With all the rhetoric on education appearing in the form of reports, legislative proposals, opinion polls, and statements from the profession, the observation of Lortie (1975) that "teaching, from its inception in America, has occupied a special, but shadowed, social standing. Real regard shown for those who taught has never matched the professed which is still valid." The reality is that teachers recognize they no longer even occupy a position of "shadowed social standing." The professed regard is now more congruent with the real regard. There is a crisis in teaching which directly affects recruitment, preparation, induction and staff development. This paper examines this crisis from the perspective of the individual who selects teaching as a career. The discussion considers the appropriateness of the traditional concept of career development for the individual. What factors will increase the attractiveness of teaching as a career? What factors will increase retention and motivate teachers if the "career ladder" concept will not? It is the intent of this paper to consider the evolution of the individual teacher as he/she passes through the phases of recruitment, preparation, induction and staff development. It is the intent of this paper to integrate the knowledge of each phase into a coherent model of teacher development as it is related to conditions for professional practice. (Author)