" t T I.' .... t !71;;"'''''' .... _ ... Ill: •-'I'\'''!'''!~~~~,"~~rf:":'::-;--'''''''''--'''''''--''''-- .-~----... - .... -~ .... ,~ .. ----.-..".. ............. <L...". __________ _ ti .<'(111 i \\'.,~ h'llllIl ~~ Ih 1.1\ 10"1'1,11 Ilnl: lha ~ r [Ion pIt il'" rlJn~LOt' (jI I rull\ 11 I nOli' 01' P"P AdOlllt ••• d p_p ~ \hflU cl LI (,11 P"j"l' I I1,I ,.nil ~I]I 11 11 , ""It ,r m~'pf'~ It., ~ml \lZC ~ tho .... or. lhl' form (brl-. r .. pt hi dd, d Ltld-or.crl.nt firport (('('Int d). numb. 1t d III 'f."P{ r"d (lipped to thl bad. of Ihl~ fOlm If ~ou .... I~h 10 !i.uumn atl) olhtl addItional malf'n.d nol .IIirflld) !i.rnllO 10 Ihl n··ullrll 1\0\.0 ("orlr~ .. hould lx ~nlln \l.llh thl' rrport

HR 5423/2: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TEACHERS' CAREERS

END-OF-GRANT REPORT

CONTENTS

OBJECTIVES 1

STRATEGY AND ~lETHODOLOGY 1

DATA LISTING 8

CURRENT POSITION 9

APPRAISAL OF ASPECTS OF QUALITATIVE STAGE 12

APPENDIX A 19

APPENDIX B 41

',' \

OBJECTIVES

1

The f~rst a~m of the research was to ~dent~fy and descr~be the per5pest~ves, concerns and strateg~es of secondary school teachers ~n construct~ng the~r careers ~n teach~ng. The second a~m was to prov~de an account of the soc~al construct~on of careers in teach~ng, based on the career constructs held by teachers and descr~b~ng the ~mpl~cat~ons of these for the organ~sation of the~r educat~onal work ~n schools. There was no mod~fJcat~on of these bas~c obJect~ves dur~ng the course of the study.

STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY

The bas~c research perspect~ves underly~ng th~s study were descr~bed at some length ~n the or~g~nal applicat~on made to the SSRC. Essent~ally, these perspect~ves suggest that careers ~n teach~ng are soc~ally constructed through the ~nterpret~ve and strateg~c processes of 1nd1v~duals ~n the~r soc~al ~nteract~on. In l~ne w~th these perspect~ves a career ~n teach~ng ~s seen as an on-go~ng process ~n wh~ch ~nd~v~duals strateg~cally formulate the~r act~ons on the bas~s of the~r perspect~vps and concerns. Those act~ons d~rect them ~nto success~ve k~nds of s~tuat~on 1n the~r work, wh~le the nature and seguenc~ng of those s~tuat~ons may lead to changes ~n ~nd~v~duals' perspect~ves and concerns. Such progress~on ~s ~mportant ~n two ways. F~rst, ~t lS ~mportant for 1nd~v~duals themselves ~n ~nfluenc~ng the k~nds of work they do, the nature of the sat~sfact~on they obta~n from 1t and the comm~tment they develop towards ~t. Second, ~t has 1mpl~cat~ons also for the educat~onal arrangements of schools and for the nature of the serv~ce prov~ded ~n them ~n that these are dependent on the flow of teachers 1nto, w~th~n and from d~fferent k~nds of work ~n teach~ng and the mob~l~sat~on of the~r efforts ~n such work for educat~onal ends. It should be noted that th~s perspect~ve on careers 1n teach~ng, wh~ch owes a debt to the soc~ology of work ~n wh~ch career is used as a conceptual llnk between the 1nd~v~dual and h~s soc~al context, does not assume that all teachers th1nk of the~r occupat~onal l~ves ~n career terms and that they have some overall concept~on of and strateg~c plan for the~r careers. It does, however, draw attent~on to the role of ~nd~v~duals' perspect~ves of knowledge and the

way 1n wh1ch the1r career a1ms and strateg1es are typ1cally 1nfluenced by the1r awareness of what goals and opportun1t1es appear to be ava1lable to them 1n d1fferent s1tuat10ns.

As noted 1n the or1g1nal appl1cat1on ava1lable stud1es illustrate some aspects of the soc1al construct1on of careers 1n teach1ng, but deta1led knowledge of the processes 1nvolved 1S sparse. It was suggested that th1s 1S l1kely to be due to the tendency of much eX1st1ng research to be conf1ned to the collect10n of quant1tat1ve 1nformat10n on aspects of employment 1n teach1ng, for example aggregated data relat1ng to occupat10nal recru1tment and attr1t1on, and to neglect by compar1son 1nd1v1duals typ1cally handle the1r teach1ng

the processes whereby careers. We wanted

to get away from the restr1cted not10n of career 1mpl1c1t 1n such research and to develop an understand1ng through d1rect study of the perspect1ves, concerns and strateg1es of teachers.

In plann1ng the emp1r1cal work 1t was recogn1sed that the area of 1nvest1gat1on was l1kely to be a complex one and that 1t seemed preferable to make use of d1fferent procedures rather than opt1ng for one s1ngle method. The sequence of work therefore fell 1nto two broad stages, each reflect1ng d1fferent emphases 1n the research as 1t proceeded. The f1rst stage was one 1n wh1ch the emphas1s was on the use of qual1tat1ve procedures 1n the form of 1n-depth 1nterv1ews w1th teachers 1n order to develop a substant1al measure of understand1ng. Follow1ng th1s 1ntens1ve work the study became more extens1ve 1n emphas1s through the use of quant1tat1ve techn1ques 1n the form of a quest1onna1re survey 1n order to 1nvestigate some aspects on a w1der bas1s and thereby broaden understand1ng. It 1S 1mportant to stress that the ma1n comrn1tment of the study was to the development of an understand1ng through qual1tat1ve procedures. Th1S was reflected 1n the sequence descr1bed 1n wh1ch 1t was 1ntended that the work at each stage would take 1tS d1rect10n from the preced1ng stage. The two stages - qual1tat1ve and quant1tat1ve - are sumrnar1sed as follows.

The qual1tat1ve stage

Qual1tat1ve research 1S generally recogn1sed to proceed through a ser1es of d1fferent stages, gradually becom1ng more focussed at each stage. The data-collect10n 1S 1n1t1ally almost completely

3 . . ~

\

open-ended and lnstead of belng dlrectlve, the researchers are receptlve to whatever lS observed or reported to them. The researchers take note of these reports and observatl0ns, and as they proceed they accumulate data, make sense of the overall lnformatl0n, and ldentlfy emerglng general pOlnts. These pOlnts are then focus sed on In subsequent data-collectl0n, whlle retalnlng open-endedness as well. The research becomes progress-lvely more focussed and dlrected towards speclflc phenomena and lssues, belng gUlded by ongolng analysls of the lncomlng data wlth the flnal stages belng devoted largely to the formulatl0n of a more general account on the basls of the partlcular flndlngs. In order to allow the research to proceed open-endedly, gUlded by lncomlng data, thlS klnd of research does not glve great welght to eXlstlng llterature and research, In the dlrectlng of focus. Nevertheless, such materlal can be taken lnto account once the analysls lS under way, In order to provlde addltlonal lnformatlon whlch can lmprove the researcher's understandlng of the slgnlflcance of hlS own flndlngs by placlng them In a wlder context.

We started off wlth a famlllarlsatl0n perlod. We revlewed the eXlstlng llterature ln order to be alerted to the range of phenomena WhlCh mlght be found In respect of careers. Offlclal statlstlcs supplled by the Scottlsh Educatlon Department were consulted for the same reason. In addltlon, we held some prellmlnary lntervlews wlth senlor offlClals ln two reglonal educatlon authorltles, wlth natlonal offlclals of teachers' professlonal assoclatlons, wlth headteachers and deputes In flve comprehenslve schools. A total of flfteen people were lntervlewed and through thelr broad lnvolvement In secondary schools th~s allowed us to galn an lnltlal famlliarlty wlth some aspects of teachers' careers. It also provlded useful data on the aOmlnlstrative lnvolvement In stafflng arrangements and job placement in schools.

On the basls of thlS lnltlal farnlllarlsatlon, we started full-scale data-collectlon by means of open-ended lntervlews wlth elght teachers occupylng dlfferent levels of post, both promoted and non-promoted, In flve schools of dlfferent Slzes In four dlfferent reglons, lncludlng people of dlfferent ages, both male and female, and teachlng a range of subJects. We had an ldea of certaln broad tOP1CS regardlng career movement that we were prepared to dlrect the teachers towards In these lntervlews, but In

4 .

dlscusslng these we trled rather to encourage the teachers to brlng up whatever they wanted to, and to take up thelr pOlnts and follow these In contlnulng the conversatlon. A successful lntervlew In our terms was where re~pondents raised sufflclent lssues for us to orlent the entlre dlScusslon around these, so that we had llttle need to dlrect them to lssues ourselves. In fact, proceedlng In thlS way stlll provlded lnformatlon on the broad tOP1CS we had consldered lntroduclng, because lt was clear durlng the lntervlews that they were relevant to the teachers. As we proceeded wlth data-collectlon, the knowledge we had of earller dlScusslons gUlded us In part In later ones. If a teacher we were talklng to mentloned somethlng that connected In some way wlth somethlng that a prevlous person had sald, thlS would suggest certaln further lnqulrles from us around that tOP1C.

In thlS way the flrst round of lntervlews wlth teachers was completed. They were very open-ended and thus the tOP1CS dlscussed In dlfferent ones varled substantlally, although there was also an accurnulatlon of materlal on partlcular lssues. In the course of thlS flrst round of lntervlews, a llmlted form of analysls of an ad hoc klnd was done ln that emerglng lssues had been recognlsed and used to dlrect part of the questlonlng In subsequent lntervlews. However, a more detalled and systematlc analysls of the data was requlred In order to properly recognlse what we had In the way of data and flndlngs so far, and allow us to dlrect our focus In further data-collectlon. We therefore ceased data-collectlon untll the eXlstlng data was analysed. ThlS analysls was of a partlcular form, to sUlt ltS purpose and place In the research effort, belng deslgned malnly to complle all the data, as far as posslble. We dld not want to develop any hlgh level conceptuallsatl0ns at thlS stage. The numbers of teachers lnvolved at thlS pOlnt were relatlvely low, and we dld not want to develop a model on the baslS of these, Slnce thlS would mean that our focus In the further lntervlews mlght be too selectlve, and would lead to the neglect of further materlal WhlCh mlght otherwlse provlde a better understandlng of lssues. posslble to group the data whatever conceptuallsatlons the data.

Neverhtheless, we sought as far as lnto general tOP1C areas, and to clarlfy of a low-level klnd were exhlblted by

On the basls of thlS lnltlal analysls we developed a more focussed lntervlew schedule to allow us to expand on these areas of

5

~nterest. In actual fact most of the areas were relevant to any teacher, but we were of course ~nterested ~n gual~tat~ve var~atlons ~n respect of these. Th~s led to a second round of ~nterv~ews w~th seventeen teachers ~n d~fferent levels of post ~n a further ten schools ~n a further four reg~ons, thereby extend~ng the coverage of teachers. Aga~n, we sought to ~nclude both men and women and teachers of d~fferent ages and teachers of d~fferent subJects. These ~nterv~ews were more d~rect~ve, s~nce we had a def~n~te set of top~cs of ~nterest. Nevertheless, we st~ll sought as far as poss~ble to g~ve free re~n to the teachers ~nvolved ~n the~r d~scuss~on of each po~nt, so that ~f someone ra~sed some new, unant~c~pated po~nt that struck us as relevant, we encouraged them to d~scuss ~t. These ~nterv~ews st~ll var~ed from one to another, w~th some areas be~ng covered by some respondents and not by others, or covered ~n d~fferent degrees.

