Teaching a cutie, don distracted (9)
I believe the answer is:
education
'teaching' is the definition.
('education' can be a synonym of 'teaching')
'a cutie don distracted' is the wordplay.
'distracted' is an anagram indicator.
'a'+'cutie'+'don'='acutiedon'
'acutiedon' with letters rearranged gives 'EDUCATION'.
(Other definitions for education that I've seen before include "Drilling" , "an answer to all clues, initially" , "Teaching process" , "A tonic due (anag.)" , "New Labour mantra, when repeated" .)