A semiprofession, as opposed to a true profession

Profession

A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain....

, refers to a type of work similar in some respects to those commonly regarded as professional but still different in more than a few important areas. One group especially tied to this emerging term, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), published a list of twelve checkpoints they believe help define said neologism.

1. Lower in occupational status
   Occupational prestige
   Occupational prestige refers to the consensual nature of rating a job based on the collective belief of its worthiness.-History:...
   
   
2. Shorter training
   Training
   The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
   
    periods
3. Lack of societal acceptance that the nature of the service and/or the level of expertise justifies the autonomy that is granted to the professions
4. A less specialized and less highly developed body of knowledge
   Knowledge
   Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
   
    and skills
5. Markedly less emphasis on theoretical and conceptual bases
   Bases
   Bases may refer to:*Bases , a military style of dress adopted by the chivalry of the sixteenth century.*Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students...
   
    for practice
6. A tendency for the individual to identify with the employment
   Employment
   Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
   
    institution
   Institution
   An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community...
   
    more and with the profession less
7. More subject to administrative and supervisor
   Supervisor
   A supervisor, foreperson, team leader, overseer, cell coach, facilitator, or area coordinator is a manager in a position of trust in business...
   
   y surveillance
   Surveillance
   Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
   
    and control
   Control (management)
   Controlling is one of the managerial functions like planning, organizing, staffing and directing. It is an important function because it helps to check the errors and to take the corrective action so that deviation from standards are minimized and stated goals of the organization are achieved in...
   
   
8. Less autonomy in professional decision making
   Decision making
   Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
   
   , with accountability to superiors rather than to the profession
9. Management
   Management
   Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
   
    by persons who have themselves been prepared and served in that semiprofession
10. A preponderance of women
11. Absence of the right of privileged communication between client
    Consumer
    Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
    
     and professional
12. Little or no involvement in matters of life and death

The use of comparative adverbs such as "more" and "less" is indicative of an evaluation of the semiprofessional life against that of the true professional. It is therefore important to establish which career

Career

Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....

s we are using as standards by which to judge aspiring professions. This exemplar

Exemplar

Exemplar, in the sense developed by philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, is a well known usage of a scientific theory.According to Kuhn, scientific practice alternates between periods of normal science and extraordinary/revolutionary science...

 can be found in the two occupations which are widely regarded to be true professions, those in the fields of law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 and medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

. Noting the publisher of the checklist printed above, those in the educational field are perhaps themselves wrestling with whether their line of work can be considered professional, or is perhaps something more closely resembling a semiprofession.