Follow~ng a ser~es of such d~scuss~ons, we drew a close to data-collect~on and proceeded w~th a f~nal analys~s wh~ch would const~tute our f~nd~ngs. We recogn~sed that th~s analys~s m~ght st~ll suggest the relevance of a small number of further ~nterv~ews, but th~s analys~s was str~ctly speak~ng the f~nal, overall analys~s rather than the part~al ~nterim analys~s that was done prev~ously.

We rev~ewed the data, and dec~ded on a l~st of top~c areas wh~ch we could cons~der the mater~al ~n terms of. Th~s amounted to a set of ~nd~v~dual papers wh~ch could be wr~tten. Th~s set of top~cs comprehens~vely covered all the data we had. These top~cs d~ffered from these wh~ch had been ~ncorporated ~n the ~nterv~ew schedule, because ~t reflected the spread of the data wh~ch had been produced by these ~nterv~ews, and dec~s~ons about the best way to subd~v~de and organ~se the mater~al ~nto themes. Th~s was a comprehens~ve l~st rather than a plan of work, as there were too many to cover ~n the time ava~lable. Correspond­~ngly we set pr~or~t~es and dec~ded to devote attent~on to what were Judged to be the most ~mportant papers.

We proceeded to make f~rst drafts of each of the chosen papers. In do~ng th~s analysis, the po~nts made and the analys~s structure wh~ch began to emerge, were determ~ned by the process of analys~s, the order~ng of the data, and the nature of the data wh~ch was ava~lable. As rough drafts they needed

6

redraftlng on StyllStlC grounds, but aSlde from that they were re""orked for analytlc development. ThlS was done in a number of ways. As they had been wrltten lndlvldually by dlfferent members of the proJect team, they were developed by conslderlng each one In relatlon to the others, and taklng account of the llnks and the flt between them. Other people than the orlg1nal author made comments and suggestlons on each paper, so that addltlonal perspectlves were brought to bear. The llterature, and offlclal statlstlcs, were agaln consulted In relatl0n to the analysls, and where materlal was relevant lt was allowed to lntroduce developments In relatlon to the eXlstlng pOlnts. In thlS way the papers underwent a number of drafts, and the analysls was developed.

The guantltatlve stage

Followlng the qualltatlve stage a survey was carrled out, the purpose of WhlCh was to obtaln quantlflable lnformatl0n that would serve to broaden understandlng of some aspects. Before proceedlng to thlS stage, lt was declded to lnvestlgate the posslblllty of establlshlng closer llnks between the survey and the materlal contalned In the worklng papers. An analysls of thlS materlal was undertaken wlth a Vlew to operatlonallz1ng concepts used In the papers but the ldeas and concepts were of a complexlty and subtlety whlch made lt dlfflcult to establlsh such close llnks between the lntervlew data and the survey. If more tlme had been avallable lt mlght have been posslble to develop a questlonnalre of sufflclent SOphlstlcatlon to develop some of these lssues but even then there was no guarantee that thlS goal would be achleved. It should be noted that thlS lssue does ralse an lnterestlng problem, namely the extent to whlch lt lS posslble to lntegrate qualltatlve and quantltatlve materlal, a problem whlch lt lS hoped wlll be explored In a paper.

Nevertheless, although lt proved lmpractlcable to make the llnkage at the conceptual level, lt was posslble to lnclude In the questlonnalre ltems whlch related to and provlded lllumlnatlon of some of the lssues ralsed In the worklng papers (In particular Job satlsfactlon, factors In promotl0n and movement In teachlng). Followlng lnltlal constructlon and pllotlng the flnal questlonnalre covered the followlng flve maln areas.

7.

(1) Gel,era Z. Respondents were asked to provlde blographlcal

detalls and lnformatlon on thelr academlc background, work

experlence prlor to enterlng teachlng and any teachlng posts

they may have held prlor to thelr current post.

(2) Job satisfactwn A llst of twenty factors was provlded and

teachers were asked to rate each factor for satlsfactlon/

dlssatlsfactlon ln respect of the post they currently held.

(3) Movement 'Z-n teach'Lng. Teachers were asked to glve detalls of

perlods of absence from teachlng (over one term), horlzontal

movement l.e. movement from one post to another post at the same

level, vertlcal movement and to lndlcate what factors were

lmportant ln leavlng thelr prevlous post In teachlng (If appllcable).

In addltlon respondents were asked to lndlcate what factors they

consldered to be lmportant ln belng successful ln promotlon

and what factors ought to be lmportant.

(4) Appointment procedures A IlSt of eleven aspects of appolntment

procedures was provlded and teachers were asked to rate each as

satlsfactory/unsatlsfactory/nelther.

(5) Ca:reer prof'Z-le. Where approprlate, teachers were

requested to llSt SlX prevlous posts they had held In teachlng

prlor to thelr current post lndlcatlng level of post held, name

of school, emploYlng authorlty and length of tlme post held.

It was declded that the questlonnalre would be sent to a

sample of teachers drawn from the schools that had prevlously

been lnvolved In the qualltatlve stage. ThlS was for two

reasons. Flrstly, to sample teachers In all Scottlsh secondary

schools would have been too expenslve. Secondly, glven the

tlme constralnt wlthln whlch the survey was to be undertaken

lt was declded that lt would be qUlcker to use reglons and schools

that had already been contacted about the proJect and who had

agreed to partlclpate.

A letter was sent to each head teacher requestlng a IlSt

of teachers currently employed In the school lndlcatlng the

sex and level of post of each teacher as the sample was to be

stratlfled In accordance wlth both varlables. (The letter

was sent to the heads of all flfteen schools, wlth the

exceptlon of one school WhlCh was not lncluded as lt had

subsequently become heavlly lnvolved In another SCRE proJect) .

Thlrteen schools responded and a sampllng frame of 965 teachers

8 .

stratlfled by sex and grade of post was devlsed on the basl~ of the 11StS provlded. Comparlson between the resultlng sampllng frame and natl0nal flgures for the dlstrlbutlon of teachers by sex and grade of post showed that the proportlons were almost ldentlcal In each case and that therefore we could be reasonably confldent that on these varlables at least the teachers In these schools were broadly representatlve of the teachlng force. For the pllot stage of the survey the questlonnalre, largely precoded though lncludlng some open questlons also, was sent to 26 teachers chosen randomly from three of the schools, of WhlCh 19 were returned. An analysls of the data collected was then undertaken and some mlnor alteratlons made to the questlonnalre.

For the maln stage of the survey a random sample was then drawn uSlng a 1:3 sampllng ratlo, resultlng In 316 teachers belng selected for lncluslon In the survey. (Teachers who had prevlously been lntervlewed were excluded from the total flgures). A questlonnalre was then sent to each teacher lndlvldually at the school where he/she was employed. In all 220 teachers replled maklng the response rate 70%. The resultlng questlonnalres were subsequently analysed by computer uSlng the SPSS (Statlstlcal Package for the Soclal SClences) software system. The facllltles of the Edlnburgh Reglonal Computlng Centre were used for thlS purpose.

DATA LISTING

On the basls of data arlslng from the qual"rot"ve stage the followlng worklng papers have been produced.

(1) Teachers' perceptlons of careers (2) Teachers' preferences for posts (3) Organlslng careers (4) Securlng posts (5) Gettlng promoted (6) Interpretlng selectlon (7) Others and the teacher's career (8) Educatlonal stafflng, posts and selectlon procedures (9) Offlclal statlstlcs on teachers employed In secondary schools

~\

( 10)

(11 )

(12)

(13)

9.

ReV1ew of I1terature of careers

Career movement

Competence

Teach1ng and outs1de 11fe

(14 ) Work and the worth of a Job 1n teach1ng

(15 )

(16 )

Select10n processes and teachers' career strateg1es

T1me and tim1ng 1n careers

(17) Var1at1ons 1n teach1ng posts

(18 ) The management of teachers' careers

The above papers are 1n f1rst draft form. They are

descr1pt1ve/qua11tat1ve papers dea11ng w1th d1fferent tOP1CS

wh1ch emerged from the study and are based, w1th the except10n

of 9 and 10, on the analys1s of 1nterv1ew transcr1pts. The

maJor1ty of the papers are concerned w1th secondary school

teachers' perspect1ves on careers 1n teach1ng and are more or

less ent1rely focus sed on the1r concept10ns about work1ng

1n teach1ng and what a career 1n teach1ng 1nvolves. Two

papers 8 and 18, based on 1nterv1ews w1th off1c1als 1n

reg10nal educat10n author1t1es and sen10r staff 1n schools,

descr1be the s1tuat1on from the p01nt of V1ew of the employer.

Researchers w1sh1ng to consult the papers should apply to

M Corr1e, Scott1sh Counc1l for Research 1n Educat10n, g1v1ng

deta11s of proposed use.

Follow1ng an approach from the SSRC Survey Arch1ve 1t

has been agreed to depos1t data ar1s1ng from the quantitative

stage 1n the arch1ve. Th1s w1ll 1nclude a copy of the

quest1onna1re, samp11ng frame and other relevant deta1ls. It

1S hoped to arrange for th1s mater1al to be depos1ted when the

f1nal stages of analys1s and wr1t1ng up are completed. The

appropr1ate access category w1ll be determ1ned at that p01nt.

CURRENT POSITION

The pos1t1on at present 1S that we have a cons1derable amount

of mater1al 1n the form of the work1ng papers descr1bed earl1~r.

In add1t1on a f1rst draft of a report on

completed. The 1ntent10n 1S to prepare

the work1ng papers and the survey data.

a1med at an educat10nal readersh1p though

the survey 1S almost

a f1nal report based on

Such a report w1ll be

1t 1S hoped 1t w1ll be

of 1nterest to a w1der aud1ence also. For th1S purpose the

10.

central core of the report wlll comprlse a serles of chapters WhlCh wlll make extenslve use of the gualltatlve materlal, wlth reference to relevant survey data at approprlate pOlnts, In order to dlSCUSS In detall speclflc themes. These wlll lnclude career movement (ll), teach1ng and outslde 11fe(13), var1at10ns 1n teach1ng posts(17), t1me and t1m1ng(16), competence (12) , and the management of teachers' careers(l8). The report w1ll also lnclude an 1ntroduct10n Wh1Ch w111 dISCUSS the area and descr1be the study, mak1ng use of the survey data to prov1de a general context, and an overV1ew Wh1Ch w111 seek to 1dent1fy the ma1n substant1ve lssues and 1mpl1catlons, 1nclud1ng any ldeas for further research Wh1Ch may be suggested by the present work.

What we have 1n m1nd lS essent1ally a slm1lar exerC1se to that Wh1Ch was carr1ed management also funded by

out for the report on classroom I SSRC. As 1n the case of that

report what lS ch1efly 1nvolved lS the compress10n through JUd1C10US ed1t1ng and draft1ng of a cons1derable volume of materlal. It lS somewhat more complex th1S t1me because of the need to develop some of the mater1al conceptually. The immed1ate tasks are to reV1ew each of the ma1n papers 1nvolved and to spec1fy those aspects Wh1Ch appear to regu1re development. Some prel1m1nary notes have 1n fact been made towards th1s end. A further matter Wh1Ch w1l1 need some cons1derat10n lS the relat10nsh1p 1n the report between the gual1tat1ve and guant1tat1ve data. Generally speak1ng, the alm to 1ntegrated and coherent descr1pt10n of the f1nd1ngs

produce

and to

an

formulate more general conclUS1ons on th1S bas1s. It lS expected that part1clpants 1n the study w111 be asked to comment on 1n1t1al drafts and that th1S feedback w111 be used to further develop the report and plan d1ssem1nat10n on a w1der bas1s.

For these reasons 1t would be premature at th1S p01nt to attempt to 1nd1cate prec1sely what general conclus10ns w11I be drawn. However, 1n the course of prel1m1nary work 1n connect1on w1th the survey a summary was made of f1ve of the SlX work1ng papers Wh1Ch w11I form the main body of the planned report.

