Claims teachers gave up gold for ecstasy (9)

I believe the answer is:

professes

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'claims' is the definition.
(professing is a kind of claiming)

'for ecstasy' is the wordplay.
'for' becomes 'pro' (as in being 'pro' something).
'ecstasy' becomes 'fesses' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pro'+'fesses'='PROFESSES'

'teachers gave up gold' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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