In today’s society, the teaching profession is one of the most respected professions of public trust. The social importance of the mission of the teacher and related tasks and responsibilities is connected with a specific image of the professional group of teachers formed and distributed in the public opinion. In this article separated are two parts: theoretical and empirical. In the theoretical part located are necessary to clarify the terminology, key terms such as “image”, “profession” and “public opinion”. In the empirical part are analyzed selected representative surveys of public opinion concerning the specifics of teachers and their work. The purpose of this article is to attempt to reconstruct the basic components of contemporary image of the teaching profession based the results cited Polish and international surveys. The conclusions of the analyzed surveys allow to conclude that social portrait of teachers corresponds with a high level of prestige and the confidence of citizens in relation to their professional activities. In characterizing generalized image of this profession we should describe it as a difficult, stressful and responsible profession, but at the same time bringing satisfaction in the area of careers and lives its representatives.