Examining the social status characteristics of the elementary teaching profession from the visual rhetoric of universities

Educational systems nearly everywhere in the world are experiencing a decline in enrolment in teacher education programmes and a growing shortage of qualified teachers. This is associated with a decline in the profession's social status. This study explores how Chilean universities visually construct the social status of the elementary teaching profession on their official websites. Based on the visual rhetoric approach, we analyze a sample of 48 images from the web pages of 35 ITE university programmes. Three main rhetorics emerged from our analysis: ‘Undifferentiated university student,’ ‘Student teacher hands-on,’ and ‘Teacher in the classroom role.’ These rhetorics and their elements highlight the teaching profession as weakening status characteristics, such as specialised knowledge, distinct professional roles, and a defined audience. These results lead us to examine the role of universities in communicating the prospects of the teaching profession and their impact on the crisis it faces.