(1) M. Corr1e, J. Haystead and S. Zakluk1ew1cz, Classroom Management Strateg1-es, Rodder and Stoughton (to be publ1shed June 1982).

11.

The summary, wh1ch 1S attached here as Append1x A, can prov1de only a br1ef outl1ne of the contents but 1S useful 1n serv1ng to 1nd1cate someth1ng of the character of the f1nd1ngs and the k1nd of conc1us1ons that have been drawn at th1S stage. It w1ll be apprec1ated that the summary was or1g1nally prepared as an 1nternal document and that 1t 1S to a large extent 1n 'note' form. Th1S should not, however, detract unduly from 1tS usefulness for present purposes. A summary of the ma1n p01nts was also made of the f1nd1ngs of the survey and th1s 1S 1ncluded as Append1x B.

APPRAISAL OF ASPECTS OF THE QUALITATIVE ST~GE

Open-ended Inter"le"lng

ExtensIve use was made of open-ended Intervlewlng procedures wlth the alm of getting teachers to state thelr own perspectlves on Issues. Such Intervlewlng Involves a speclal way of proceedIng. As we have used It, we try to let the teacher talk about tOPICS he or she suggests, and to talk In thelr own natural language. The Intervlewer's task IS to let the teacher relax and feel able to ~ay anythlng at all wlthout antlclpating dlsapproval or dlsagreement, to malntaln a free-flowlng conversatlon pretty well llke any normal frlendly conversatlon, wlthout awkward pauses, or formal questIons WhlCh don't conform to the speclflc developlng character of the sltuatl0n. The Intervlewer's own part In the dlScussl0n IS elther to make supportlve and encouraglng remarks In order to achleve and malntaln the rlght atmosphere to permlt the respondent to say whatever he wants, or to Introduce new areas for dlScusslon, or to Introduce for further dlScusslon pOlnts v,hlCh the teacher has mentl0ned In the course of the conversatl0n up to that pOlnt. In order to do thlS effectlvely, the Intervlewer must llsten attentlvely to the teacher, both to show that he IS Interested In what the teacher has to say, and so that he can plck out Issues of Interest to dlSCUSS further when approprlate. The Intervlewer must keep track of the dlScusslon for the further reason that he can then refer back to the teacher havlng sald somethlng, and won't mlsguldedly ask about somethlng WhlCh has more or less been covered already, thus lettlng the teacher feel that the Intervlewer IS genulnely Interested In hlS Vlews rather than gOlng through the paces of admlnlsterlng a structured llSt of questlons.

ThlS 1S a demandIng sltuatlon for the 1ntervlewer. He has to work on two parallel llnes of attentl0n. He must follow and be Involved 1n the developing conversatl0n each moment - or as far as practlcable. But he must also be keep1ng note of a range of tOPICS WhlCh have been ra1sed and which he would llke to follow up. The 1ntervlewer has to be or1ented to two dlfferent spheres of real1ty, because the rev1ew1ng and keep1ng track of Issues has to proceed alongslde the ongo1ng conversatlon. And 1n glv1ng attentlon to that, the 1nterv1ewer has to keep In mlnd the

1 3

---) relevances of the research proJect's alms and lnterests. As well as actlng as a conversatlonallst, he has to act as a researcher. He has to reVlew the conversatlon, seeklng to establlsh whether anythlng sald lS relevant to any of the lnterests of the research, 1n WhlCh he has to do slgnlflcant lnterpretlve work In more or less analys1ng and codlng data on the spot. In seeln9 the research slgnlflcance of what lS sald he has to relate that to what other people have sald, and flnd slgnlflcance 1n partlcular comblnatlons of conversatlons.

ThlS lS very demandlng, and can be done wlth varylng degrees of effectlvenessand anythlng WhlCh can be done to ald the lntervlewer In th1S lS worth trYlng. We have used several dlfferent alds, the most lmportant of WhlCh lS the use of a good quaIl tape recorder to record the conversatlon. To regulre the lntervlewer to take notes of the conversatlon would not allow hlm to functlon at all well as an lntervlewer. Furthermore, tape recordlngs preserve far more adequately the preclse statements and natural language of the respondent, WhlCh can be essentlal for some types of detalled analysls, and lS useful In any case for all analyses. (It does lead to the problem of havlng maSSlve amounts of materlal to handle, but thlS lS unavoldable). The second useful ald lS a note pad, wlth WhlCh the lntervlewer can make brlef notes of pOlnts WhlCh have been ralsed WhlCh he would 11ke to follow up. By followlng a free flowlng conversatlonal style of d1Scuss1on, the talk can cover several relevant pOlnts In qU1ck succeSSlon, but the 1ntervlewer can In no way take these all up lmmedlately. ThlS would mean lnterruptlng the flow of talk, proceedlng as It naturally does by drlftlng from tOP1C lnto 11nked tOP1C, and Substltutlng for that the sltuatlon of an lntrudlng, controlllng lnterrogator, presentlng the teacher wlth a barrage of questlons whose relevance and lnterest to the respondent lS not clear. Note-taklng allows the lntervlewer to keep track of such pOlnts whlle devotlng attentl0n to the ongolng talk, and lets hlm lntroduce approprlate tOP1CS at appropriate pOlnts. Ideally, the conversat1on wlll naturally dr1ft onto an area of lnterest, or an area that can be transformed lnto one, so that pOlnts can be covered wlth mlnlmal dlrectlveness.

A further ald WhlCh we used In the careers study was the use of two lnterv1ewers when talklng to a slngle teacher. ThlS was somethlng we hadn't ser10usly consldered In prevlous work, but we

trled It and found It to be of enormous beneflt. Effectlvely It allows each lntervlewer some degree of resp1te from the demands of the dual role of researcher/analyst and 1nvolved conversatl0nallst . .. 'hen one 1ntervlewer lS talklng to the teacher, the other must stlll be attentlve, for the reasons mentl0ned above, but can devote more attentl0n to rev1ewlng what lS belng sa1d or what has been sald, • mak1ng notes and looklng over notes. The other who lS talklng wlll be able to be more fully lnvolved, wlthout havlng to face the event of the teacher flnlshlng talk1ng on a partlcular tOP1C, or set of tOP1CS, and leavlng the researcher to stop and grasp for someth1ng new to ra1se. The other 1ntervlewer should have somethlng ready to lntroduce. Because the other lntervlewer has not been so fully engaged and on the spot, as 1t were, he lS able to keep h1mself aware of Wh1Ch lssues can most appropr1ately be 1ntroduced wlth the least obtruslveness. In addlt10n, the two 1ntervlewers wlll ha,-,= to some extent d1fferent perspect1ves and contexts of knowledge wlth WhlCh to approach the new 1nforrnatl0n belng galned from the teacher. They w1ll be able to expand the llnes of quest10n1ng used, and the 1nterpretatl0ns of relevance made 1n relatlon to the new 1nformatl0n.

The use of verbat1m 1ntervlews as data

D1Scuss1ons of qual1tatlve research often tend to assume that a substant1al part of the data cons1sts of f1eld notes. A researcher stud1es a group of people gOlng about the1r normal act1v1t1es, observes the1r conduct and talks to them and wr1tes up th1S data 1n the form of f1eld notes. Usually 1t lS advlsed that br1ef notes be made when convenlent at the research slte, and these are expanded on later.

The part1cular advantage of such notes, 1n one respect, for research purposes, lS the1r relatlvely select1ve and condensed nature, plus the fact that they are on paper. ConsequentlY they can be rev1ewed as one proceeds w1th the research, and strateg1es of ongolng analys1s can be employed, perrn1tt1ng progress1ve focusslng dec1s10ns to be made. Also, the very select1v1ty wh1ch lS unavo1dable w1th notes alds analysis and focuss1ng Slnce the researcher lS forced 1n th1S d1rect10n by the method 1tself. Furthermore, the mater1al lS more read1ly analysed because 1n wrlt1ng them the researcher lS able to group mater1al together Wh1Ch bears on a common lssue. In other words the materlal can be glven

15

organIsatIon and structure rlght from the start.

In contrast, whlle there are clear advantages In tape recordlng Intervlews, as already noted, there are some dlsadvantages In terms of analysls. Tape-recorded Intervlews are Inaccesslble to the researcher wlthout extra work and a tlme delay. Tapes have really to be transcrlbed before they can be revlewed and analysed. The materlal IS not organlsed In the same prellmlnary way that fleld notes are. Instead, reference to slmllar Issues, even addltlonal dlScusslon of the same pOlnt, can be scattered over several dlfferent pages of a transcrlpt.

Consequently, It IS dlfflcult to systematlcally analyse Incomlng data when It conslsts of tape recorded Intervlews, wlth a view to progresslve focusslng. In our experlence, It IS almost essentlal to collect data 1n d1st1nct stages, wlth perlods in between devoted entlrely to transcrlpt10n and analysls.

Hard labour

A great deal of work of processlng and analys1ng open-ended Intervlew tapes 1S laborlous and tlme-consumlng and, 1t has to be adm1tted, at t1mes downr1ght bor1ng. The tapes have to be transcrlbed to start wlth, and typed to make the mater1al accesslble for analys1s, and thlS takes a cons1derable amount of t1me. We have 1n the past used audlo typ1StS to do transcr1pt1ons but we found It to be 1neff1c1ent. The researcher who conducted the 1nterv1ew 1S 1n the best poslt1on to make out accurately the content of the tape, whereas an aud10-tYP1st Inevltably mlstakes parts and can't make out other parts. Consequently the researcher has to go over the f1rst transcrlpt10n and reVlse It, check1ng 1t _ aga1nst the tape, before it 1S

If the researcher does the transcr1pt1on

retyped 1n ent1rety. by hand 1n the flrst

1nstance, th1S can then be typed and rev1sed only 1n respect of normal typographlcal correct1ons.

The actual analys1s 1S a complex and labor10us task. The data 1S spread 1n an unsystemat1c fash10n throughout numerous pages of transcr1pt. The researcher has to wade hlS way through all thlS mater1al each tlme he 1S pursu1ng the analys1s of a glven tOPIC. To explaln the process we can d1SCUSS here one way of d01ng such a qualltatlve analys1s. On the basls of h1S knowledge of the Interv1ew, wlth a contr1but1on from h1S own perspect1ves, the researcher decldes that the data w1ll permlt the dlScuss10n of a partlcular tOP1C, theme, or set of 1ssues, as an 1ndlv1dual

•

""' I 16.

pact of the analysls. He reads through each transcrlpt looklng for materlal havlng a bearlng on thlS plece of the work. "'hen he comes across a reference he makes a note of thlS on a sheet of paper - the qualltatlve equlvalent of a codlng sheet. He notes the locatlon of the reference, and brlefly states what the reference says, dOlng thls selectlvely so as to emphaslse the relevancp of the statement ln analytlcal terms. Once all the transcrlpts have been covered he goes through thlS codlng sheet (or sheets, as lS more common) and establlshes the overall slgnlflcance of the ldentlfled materlal. He develops a structure for the wrltten analysls; notes the conceptual relevance of lndlvldual references; lndlcates that references are to be treated together as bearlng on the same pOlnt; and so on. He then wrltes out thlS analysls, extractlng the relevant data as requlred for lllustratlon or substantlatlon of the pOlnts made.

As noted, thlS lS a complex and laborlous task. A great mass of materlal has to be gone through at flrst as the researcher ldentlfles relevant pOlnts, and he has to ascertaln the relevance of them at the s~~e time, although perhaps addlng to thlS once all the extracts are noted and can be looked at together. l-fuen he comes to wrlte the analysls he has to go back through the transcrlpts to copy out the references themselves as lllustratlons ln the text. One process lS the use

lmprovement that we have used to ald thlS of photocopYlng to provlde the extracts for

lllustratlons ln the text. Pages of transcrlpt are photocopled, cut as requlred, and pasted up ln the text - or more preclsely, stapled up. We trled ln addltlon, however, to lnvestlgate the use of computlng to handle the analysls, ln an attewpt to speed up the whole process. wl~h computers belng able to store text, we looked lnto the possiblllty of appllcatlons to our analysls. Also, the acqulsltlon by the SCRE of the faclllty to process text, enabllng text to be typed onto tape WhlCh could then be computer read, encouraged us to conslder the feaslblllty of thlS partlcular appllcatlon for our own work.

