.
Much teaching takes place outside school. In homes, for example, parents communicate values and teach their children many types of skills and habits. Businesses and industries teach their employees necessary job skills. Children eagerly share new abilities and information with one another. But when most people speak of teaching, they mean the instruction provided in schools by professional teachers. More people engage in teaching than in any other profession. About 58 million men and women throughout the world are teachers.
Teaching developed into a profession after the early 1800's, when the first teacher-training schools were founded in Europe. Before that time, schoolteachers received little or no special training. Today, most countries require teachers to complete a specialized training program and to meet professional standards of skill, performance, and conduct.
