While not all professions are in crisis, the notion of a profession as something which encompasses and adds to the public good certainly is. In the professions studied in this paper – law, medicine and teaching – we believe that the vital link to public service and the wider common good has already broken or is close to breaking. The rupture of trust in the health services was exemplified in 2013 with the publication of the Francis Inquiry into the appalling lack of care at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust, and that remains perhaps the most redolent public scandal. But the other professions are not immune. The largely negative attitude to lawyers from the public has not been reversed despite the Law Society’s good efforts and frequent public relations campaigns. And notwithstanding many laudable Government initiatives, around 40% of UK teachers still leave the profession within five years, while the status of teaching in the UK is at best mid-table on international comparisons. Little wonder concerns about teaching quality beset the profession.