However, we found that there was llttle scope for useful computer appllcatlon the dlsadvantages outwelghlng the galns that mlght be made. It lS certalnly posslble to store the text on compu~er readable tape, WhlCh can then be prlnted out as a slngle lntervlew transcrlpt lf requlred. Such transcrlpts or a

17

vlsual dlsplay can be revlewed by the researcher to code lt lnto sections for partlcular parts of the analysls. The computer can then prlnt out uS a collectlon all the extracts coded In a glven way, and of course varl0US comblnatlons of codes. ThlS may be an advantage In the part of the

cuttlng down some laborlous extractlng work on researcher, bllt tpere are dlsadvantages.

of all, the prlntlng out of text lS ~ore expenslve than photocopYlng per page. If text lS revlewed as a vlsual dlsplay, one lS on-Ilne to the computer, and the tlme costs are hlgh. Slnce the codlng of materlal by the researcher lS probably the slowest part of the analysls process, the cost of dOlng lt on-Ilne would be prohlbltlve. Furthermore, there lS no speclal advantage In havlng the text stored and accesslble as prlnted out transcrlpts. Although a tYP1St can type up the text onto tape, such a transcrlpt would have to be checked on-Ilne agalnst the orlg1nal recordlng. Glven the extenslve correctlng normally requlred for a transcrlptlon done dlrectly by an audlo-tYFlst, thlS would be expenslve. Even lf the transcrlpt were typed on paper flrst lt would have to be checked agaln on-Ilne, and there would be no savlng on typlng tlme and costs as there would be lf one could avold typed transcrlptlon In favour of maklng a computer data flle on tape. lS slmply addlng an expenslve addltl0nal step.

In short, one

In any case, Slnce all that the computer does lS collect together Slmllar codes, the expense lnvolved does not ]ustlfy the beneflts. ThlS could be done manually wlth 11ttle dlfflculty. Admlttedly, the prlntlng out of the extracts In a set would be useful, but lt would seem a small advantage for the great cost of puttlng the text lnto a data flle.

One system avallable, developed by Mlke Samphler at the MRC Medlcal Socl0logy Unlt In Aberdeen, sounded promls1ng, but on further lnvestlgatl0n It turned out to be slmply a programme that can compl1e codes asslgned by the researcher, and glve a 11St of the locatl0ns of the data extracts WhlCh have a speclf~c code. Agaln, thlS can be done manually, Slnce It lS a relatlvely stralghtforward part of the work, although admlttedly tlme-consumlng. On the face of It a slmple programme could probably be devlsed In 'dO-lt-yourself' fashlon, wlth no real dlfflculty.

18

But the essent~al l~m~tat~on wh~ch proh~b~ts any extens~ve computer appl~cat~on to computer analys~s ~s the problem of mean~ng ~n text. W~thollt l~bour~ng the po~nt here, one cannot use computer read~ng to code and extract sect~ons of text ~n groups for analys~s because mean~ng ~n text, as ~n conversat~on, ~s not t~ed to spec~f~c lex~cal ~tems. For computer ~dent~f~cat~on of relevance ~n mater~al, the researcher would have to be extremely careful ~n the construct~on of '~nd~cators' for the programme to use, wh~ch would amount to a set of d~ct~onary or thesaurus entr~es, restr~cted to a def~n~te l~st~ng of lex~cal ~tems. Thus, ~t would be feas~ble to construct a computer cod~ng programme for extract~ng, say, all references to SALARY, by ~nclud~ng, for example, SALARIES, 110NEY, REMUNERATION, PAY, PAYl1ENT, CASH, RETURNS, and so on. Th~s would, of course, m~ss statements such as IT ISN'T WORTH IT or IT'S BETTER THAN THE BUILDING TRADE, or a whole host of other th~ngs, wh~ch m~ght be prec~sely the k~nd of thlng one ~s ~nterested ~n. There may be ways around some of these ways of tak~ng account of context, such as the quest~on

problems, asked pr~or to a part~cular response, as an obv~ous example, but one can be sure that because ~ean~ng ~n text ~s not t~ed ~n a r~g~d way to spec~f~c lex~cal 1tems and group~ngs, there w~ll be problems ~n such a system. A maJor problem w~ll be that ~n try~ng to cover the most l~kely synonyms or equ~valents for a g~ven lex1cal ~tem, one w~ll be extract~ng much mater~al that ~s redundant and 1rrelevant for the analyt~c purpose at hand. 1>Ioreover, the t~me requ~red to programme anyth~ng l1ke adequately for cod1ng would be too t~me-consum1ng and costly for the returns wh~ch the system would g~ve. It should be added that there 1S a fa~rly soph~st~cated system of th~s type ava1lable, known as the General Inqu~rer, but aga1n 1t 1S open to the problems d~scussed here.

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19.

APPENDIX A

Summary of f1nd1ngs from qual1tat1ve stage

Note: In the course of prel1m1nary work 1n connect10n w1th the survey a summary was made of f1ve of the S1X work1ng papers wh1ch w1ll form the ma1n body of a planned report for publ1cat10n. (See sect10n on current pos1t1on) . Th1s sumMary can prov1de only a br1ef outl1ne of the contents but 1S useful 1n serv1ng to 1nd1cate someth1ng of the character of the f1nd1ngs. Further work on the conceptual development of th1s mater1al w11l be undertaken 1n the course of draft preparat10n. It w1ll be apprec1ated that the Summary was or1g1nally prepared as an 1nternal document and that 1t 1S to a large extent 1n 'note' form.

Contents

Career movement 20

Teach1ng and outs1de l1fe 25

Var1at10ns 1n teach1ng posts 28

T1me and t1m1ng 34

Competence 37

20

CAREER }lOVENENT

Teachers' conceptlons of motlves for movement are complex, multl-faceted constructs der1ved from a varlety of relevant aspects of the1r exper1ence of careers. Pr1nc1pal character1st1cs of mot1ves and preferences can be tYP1f1ed 1nto: personal mot1vat1on, profess1onal mot1vat1on and work-related mot1vat1on. Essent1ally th1S scheme lS a heur1st1c means of h1ghl1ght1ng d1fferences rather than mutually exclus1ve categor1es.

Personal mot1vat1on

Wh1le the bas1s of personal mot1vat1on lS rooted 1n an understand1ng of the exper1ence of others, 1t lS largely expressed 1n a personal frame of reference. Teachers' accounts of movement make reference to a need or des1re to move out of the1r current c1rcumstances: 1) a des1re for change 1n a general1sed sense even though the Job 1n 1tself may be seen as sat1sfactory. 2) a des1re for challenge where the 1nd1v1dual feels he/she has exhausted the potent1al of a part1cular post. Th1S can also be assoc1ated w1th the profess1onal ethos 1n that 1t lS seen as detr1mental to adequate teach1ng 1f the 1nd1v1dual has become 'stale' .

ObV1ously these des1res for change and challenge do not apply to all teachers at all t1mes and further reference lS made to th1S 1n cons1der1ng career t1metables. Profess1onal mot1vat1on

Some teachers 1n the1r accounts of the1r career movement stress factors Wh1Ch have a more predom1nantly profess1onal character e.g. benef1c1al effects of susta1ned st1mulat1on and keenness for the1r work assoc1ated w1th movement. (Note overlap w1th personal mot1vat1on).

Profess1onal mot1ves may also be seen 1n 'tact1cal movement', for example a hor1zontal move as a means of secur1ng a promoted post. Such movement 1S seen as develop1ng knowledge, sk1lls and exper1ence and thus 1ncreas1ng chances of promot1on.

21. .-\

It should be noted that reference to profess~onal mot~ves may be used by teachers to ~ncrease the cred~b~l~ty of a part~cular move.

Work-related mot~vat~on

Those aspects of teachers' mot~ves for movement wh~ch are outs~de the realm of the largely work-based personal and profess~onal mot~ves. 2'hese aspects ~nclude f~nance I geo9raph~cal locat~on, fam~ly.

Where such cons~derat~ons are suff~c~ently strong, both personal and profess~onal mot~ves may be ef lesser s~9n~f~cance ~n teachers' reason~n9 of the~r career movement.

Apply~ng perspect~ves on mot~vat~on to one's own career s~tuat~on Movement ~n teach~ng ~s seen as normal and reasonable.

Teachers have expectat~ons of promot~on and many take up extra dut~es to ~mprove the~r chances.

If promot~on ~s not forthcom~ng then the poss~b~l~ty of reduc~ng effort presents ~tself.

"The way ~nd~v~duals make sense of the~r own movement ~s l~kely to ~nclude an understand~ng of the act~ons, mot~ves and exper~ences of other teachers. S~m~larly an understand~ng of others ~s l~kely to der~ve cons~derably from the~r own act~ons, mot~ves and exper~ence, ~t ~s ~n th~s sense that teachers' careers should be understood as essent~ally soc~al rather than purely ~nd~v~dual psycholog~st~c phenomena".

Th~s can be seen ~n the pressures teachers exper~ence to ach~eve promot~on - "people expect to move up" (fr~ends and colleagues). Ind~v~dual teachers' accounts of own movement emphas~ze qual~ty of work exper~enee and returns of a g~ yen post- V1-J"tue of movement. But when cons~der~ng movement of other teachers th~s becomes general~zed ~nto an ideoZogy of movement. (Th~s d~st~nct~on could be fru~tfully developed).

Excess~ve movement

Although movement ~s perce~ved as normal w~th~n the profess~on there ~s d~sapproval of excess~ve movement, an over eagerness to ach~eve promot~on.

LL.

E~cess~ve mob~l~ty ~s assoclated wlth an apparent lack of competence (see paper on Competence).

From percept~ons of excess~ve movement then we may ~nfer that there ~s a not~on of a reasonable and Just rate of movement w~th~n teach~ng.

Account~ng for lack of movement

Lack of movement as dev~at~on from the normal rate of mob~l~ty. Teachers ~nterpret th~s lack ~n two ways:

1) movement (promot~on) ~s assoc~ated w~th competence, hence teachers who do not move are seen as undersell~ng themselves. 2) non-movement ~s assoc~ated w~th narrow outlook, a tendency to settle for th~ngs.

Some teachers v~ew the profess~on as a type of work wh~ch ~ay lead to a narrow outlook (teacher ~solated ~n the classroom). Such teachers emphas~ze the ~mportance of prev~ous work outs~de teach~ng and hav~ng fr~ends who are not teachers. It ~s from th~s perspect~ve of the 'broad approach' to teach~ng that teachers who rema~n stat~c are v~ewed ~n a d~sparag~ng l~ght. Lack of movement may also be v~ewed as an aspect of a 'career t~metable' . Thus, there may be a d~scern~ble pattern of change ~n the ~nd~v~duals' v~ews, espec~ally w~th reference to promot~on, and the not~on that there are stages ~n careers e.g. young teachers may see promot~on as ~nappropr~ate because ~t ~s 'too early' to apply, older teachers may feel ~t ~s 'too late' for promot~on ~f they are about to ret~re.

F~nally some teachers may curta~l movement because they are sat~sf~ed w~th the~r present post although ~t should be noted that th~s does not preclude a poss~ble 'sour~ng' effect, where they know they w~ll not get promoted and have stopped apply~ng. The d~fferent uses of the var~ous mot~ves

1) Movement ~s seen by teachers to be assoc~ated w~th challeng~ng work wh~ch ~s ~tself assoc~ated w~th not~ons of competence. 2) However, as has been seen, teachers' v~ews and accounts vary cons~derably. Thus teachers may assoc~ate profess~onal des~rab~l~ty w~th d~st~nctly d~fferent patterns of movement.

