The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions on teaching profession and on the changing role of school teachers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to examine how this perception affects the teaching profession. To achieve this aim, one main question was inspected: Does the current perceptions of students, teachers and school leaders on teachers in the selected eight schools from Dubai and Sharjah affect the value of teaching profession? Dramatic changes on teacher’s role over the last decades have challenged teachers’ professional identities and carried the question of what it means to be a teacher in recent times. To articulate this change, some significant theories have been consulted in this study, such as professional identity, the role theory, the changing nature of the teacher’s role, educational reforms and privatization of education. The study devises three groups of participants comprising 200 teachers, 262 students and 10 experienced educators from eight private and public schools. Multiple instruments were utilized in a mixed methods research to collect data. The study finds that teachers notice a big shift about how they are valued. The results showed that teacher satisfaction is most notably obtained by effectively changing students’ attitudes in a positive way. The results also indicated that most students do not consider teaching as a future career despite their deep respect for their teachers. In addition, the results indicate that privatisation is key for the shift in the way teachers are valued.
