Americans see teachers as coaches and pastors. Britons and Australians see them as nurses and social workers

Three answers, three countries, one open-ended question: “Teaching is similar to what other occupation or activity?” We asked this question to more than 3,000 people across the United States, England and Australia between May 2025 and March 2026. Coaching was the front-runner across all three countries. But the similarities partially diverged there. Respondents in England and Australia more often compared teaching with professional roles such as nursing and social work. U.S. respondents, meanwhile, more…