13 -~

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3) Professlonal conslderatlons are e~pressed 1n aSSOClatlon wlth other preferences and 1n speclf1c cases these other factors may be more slgnlflcant.

4) An example of the varlat10~ posslble can be seen 1n the issue of non-movement. By and large 1t lS seen as undeslrable and lead1ng to stagnatlon, yet one teacher emphas1sed the value of cont1nu1ty and stab1llty, adopt1ng a dynamlc att1tude to h1S stat1c sltuat10n ("flnd1ng new ways of putt1ng th1ngs across"). (EXPAND professlonal result of non-movement cont1nulty and stab1l1ty, flexlb1l1ty and co-operat1on 1n work1ng arrangements). 5) Teachers' accounts of career movement refer to not1ons of what lS 'reasonable' and 'normal' w1th1n the profess1on. Ind1v1dual var1at1ons occur as the result of the slgn1f1cance attached to any 1tem of personal, profess1onal or work-related mot1vat1on 1n account1ng for movement.

6) Var1at1on w1ll also occur for spec1f1c groups of teachers e.g. slngle teachers marr1ed teachers female teachers male teachers rural teachers

urban teachers

Teachers 1n rural areas

Teachers 1n 1solated rural areas descr1be the1r careers 1n qU1te d1st1nct1ve ways when compared w1th those 1n more densely populated areas.

They assume that they are llkely to rema1n 1n the1r respect1ve areas, glven that the number of schools 1n that local1ty w1ll be few, and perce1ve that the1r opportun1t1es for movement w1ll be relat1vely restr1cted.

Such non-movement may be due to a number of factors e.g. lack of opportun1t1es that are ava1lable, strong des1re to llve and teach 1n a rural area, attract10n of home area, f1nanc1al ga1n outs1de teach1ng.

The concerns to Wh1Ch rural teachers refer are primar1ly 'work­related' and llttle reference 1S glven to the 'profess1onal' 1mpl1cat1ons of the sltuat1on.

24

In the same way that 'movement' 1S not per se a reflect10n of a good profess10nal or1entat1on even where 1t 1S 'normal' pract1ce. the same can be sa1d about the 'norma11ty' of 'non-movement' and the assOC1ated 1mportance of work-related concerns.

25

T£ACHING AND OU1SIDE LIFE

1) School Ilfe as 'carrYlng over' (home-work, prlvacy, health) 2) Merg1ng of school and outs1de Ilfe (football, summer trlps,

soclallz1ng)

3) School Ilfe as fac1l1tator (lncome, farm1ng, hobby)

4) Neutral or normal co-ex1stence (T and 0 L percelved as unremarkable, T as a Job)

5) Outslde Ilfe as compensator (even1ng classes, farm1ng)

6) Outslde Ilfe as 'carrY1ng over' (subJect cho1ce; Gaellc, drama: as non-comm1tment)

7) Soc1o-geograph1c area

Ts express preferences for rural or urban areas. Importance of home area - famlly, f1nance, fam1l1ar1ty (espec1ally f1rst appo1ntment). Preference for home area may lead to movement w1th1n local posts.

Pr1mary factor 1S not geograph1cal but soctal characterlstlcs of local areas.

8) Marrlage and chlldren or prospect of marr1age and ch1ldren

Affects flnance and commltment to speclflc area. Fam1ly cons1deratlons make Ts more conSClOUS of future, plannlng ahead. Increased lmportance of home ownershlp; encourage promotlon.

9) Marrled woman teacher

also may

TYPlcally, seen as free to glve up comm1trnents, 'open' career (famlly factor) Dependence on two lncomes - marrled woman teacher contlnulng/short maternlty leave. Movement out of T. to have chlldren, movement In aga1n for extra money. Marrled woman teacher qUlte dlstlnct ('open' career) due to fam1ly commltment. Importance of husband's career In relnforc1ng open career structure.

2G

10) Tlme-related aspects

MarrIed woman teacher may leave T. early or at a gIven level. Early eXlt - lIttle knowledge of appoIntment system.

- relatlvely few contacts In T. - dIffIculty In returnlng to preferred post. - possIbIlIty of re-entry vIa supply teachIng.

Upon re-enterIng T. the marrled woman teacher wlll stIll fInd famlly commItments affect her career (low level posts and slower rate of promotlon due to famIly commItments)

Late eXIt - preference for two wages. woman's sense of free tune. IntentIon to conSIder leavIng at certaIn level.

11) SIngle woman teacher

SIngle woman teacher tYPIcally has to assert her commItments and ambItIons to a much greater extent than the sIngle man.

explIcIt dependence on salary. less freedom to leave work If she doesn't lIke It.

no cIrcumstances to facIlItate reasonable departure.

pOSSIbIlIty of lookIng after parents. perceIved lack of opportunItIes.

12) SIngle man teacher

fInancIal co~mltments not so pressIng. pOSSIbIlIty of deferrIng a 'career' altogether. less emphasIs on stabIlIty, commItment to speCIfIC area. Ideal notIon of freedom and flexIbIlIty.

These factors may be mlnlmJsed by prospect of future marItal/famIly CO~~IL~ents. POSSIbly of tendency to 'make do', lack of commItment.

L /

13) Marrled man teacher

emphaS1S on a concern for faml1y responslbl11tles In conslderlng promotIon. pursUlt of promotlon seen In flnanclal terms of supportlng faJT'11y. lack of pursult of promotlon may also be assoclated wlth concern for faml1y, e.g. concern for own chl1dren's educatlon.

l4} Processes of ~nfluerce

Three processes are dlstLngulshed. l} In teachers accounts of thelr career

actlons reference ~s made to the followlng factors -chl1drens' educatl0n houslng

hobbles 2) Actlve lnterventl0n by Slgnlflcant others

spouse

other teachers non-nuclear famlly

3) Background framework (teachers' assumptl0ns) especlally lmportant for marrled women and thelr 'open' career structure. general observatl0n by teachers that they are undervalued In soclal and economlC terms.

-, 28

VARIATIONS IN TEACHING POSTS

There are s~x posts

- teacher, assIstant prInc~pal tearher (APT), pr~ncIpal teacher (PT), ass~stant head teacher (AHT) , deput head-teacher (DHT) , head teacher (HT).

From T's po~nt of v~ew posts have d~fferent features, e.g. may be affected by school SItuatIon, polIcIes of LA, VIeNS of PT and HT log~st~cs of t~metabl~ng.

Further, T's l~ke to know deta~ls of spec~f~c work s~tuat~ons but th~s often cannot be found out TO a sat~sfactory oegree. Most Importantly, ~nd~vIdual T can often dec~de on what work s~tuat~on w~ll consIst of (thIS done eIther on the bas~s of antonomy or by ne~otJatIon).

Broad character~st~cs of teach~ng posts

SubJect work

- classroom work, preparat~on, mark~ng pup~ls work - d~stInct~on between academ~c and non-academIc - post of comb~ned subJect posts (teach~ng 2

subJects).

Adm~nlstrat~ve work

Promoted posts

- ARTs/HTs all ~nvolve admInlstrat~ve work. - PT per each subJect dept., responsIble for

organlsat~on of dept. - APT has responslb~l~ty for certa~n

organ~satlonal tasks.

PT runs dept., order~ng egu~pment etc. - development of courses

allocat~on of teachers' t~metable

negotlat~ng w~th other departments/central adm~n~strat~on over resources and tImetabl~ng

APT - rem~t determ~ned more or less by PT ART - respons~ble for aspects of overall school

admlnlstrat~on e.g. curr~culum espec~ally t~metabl~ng, admlnlstrat~on and leIsure.

29

DHT - handles most of the day to day adm1n1strat10n - only tEaches 1n emergency

HT - no formal requ1rement to teach, though can do - ch1ef respons1b111ty pol1cy-mak1ng - negot1at10n w1th LA

"The d1fferent k1nds of respons1b111t1es of the d1fferent type of posts provlde for a d1fferent k1nd of or1entat10n to the school on the part of the teacher". (p16 of paper).

Adm1n1strat1ve act1v1ty can be seen to be almost zero for non-promoted Ts.

But for PT management and organ1sat10nal respons1b111ty for dept. matters lS of great s1gn1f1cance. Also note personnel management - encourag1ng/d1sc1pl1n1ng staff.

ART - a further Sh1ft 1n organ1satl0nal 1nvolvement WhlCh changes the character of the work 1nvolved

GU1dance work

- concerned w1th pup1ls behav10ur, attendance, lack of progress, subJect ch01ce and career cholce.

- appl1es to APT, PT, ART - at APT, PT level respons1b111ty comb1ned w1th

subJect teach1ng - ART level 1nd1v1dual responslble for the

organ1sat1on and co-ord1natlon of all gU1dance work throughout school.

- lack of defln1t10n as to what constltutes gU1dance (comment by one teacher)

- poss1bly seen as hav1ng low value (one teacher suggests that each 1nd1v1dual teacher should be concerned wlth gU1dance)

- Extra-heavy workload assoc1ated w1th gU1dance, a ser10US proble~

Var1at1ons 1n workload

- can be due to subJect taught, e.g. correct1on h1gh 1n Eng11sh, low 1n Maths

- teachers who teach two subJects (espec1ally exam ser t1ng, marklng, be1ng answerable to two heads of departments)

- gUIdance work can place heavy workload ( teachers

- admInIstratIon work Increases workload In some cases (one vIew IS that PTs lose teachIng perIods but get more admlnlstratlor work, cancellIng out: AHT saId that hIs wor) IS now greater than before, suggestIon that ART should have no teachIng to do, but fewer ARTs) •

VarIatIons In forms of employment - usually a full tIme post based on a specIfIc

school

- part-tIme teachIng In MUSIC, PhysIcal EducatIon and Home EconomIcs also l~ small schools (Borders, HIghlands and Islands)

- contractual employed teachers by regIon are sometImes used as supply teachers

VarIatIons assocIated wIth the school - some schools have a certaIn character, e.g.

'bad' area, dIffIcult pupIls whIch can affect the experIence of teachIng.

- rural teachers may be InclIned to reJect notIon of teachIng In a large, urban school.

- physIcal nature of school may affect teachIng, cramped space.

- sIze of school may affect experIence as admInIstrator; I too bIg to be manageable or a challenge.

The ethos of the school

- IndIVIdual school may have a partIcular ethos or Ideology (usually through Headteacher) to whIch some Ts wlJI be attracted or wIll feel Ill-suIted. e.g. chIld-centred teachers as opposed to subject centred.

- communIty schools requIre much greater commItment In some Instances.

- catholIc school.

-j Varlatl0ns due to general pollcles

- natlonal POllCY may change, e.g. Green Paper, The Slructure of Promoted Posts.

- varlatlons due to currlculum pollcles e g. Munn and Dunnlng.

Flexlbl1lty In th~ nature of posts

Formal speclflcatl0ns for posts (teachlng and admlnlstratlon) are very broad - no clear speclflcatl0n of what preclse work a post ental1s.

These are worked out wlthln the school and between colleagues e.g. "PT In thlS school has a lot of autonomy".

Remlts may change accordlng to needs of the school. Asslstant Heads may be organlsed In dlfferent ways. Horlzontal (responslbl1ltles for dlfferent years e.g. 1-3) or vertlcal (responslbl1ltles related to a speclflc area for all years e.g. currlculum) .

"They're all done dlfferently to some extent ... I certalnly dldn't reallze exactly what the Job lnvolved when I applled for It, or when I got the Job even, I suppose. That's probably very common". (p.41)

Range of classes a teacher gets depends on the type of department and also how falrmlnded class allocatl0n lS.

" ... a great deal of the varlatlon In the character of posts comes from the Vlews of the decls10n-makers wlthln the school admlnlstratlon, and the Vlews held by lndlvlduals who occupy each post, and the way In WhlCh lndlVlduals at each level negotlate and attempt to lnfluence the character of the work that posts do. Every post allows the postholder some degree of autonomy to make hlS post to some extent what he wants lt to be". (p. 42).

