This article reviews research relating to the concept of "the professional" then considers "the teaching professional" and in particular the "post-compulsory education (PCE) teaching professional" in more depth. Recent positive models of the teaching professional are analysed, including the expansive professional and the democratic professional, and a new model from the author's research is proposed entitled the "connected professional". This draws together a number of key positive components from other models, but also includes a strategy for enacting the model called "growing connections". This is argued to offer a potentially more realisable goal for the future of PCE teaching professionals. The article concludes by offering a set of key characteristics of the PCE teaching professional and calls for adoption of the models offered.