A professional body or professional organization is an organisation, usually non-profit, that exists to further a particular profession, to protect both the public interest and the interests of professionals. The balance between these two may be a matter of opinion. One the one hand, professional bodies act to protect the public by maintaining and enforcing standards of training and ethics in their profession. On the other hand, they may also act like a cartel or a labor union (trade union) for the members of the profession, though this description is commonly rejected by the body concerned. Membership of a professional body does not necessarily mean that a person possesses qualifications in the subject area, nor that they are legally able to practice their profession - although in some countries and professions, membership of a professional body is required for somebody to legally practice.
Many professional bodies also act as learned societies for the academic disciplines underlying their professions.
The AFT is an 940,000-member union of public and professional employees, including public and private school teachers, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel, higher education faculty and professionals, employees of state and local governments, nurses and health professionals.
Organized into a network of more than 110 affiliated state, local, and regional councils and associated groups, the NCSS membership represents K-12 classroom teachers, college and university faculty members, curriculum designers and specialists, social studies supervisors, and leaders in the various disciplines that constitute the social studies.
Organizations Concerned about Rural Education (OCRE) is a coalition of more than two dozen education, farm, rural, technology and utility organizations concerned for the economic future of rural America, particularly the education of rural children.
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