Influence and autonomy

Many aspects of teachers' work are declded as part of overall school POllCY e.g. general educatl0nal phllosophy adhered to, a method of lnternal assessment, a method of wrltlng reports for parents, a tlmetable.

, Tlmetable sets out teachers worklng In a detalled manner.

\ 1. Central declslon makln9: HT most lnfluentlal flgure,

though DHT and AHTs may also be lnvolved elther lnformally or Vla BOard of Stud1es.

HT most 1nfluentlal but constralned by natlonal POl1Cy and accomrr,odatlon (to vary1ng extents) to views of others 1n the staff. In addltlon HTs must delegate much of thelr responslblllty to AHTs. HT however may restrlct P~Ts to relatlvely routlne aspects of admlnlstrat10n as opposed to a dec1slon mak1ng functlon. HT usually lnherlt staff and have to go slowly to make changes (accommodat10n). Other HTs may be In a posltlon to appolnt at a senlor level and Obv10usly thlS glves them a great deal of 1nfluence In the ethos of the school.

In general the ma1n process w1thln Wh1Ch HT "domlnate" the school 1S one tYPlfled by negot1at10n and accommodat10n.

2. Departmental lnfluence: PTs have a cons1derable degree of autonomy and thus have conslderable 1nfluence over the nature of Ts work, e.g. PTs may dec1de on the allocatlon of lnd1v1dual tlmetables to members of hlS department, coverlng absences (teachers' slck etc.)

PTs to some extent may reorganlse teachlng w1thln thelr department (not '0' grade or 'H' courses). However they are stlll subJect to constralnt from above l.e. HT, ARTs and the process of negotlatlon and accomrnodatlon.

3. Indlv1dual autonomy: Ts Vlews are taken 1nto account at departmental level of deC1S10n maklng to some extent.

Ts have some ablllty to determlne the spec1flc character of hlS work (the way they do the1r work klnd of workload they take on etc.)

HT may teach although formally there 1S no necesslty to do so. A slm1lar sltuatlon may apply for ARTs who have only partlal T component may teach more than they actually have to or in some cases less.

Indlvldual1ty of work

Deta1led work of a post 1S speclfled almost entlrely at school level. Some aspects are declded by HTs others by PTs but each T constructs the flnal spec1flcat10n of hls/her work sltuat10n 1n the sense of mak1ng the post the way they want It.

33

In terms of pursulng a career advertlsed posts are then lacklng ln speclflclty and Ts cannot defIne the precIse nature of the Job. Ts do seek to fInd out about the educatlonal Ideology promoted by HT, kInd of catchment area etc. "Ts are led to sImply focus on movIng to any post of the next offIcIally desIgnated type ... they have to concentrate on makIng the post the way they want It once they are appoInted, rather than pIckIng a post that IS ready made to SUIt theIr preferences and Interests".

34

THiE AND TIMING

T1me

T1m1ng -

T1me & -

t1m1ng

prov1des a means for maK1ng sence of apparently random/ad hoc perce1ved opportun1t1es and preferenc

a sense of t1me, t1m1ng const1tutes an 1mportant basl~ for teachers understand1ngs of career 1n a broader sen~

a prlnc1ple around wh1ch potent1ally d1verse phenomena can be organ1sed.

In a glven temporal context reference 1S made by teachers to personal concept1ons and also occupat10nal perspect1ves.

As a general rule teachers w1ll try and estab11sh a mutually support1ve congruence between what 1S expected 1n both general (occupat10nal) and spec1f1c (personal) senses. Th1s 1S an 1nteractlve process ln wh1ch cred1b1l1ty and appropr1ateness are 1mportant factors 1n maK1ng dec1s10ns.

Short term changes 1n trends 1n career opportun1t1es affect the conceptua11satl0n of hls/her career but not 1n a fundamental way. A sense of t1me and t1m1ng 1S an 1mportant context w1th1n wh1ch teachers make sense of such not1ons as 'ach1evement', 'matur1ty' and 'normal' patterns of movement.

Age probably the most fundamental of teachers attempts to make sense of careers 1n a temporal context. e11g1b1l1ty and preparedness for promot1on w1th reference to a not10n of what 1S 'normal' and 'appropr1ate' for a g1ven age. connect1on between age and promot1on der1ved,ch1efly from an occupat10nal V1ew wh1ch 1n turn focusses on what 1S 'normal' pract1ce.

Var1at1ons 1n 1nterpretat10ns

Although role of others and 1dea of normal1ty are 1mportant teachers' accounts of part1cular s1tuat10ns/act10ns tend to be personal.

"Nevertheless, once the teacher has taken such a reference the opt10n st1ll rema1ns open to refer to others, perhaps conf11ct1ng courses of act10n when applY1ng a more genera11sed V1ew of careers. Th1s k1nd of apparent paradox has been eV1dent throughout our account of teachers careers and may be regarded as somewhat fundamental to teachers V1ews of th1ngs".

35

Varlatlon In lnterpretatlon due to lsolatlng one factor e g. age. Thus age lS not slmply a slngle "packet", It lncludes the notlon of competence concomltant wlth a glven age.

Exper1ence

Ts assumpt10n that there 15 an 1mportant relat10nsh1p between t1me and experlence (f1nd1ng out what teach1ng lS all about).

Paper dlst1ngu1shes two types of exper1ence.

1) stralghtforward cumulat1ve process (deta11ed work1ng knowledge of teach1ng).

2) developmental process (act1vely lnvolv1ng teachers).

(Note (2) tends to support not1on that 'narrowness', lack of dynamlsm 15 looked at In an unfavourable llght).

(Note also and related to above the observat1on that durat10n 1n a partlcular post was not seen as 1n 1tself sufflc1ent to qual1fy for promot1on).

Gettlnq exper1enced (related to developmental 1n above note)

A) means of 'qual1fY1ng' oneself for promot10n. B) poss1ble bas1s of mot1vat10n to get on.

Spec1al exper1ence

Experlence Wh1Ch would not normally ar1se e.g. sett1ng up department led to one teacher becom1ng more 1nterested In adm1n1strat1on. on ch1ldren.

Experlence

e.g. women as mothers - led to new perspect1ve

Can lead to a reassessment of career perspect1ves

A) strateg1c reorlentat10n. B) rad1cal redef1n1tlon.

Ach1evement

- depends on percept10ns of development and experlence. - related to challenge (exper1ence exhausts challenge). - prov1des profess1onally-condoned grounds for seek1ng dlfferent

career locatlons. - poss1ble bas1s for susta1ned cornm1tment (d1fferent challenges).

_ u

- closely llnked w~th Ts conceptlons of eAperlence and development. - as an express~on of personal development (rather than occupatlonal) - prlmar~ly pr~vate nature reflectlng lndlvlduals personal

understandlng of themselves.

Quallfy~ng tl.me

ThlS can be def~ned as that promot~on becomes feasl.ble. closely related to teachers' maturl.ty and achl.evement.

perl.od of tl.me spent teachl.ng before The feaslb~l~ty of promotlon l.S

perceptl.ons of age, experl.ence, There ~s l~able to be some var~at~on

between teachers l.n how they relate the~r exper~ences to thel.r career prospects. Thus some teachers are ll.kely to defl.ne themselves as el~g~ble for promot~on rely~ng on the~r self-concept based on thel.r l.nd~v~dual exper~ences. Other may actually not cons~der apply~ng for promot~on unt~l they cons~der the progress of thel.r colleagues.

Wal.tl.ng tl.me

Once a teacher becomes aware that he/she has fulf~lled the normal prerequl.s~tes to Justl.f~ably seek promot~on we may cons~der the gap that ex~sts between then and actually ga~n~ng promotl.on. In general terms teachers assume that wa~t~ng t~me w~ll cover a relat~vely long span of tl.me, encompassl.ng more than one ~nterv~ew. However, ~t should be noted that some teachers do expect promotion as an almost automat~c process as long as they are competent ~n thel.r Job.

Note:

s~gnl.fl.cance of structure of career opportunl.t~es e.g. eas~er promot~on for, say, Physl.cS teachers than those of Engl~sh. Thl.s can be exper~enced as frustratl.ng 1.e. as 1nterference w1th normal t1metable. Impl1es that 1nformal structur~ng 1S more 1mportant than structural constra1nts on career opportun~t1es

T1me and movement

In mak1ng sense of the~r percept10ns and act10ns teachers refer to two d1fferent, but not mutually exclus1ve, pr1nc1ples.

1) progressiv'Lst - emphas1s on structure of posts and assoc1ated w1th a t1me threshold for promot1on.

2) evoZutwnist/ad hoc - emphas1s on part1cular character~st~cs of work w~th reference to a partl.cular preference for certa1n types of work and work sl.tuatl.on.

37

CO~lPETENCE THE TEACHER's PERSONAL I\lORTH

Careers and self-concepts

Teachers' perspect~ves on career movement are not ent~rely preferences and a~ms relat~ng to the rewards of promot~on or of the var~ous d~fferent k~nds of posts avallable ~n teach~ng.

Teachers also concerned w~th the soc~al stand~ng of themselves and others, about the~r personal worth In the eyes of the group of colleagues w~th whom they work.

Career progress lS used by teachers to assess thelr own worth and the worth of the~r colleagues.

Not~ons of self-concept - tYPlcally used In a psycholog~cal sense In career stud~es - emphasls on self-percept~on, nature of dlfferent Jobs, compat~blllty of one w~th the other.

These are not the klnd of phenomena we are d~scusslng, but rather: - lmportance of type of post held - success or fa~lure one has In career

progress, In soc~al terms, as soc~ally avallable lnformatlon whlch others use to form conceptlon of lnd~vldual.

The teacher's worth: dOlng a good Job

Competence, the not~on of dOlng a good Job, lS cruclal In teachers' evaluatlon of themselves and others. Such evaluatlon lS based on: 1) a teacher's career actlvltles 2) a teacher's ongolng work In a glven post

Teachers are concerned that the Job should be done effectlvely and those who do not teach In an adequate fashlon are regarded wlth dlsapproval by thelr colleagues.

Classroom teach~ng

The most baslc assessment of a teacher's competence lS In respect of hls classroom teachlng. Thls remalns true, even at the hlgher levels of post whlch are concerned wlth adm~nlstrat~on. The components of good classroom teach~ng are:

1) adequate knowledge of subJect - know~ng your subJect, baslc ground~ng lS essentlal.

38

. I

- eAperlence of teachlng full range of courses to all ages.

- note problem of teachers who teach subJects they are not quaIl fled for.

2) handllng dlsclpllne adequately - fallure to malntaln dlsclpllne regarded wlth dlsapproval.

3) commltment and lnterest - taklng on extra work. - developlng your knowledge by

gOlng on In-serVlce courses.

Assesslng teachers

Teachers assess each other on the basls of these elements 1.e. adequate knowledge, dlsclpllne and commltment. However, lt must be noted that such assessments are dlfflcult as teachers' work takes place In the lsolatlon of the classroom. A teacher's performance may be lnferred by the observatl0ns of other teachers e.g. a very nOlsy class, complalnts from parents, etc.

One of the most common ways of assesslng a teacher lS In terms of examlnatlon results as these are the most readlly avallable eVldence.

Self-assessment

Teachers' assessment of thelr own competence may also be based on examlnatlon results. Of course the chlef means of self-assessment lS feedback from the dally experlence of teachlng In the classroom; how puplls are learnlng and developlng, how good d1sclpl1ne 1S and how adequate the teacher's knowledge 1S for hls/her work tasks. Assesslng teachers 1n posts of respons1b11lty

Promoted posts - respons1b111ty for work of other teachers at lower level.

- largely posts of manager1al/adrn1n1strat1ve respons1b111ty lnvolves formal control over other people's efforts.

Nay be 11ttle control In practlce and ach1evement or fallure 1S perce1ved by person hold1ng post and others as a measure of competence.

Classroom teacher's standlng based d1rectly on h1s/her own ach1evements wh1le promoted post-holder's stand1ng 1S largely

39.

based on achlcvements of others.

