Respect dad backing professional versus a learner (8)

I believe the answer is:

approval

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'respect' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'dad backing professional versus a learner' is the wordplay.
'dad backing' becomes 'ap' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'professional' becomes 'pro' ('pro' can be a synonym of 'professional').
'versus' becomes 'v'.
'learner' becomes 'l'.
'ap'+'pro'+'v'+'a'+'l'='APPROVAL'

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(Other definitions for approval that I've seen before include "On it, goods may be returned if not satisfactory" , "Favourable judgement" , "Green light" , "Esteem - permission" , "Approbation, favour" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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