By the time of the July Revolution of 1830, the matter of training elementary school teachers had become important in French politics. But the literature on teacher training does not properly examine the linkage between training institutions and professionalism. The standard narrative of the development of primary education suggests that the July Monarchy (1830-1848) was a key time for the development of secular teachers' professional status. However, if we accept Andrew Abbot's notion of professionalism as conflict over legitimate jurisdiction over service provision, then the "instituteurs" of this era were not professionals. Not only was the Catholic Church an important competitor to the secular schoolteachers but, just as importantly, the persistence of localism and lack of central coordination of training institutions ensured that no professional "esprit de corps" would be possible among the teachers. After examining the historical literature and outlining the significance of Abbot's notion of professionalism, I devote the longest section of this paper to a less-studied teacher training instrument of the era: the pedagogical conferences. The conferences were opportunities for working teachers to meet and learn to improve their pedagogical skills and knowledge. However, they display both of the dilemmas that prevented secular schoolteachers from being professionals: the presence of a more legitimate competing authority, the Catholic Church, and the persistent tension between centre and periphery. (Contains 71 footnotes and 1 table.)