Competence and promotlon

There lS a wldespread bellef among teachers that competence lS

necessary for promotlon.

Many teachers belleve that competence lS, or ought to be, the

maln crlterlon In selectlon for promotlon.

There lS also a feellng that when teachers apply for promotlon

thelr motlvatlon should be based on competence l.e. teachers

should seek the post b~cause they belleve they can do the Job well.

Teachers see Lompetence as a maJor crlterlon In promotlon, not

only In thelr own eyes, but also In the eyes of the selector~.

For example, lmportance of teachlng ablllty (not Just quallflcatlons);

knowledge approprlate to one's teachlng and thls

knowledge belng developed through experlence.

Some teachers suggested that In-serVlce courses could provlde a

means to develop competence.

The teachers' worth: career success

Many teachers see competence as necessary for promotlon and by

lmpllcatlon, teachers expect that someone who has been promoted

wlll be competent (If further factors do not lntervene: see paper).

Thus teachers ~ssess thelr own and other peoples' competence on

the eVldence of thelr success and fallure In securlng posts.

However, such a process lS not clearcut as competent teacher~ may

not apply for promotlon or, on the other hand, promoted teachers

may not be seen uS competent.

Attltudes to sclectlon processes

It has been argued that teachers belleve that competence lS the

prlme conslderatlon. If the competence of promoted teachers

lS doubted by thelr colleagues this wlll, In turn, undermlne the

teachers' conceptlon of the selectlcn process as one whlch lS

rellable and reasonable.

The development of cynlclsm

The baslc view of teachers stresses consclentlousness, ablllty and

lnterest In dOlng a good Job. Thls may be ldentlfled as a

nalve/ldeallstlc Vlew, In contrast to a more cynlcal approach.

40

The Cy~lC2l v~ew conslsts of:

- adoptlon of a strateglc approach to promotlon.

- emphasls on elements apart from competence.

- development by teache~s of certaln appearances and

lmpresslons about themselves and others.

- focus on what has to be done to lnfluence other

peoples' dec1s10ns and oplnlons.

- emphas1s on the Jmportance of the OplnJOn of head teacher

and head of department.

Career as strategy

Teachers exh1b1t two contrast1ng att1tudes to promotlon and

advancement, the na1ve/1deallst1c perspect1ve and the cynlcal V1ew.

The latter tYP1f1es career progress as "someth1ng to be pursued,

competed for and won through the use of tact1cs des1gned purely to

1nfluence the persons and processes 1nvolved 1n maK1n~ select10ns

for promot1on".

It 1S lmportant however to understand that these two contrast1ng

V1ews are not d1ametr1cally opposed, but are always comb1ned in

some vay 1n the th1nk1ng of any glven teacher. Thus, those who

subscr1be to the na1ve V1ew w1ll apprec1ate the need to make the1r

achlevements known to others and to be seen as competent.

Conversely glven the w1despread acceptance amongst teachers of

the model of what the "good teacher" should be, "the competence­

based 1dea of career progress 1S one that most teachers feel

obl1ged to adopt 1n order to account for the1r act1v1t1es".

It 1S wlth1n th1S context that a self-1nterested pursu1t of

promot1on 1S seen as soc1ally unacceptable.

41

APPENDIX B

Summary of f~nd~ngs from quant~tatlve stage

Note: Th~s append~x ~ummarlses the ma~n po~nts ar~s~ng from

the analyses that were undertaken of the survey data. In

add~t~on where appropr~ate some ~nd~cat~on ~s g~ven of the

l~nkage between the work~ng papers and the survey data ~n

certa~n spec~f~c areas. It ~s based on the report on the

quant~tat~ve stage whlch ~s currently ~n draft preparat~on

(see sect~on on current pos~t~on).

Contents

Pathways ~nto teach~ng 42

Career prof~les 45

Job sat~sfact~on 49

Promot~on 54

Non-promot~onal movement In teach~ng 59

PATHI1AYS INTO TEACHING

Teachers were asked to glVe detal1s of thelr flrst degree, thelr second degree (where approprlate) and thelr teacher tralnlng quallflcatl0n. In addltlon they were also asked to provlde lnformatl0n regardlng any work experlence (but not casual, part-tlme or vacatlon work) they may have had prlor tb enterlng teachlng. On the basls of thlS data lt was posslble to construct a serles of pathways WhlCh descrlbed the dlfferent routes that lndlvlduals had taken prl0r to enterlng school as a teacher.

Pathway 1 (57% of the sample; 126 teachers)

The most conunon route lnto teachlng was the "dlrect path" by WhlCh the lndlvldual moved from unlverslty/college of flrst degree (or from second degree unlverslty/college In a mlnorlty of cases) dlrectly to teacher tralnlng and from there dlrectly to flrst teachlng post. Those who entered teachlng Vla thlS route had a contlnuous academlc career and had no experlence of full-tlme work.

Pathway 2 (18% of the sample, 39 teachers)

These lndlvlduals entered teachlng Vla a pathway that lS very slml1ar to that outllned above In that there were no lnterruptlons as they moved from unlverslty/college to teacher tralnlng college to flrst post, but they all had at least one year's experlence of full tlme employment. Of these teachers 77% had spent at least two years In such employment.

Pathway 3 (10% of the sample. 21 teachers)

There were twenty-one teachers who, havlng completed thelr degree studles, dld not enter teacher tralnlng college dlrectly. Of these teachers 76% had some experlence of full-tlme employment and 62% had been employed for two or more years.

43

Pathway 4 (5t of the sample, 12 teachers)

These teachers moved from un1vers1ty/college d1rectly to teacher tra1n1ng college but d1d not move d1rectly to the1r f1rst post 1n teach1ng. 75% of these teachers had some exper1ence of full-t1me employment and 58% had been employed for more than two years.

The four pathways out11ned above account for the entry of 198 teachers (90% of the sample) 1nto the1r f1rst post 1n teach1ng. The rema1n1ng twenty-two teachers could not be located 1n any of these four categor1es for two reasons. F1rstly, because of 1nsuff1c1ent 1nformat10n the maJor1ty of these teachers could not be categor1sed. However, there were seven teachers who were not placed because they d1d not "f1t" the common pattern wh1ch underp1ns the four pathways, 1e un1vers1ty/college to teacher tra1n1ng college to f1rst post. These seven teachers entered teacher tra1n1ng college after they had been teach1ng 1n schools.

The most common route 1nto teach1ng (used by 57% of the sample), as has been shown, 1S Pathway 1, the "d1rect path" w1th no full-tLme work exper1ence and no 1nterrupt10n between entry to un1vers1ty/college and tak1ng up f1rst post 1n teach1ng. Clearly, th1s tends to support the stereo-type often employed both 1ns1de and outs1de teach1ng, that teachers have 11ttle or no work exper1ence and the assoc1at1on of th1s lack of exper1ence w1th what has been 1dent1f1ed as a "narrow outlook" (see Work1ng Papers: Career Movement). However 1t should be equally clear that a cons1derable number of teachers (33% of the sample) used an alternat1ve route and that, most s1gn1ficantly 1n the context of the "narrow outlook", many of them have had full-t1me employ­ment pr10r to the1r f1rst post 1n teach1ng.

Of the n1nety-four teachers who d1d not take the non­terrupted "d1rect path", seventy-s1x (33% of the sample) had had full-t1me work exper1ence and seventy of these gave deta1ls of the length of t1rne and type of work they undertook. On the

· \ 44.

bas1s of th1s 1nformat10n 1t was calculated that of all teachers

in the sample 15% had between two to f1ve years work exper1ence

and that 9% had been 1n full-t1me work for longer than S1X years.

F1nally, of these seventy teachers 30% had been employed 1n

1ndustry, 24% 1n H M Forces, 18% 1n commerce, 14% 1n c1v11 serv1ce/

local author1ty and 13% stated the1r employment was 1n some other

area.

CAREER PROFILES

Teachers were asked to glve detal1s, where approprlate, of any posts In teachlng they may have held prl0r to thelr current appo1ntment. Informatl0n ~las obtalned of the number and locallty of prevlous posts and, In addltlon, flgures were calculated concernlng the number of years In teachlng pr10r to taklng up current level of post. Teachers were d1vlded lnto three groups for the purposes of analysls: non-promoted teachers, low-promoted teachers (asslstant prlnclpal and prlnc1pal teachers) and flnally hlgh-promoted teachers (asslstant head, deputy head and head teachers). Not unexpectedly such an analys1s was relat1vely frultless for probatlonary teachers although 1t should be noted that of the nlneteen teachers concerned three had made a horlzontal move durlng the1r probatlonary perl0d.

Non-promoted teachers (N=95) Of these teachers 15% had spent at least one year teach1ng outslde Scotland, 24% had taught ln two or more Scottlsh reg1ons, 13% had taught 1n two or more schools 1n the same reg10n and 37% had taught In the1r current school only (12% were not classlfled due to 1nsuff1c1ent informat10n). In all 51% had held more than one teach1ng post and 31% had held three or more posts. Thus any assumpt10n that the ma)Or1ty of these teachers would only have exper1ence of one teach1ng post can be seen to be erroneous. Of all teachers who had engaged 1n some k1nd of movement 86% had made a hor1zontal sh1ft whl1e the remaln1ng 14% were downwardly mobl1e. In addltl0n 1t was found that 9% of non-promoted had spent more than 16 years 1n teachlng and that all these teachers had made at least two hor1zontal moves 1n the1r careers.

On the bas1s of th1S 1nformat10n three 1mportant observat1ons may be made concern1ng the movement of non-promoted teachers w1th1n teach1ng. F1rst, a cons1derable number, over half, have engaged 1n some form of movement.

of a hor1zontal nature.

Second, th1S movement Thlrd, the frequency of

1S prlmar11y

th1S type of of teachers.

movement 1S substantlal for a slgn1f1cant number

46

Low-promoted teachers (N=86) There were 86 asslstant pr1nclpal and pr1nc1pal teachers 1n the survey and the geograph1cal breakdown of Lhe1r work exper1ence 1S glven In Table 1 below.

Table 1 Low-promoted teachers by locat10n of work experlence In teachlng

Asslstant Locatl0n Prlnclpal Teachers Prlnclpal Teachers

(N=35) (N=51)

% %

Outs1de Scotland 8 12 Scotland 29 27 Reglon 29 25 School 11 20 Not classlfled due to lnsufflclent lnformatl0n 23 16

Not surprls1ngly, there are fewer low-promoted teachers compared to the non-promoted teachers In the school of orlgln, i.e. the school where a teacher took up hls/her flrst post. The eVldence lndlcates that the maJorlty of teachers secure promoted posts outwlth the school of orlgln. Nevertheless lt should be noted that one flfth of prlnclpal teachers have reached thelr current posltl0n wlthln the same school.

The varlatlon In the number of posts low-promoted teachers had held prl0r to taklng up thelr current level of post can be seen In Table 2. Over one quarter of asslstant prlnclpal teachers had only held one prevl0us post but or more posts (the actual flgure 1S of these teachers had made at least

more teachers had held two 31%). Th1S means that 31% bne hor1zontal move 1n

the1r career (as can be seen from the table downwardly moblle teachers have been treated as a separate category). A slm11ar but somewhat weaker trend was eV1dent for pr1nc1pal teachers of whom 26% had held three or more apPo1ntments pr10r to taklng up thelr current level of post which means that these teachers had made at least one horlzontal move.

47

Table 2 Low-promoted teachers by number of posts held prlor to taklng up current level of post

Asslstant Number of posts Prlnclpal Teachers Prlnclpal Teachers (N=35) (N=51)

% %

1 26 27 2 8 27 3 17 14 4

8 5 3 2 6 3 2

Downward vertlcal movement 14 6 Not classlfled due to lnsufflclent data 29 14

Before leavlng Table 2 lt lS necessary to mentl0n one unexpected flndlng, namely that 27% of prlnclpal teachers had only held one post prl0r to appolntment at thelr current level of post. It was antlclpated that teachers would move from a non-promoted post to asslstant prlnclpal and then to prlnclpal teacher but these teachers dld not conform to thlS pattern. One explanatl0n may be that when the new structure of posts was lntroduced some teachers wlth proven abl1lty may have moved dlrectly from the non-promoted level to prlnclpal teacher but most of these teachers were appolnted after lmplementatl0n. An alternatlve explanatl0n could have been that these were teachers of subJects wlth staff shortages but lt lS, at the moment, lmposslble to glve an adequate account wlthout further close analysls of these cases.

Hlgh-promoted teachers (N=20) There were four head teachers In the survey and all had teachlng experlence In more than one regl0n. (In fact three had taught In four dlfferent reglons ln the course of thelr career). The number of years ln teachlng prl0r to current level of post varled from thlrteen to twenty-four and the number of posts held lncludlng present post varled from four to SlX. It lS lnterestlng to note that each teacher had to move out of the reglon of hlS prevlous post to take up hlS headshlp

-, \

wh~ch ~s 1n contrast to the trend of ~ntra-reglon promot~on

wh~ch ~s ev~dent at the deputy head and ass~stant head level.

However, ~t ~s obv~ous that on the bas~s of 50 few cases no

strong conclus~ons can be establ~shed.

Of the four deputy head teachers all had teach~ng exper~ence

~n more than one reg~on, the number of years ~n teach~ng pr~or

to current level of post var~ed from th~rteen to twenty-two and

the number of posts held ~nclud~ng present post var~ed from

three to seven. But the most ~nterest~ng f~nd1ng, although l~ke

the 1nformat10n on head teachers the number of cases 15 small,

was that three of these four teachers were promoted to the~r

current pos~t~on from a post w~th1n the same school.

A s~m~lar f1nd1ng was eV1dent for the twelve ass1stant

head teachers, seven of whom had been promoted from a post w1th1n

the1r current school. Of all ass~stant head teachers three had

spent the1r ent~re teach~ng career 1n the same school, four had

always stayed 1n the same reg~on but had moved between schools,

two had teach1ng exper1ence ~n more than one reg10n and two had

taught outs~de Scotland. (One teacher suppl1ed ~nsuff~c~ent

1nformat10n to be class~f1ed). The number of posts 1nclud~ng

present post var~ed from two to f~ve wh~le the var~at10n 1n

years of teach1ng pr~or to current level of post was between

eleven and twenty-seven years.

JOB SATISFACTION

Teachers were asked to ~nd~cate the degree of sat~sfact~ol d~ssat~sfact~on that they felt regard~ng var~ous aspects of theJr career and the work ~nvolved ~n the posts they currently held. A l~st of twenty ~tems was prov~ded ~n the quest~onna1re cover1ng a w1de range of factors assoc1ated w1th a career 1n teach1ng and respondents were asked whether they found each factors to be sat1sfy~ng, d~ssat1sfY1ng or ne1ther sat1sfy~ng nor d~ssat1sfY1ng. In add1t10n, teachers were 1nv~ted to express the1r fee11ngs on the1r overall apprec1at10n of the1r current post. An analys1s of the data produced the follow~ng f1nd1ngs.

All teachers (N=220)

1) The ma]Or1ty of teachers (75%) expressed overall w1th the1r current post.

sat1sfact1on

2) The f1ve most satisfY1-ng factors ~n teach1ng (1n rank order) were relat10nsh1ps w~th cOlleagues (93%), staff-pup11 relat1onsh1ps (90%), actual teach1ng 1n classroom (88%), ho11days (87%), and hours of work (85%).

3) The f1ve most d1-ssatisfying factors 1n teach1ng (1n rank order) were status of profess1on 1n soc1ety (57%), t1me allocated for preparat10n and mark1ng (39%), pay (33%), opportun1ty to develop profess1onal knowledge (32%), and recogn1t1on of work well done (32%) .

Male and female teachers (Male N=121, Female N=99)

1) The ma]Or1ty of both male and female teachers were overall sat1sf1ed w1th the1r current post although the latter expressed a s11ghtly h1gher level of sat1sfact1on (79% as compared to 73%) .

2) Both groups agreed on what were the f1ve most satisfying factors 1n teach1ng but aga1n more women than men expressed sat~sfact10n w1th each 1tem: relat1onsh1ps w~th colleagues (96% compared to 89%), staff-pup11 relat1onsh1ps (88% compared to 92%), ho11days (89% compared to 84%), actual teach1ng 1n the classroom (94% compan=d to 84%), hours of work (88% compared to 82%).

so.

3) Both women and men agreed that status of profess~on ~n soc~ety was the s~ngle Most ~mportant d,. rahs[Y7.ng factor (54% for the former and 61% for the latter) and there was cons~derable d~ssat~sfact~on w~th t~me allocated for preparat~on and mark~ng (38% for women and 39% for men). In add~t1on both groups were dissat~sf1ed w~th recogn~t1on of work well done (30% for women and 33% for men). However, there were some d~st1nct d~fferences between the two groups. More men than women expressed d~ssat~sfact~on w1th promot~on prospects (34% compared to 26%) and, most notably, w1th pay (41% compared to 21%). At the same t~me women expressed more d~ssat1sfact~on than men w~th opportun~ty to develop profess~onal knowledge (37% compared to 31%) and w~th teach~ng mater~als (36% compared to 28%).

Level of post

Teachers were d1v~ded 1nto four groups accord~ng to level of post held: probat~onary teachers, non-promoted teachers, low-promoted teachers (ass~stant pr~nc~pal and pr1nc1pal teachers), h1gh­promoted teachers (ass1stant head, deputy head and head teachers). 1) Probat10nary teachers expressed the h~ghest level of ol!eraZl sat1sfact~on w~th 90% v~ew~ng the~r current post as sat~sfy~ng be~ng closely followed by h~gh-promoted teachers of whom 88% were sat~sf~ed. 74% of lOW-promoted teachers and 72% of non-promoted teachers expressed overall sat~sfact~on w~th current post.

2) The f~ve these groups

J"lost sat7.sfying factors ~n teachl.ng ~s gl.ven l.n Table 1 follow~ng.

for each of

51

Table 1 F~ve most sat~sfy~ng factors ~n teachIng by level of pu

PROBATIONARY TEA CH I.: RS N=19 NON-PRO~lOTED TEACHERS N=95

% % Factor sat~s- Factor sat~s-f~ed f~ed

l. Relat~onsh~ps w~th l. Relat~onsh~ps w~th colleagues 95 colleagues 97 Hol~days 95 2. Staff-pup~l

2. Hours of work 90 relat~onsh~ps 94 Sense of personal 3. Actual teach~ng ~n ach~evement 90 classroom 92

3. Actual teach~ng 4 . Hol~days 88 ~n

classroom 89 Hours of work 88

LOW-PROMOTED TEACHERS N=90 HIGH-PROMOTED TEACHERS N=16

% % Factor sat~s- Factor sat~s-f~ed f~ed

l. Actual teach~ng ~n 1. Hours of work 94 classroom 90 2. Adm~n~strat~ve content 2. Relat~onsh~ps w~th of post 88 colleagues 89

Hol~days 88 3. Staff-pup~l relat~on-Staff-pup~l relat~on-sh~ps 88 sh~ps 88 4 . Hol~days 83

3. Relat~onsh~ps w~th 5. Hours of work 79 colleagues 87

Although there was some var~at~on ~n the rank order wh~ch each group allocated to some ~tems ~t can be clearly seen that there was a cons~derable degree of consensus as to what can be called 'core' factors wh~ch were v~ewed as sat~sfy~ng. Relat~onsh~ps w~th colleagues, hours of work and hol~days were all placed ~n the top £~ve. In add~t~on staff-pup~l relat~onsh~ps were ment~oned by all groups except promoted teachers and s~m~larly actual teach~ng ~n the classroom was ment~oned by all groups except h~gh-promoted teachers. There are two var~at~ons that may be observed from the table. F~rstly, probat~onary teachers expressed a h~gh degree of sat~sfaction w~th sense of personal ach~evement and secondly, h~gh-promoted teachers ranked adm1n~strat~ve content of post Jo~nt second ~n the~r est~mat~on of most sat~sfy~ng factors.

52

3) The fl.ve most d1-['[;ahsfY1-"g factors l.n teachIng are gl.ven l.n the

table below and these fl.ndl.ngs l.ndIcate that the hl.ghest level of

dl.ssatl.sfactl.on was eypressed by non-promoted and low-promoted groups.

Table 2 Fl.ve most dl.ssatl.sfYl.ng factors l.n teachl.ng by level of post

PROBATIONARY TEACHERS N=19

% Factor dl.ssat-

l.sfl.ed

1. Pay 37

2. Tl.me allocated for preparatl.on and markl.ng 32

Consultatl.on between staff and head teacher 32

Status of professl.on l.n socl.ety 32

Teachl.ng materl.als 32

LOW-PROMOTED TEACHERS N=90

Factor

1. Status of professl.on l.n socl.ety

2. Tl.me allocated for preparatl.on and markl.ng

3. Recognl.tl.on of work well done

4. Pay

Opportunl.ty to develop professl.onal knowledge

% dl.ssat-l.sfl.ed

65

40

32

31

31

NON-PRmIOTED TEACHERS N=95

% Factor dl.ssat-

l.sfl.ed

1. Status of professl.on l.n socl.ety 58

2. Promotl.on prospects 43

3. Tl.me allocated for preparatl.on and markl.ng 41

Opportunl.ty to obtal.n further quall.fl.catl.ons 41

4. Consultatl.on between staff and head teacher 40

HIGH-PROMOTED TEACHERS N=16

% Factor dl.ssat-

l.sfl.ed

1. Status of professl.on l.n socl.ety 44

Opportunl.ty to develop professl.onal knowledge 44

2. Tl.me allocated for preparatl.on and markl.ng 31

3. Promotl.on prospects 25

Recognl.tl.on of work well done 25

Whereas there had been a consl.derable degree of consensus over what

were satl.sfactory factors l.n teachl.ng the pl.cture that emerges from

fl.ndl.ngs relatl.ng to factors of dl.ssatl.sfactl.on l.S one of much wl.der

varl.atl.on between dl.fferent levels of post.

, ~_atus of profcsslon and lIme allocatcd for preparatIon and

markIng were IdentIfIed by each group as a source of

dIssatIsfactIon (although these Items were gIven dIfferent rank

order POSItIons by dIfferent groups). However, pay was IdentIfIed

as one of the top fIve most dIssatIsfYIng factors only by

probatIonary and low-promoted teachers and the emphaSIS gIven to

thIS factor by the former, who placed It at the top of theIr

lISt, should be noted. ProbatIonary and non-promoted teachers

expressed dIssatIsfactIon WIth consultatIon between staff and

head teacher and non-promoted and hIgh-promoted teachers were

dIssatIsfIed WIth promotIon prospects. Low-promoted and hIgh

promoted teachers expressed dIssatIsfactIon WIth recognItIon of

work well done and opportunIty to develop profeSSIonal knowledge.

S4

rRO~lOTION

A l~st of twenty-s~x factors wh~ch were ~dent~f~ed as

be~ng ~nfluent~al ~n promot~on was drawn up on the bas~s of

some of the ~ssues ra~sed ~n the work~ng papers. In add~t~on

reference was also made to other surveys wh~ch had been

undertaken ~n the area of careers ~n teach~ng most notably

H~lsum and Start(l) and Bradley and S~lverleaf(2).

Teachers were requlred to select three factors that they

cons~dered are the most ~mportant ~n belng successful ~n promot~ons

and three factors that ought to be the most 1mportant and ~t ~s

on the bas1s of these cho~ces that the tables below were constructed.

1. General: All teachers Of the twenty SlX factors that could

have been chosen as be1ng most 1mportant 1n promot~on there were

only three that were not selected (be1ng a woman, hav1ng taken

matern1ty leave and be1ng older than 40) and fourteen factors

were chosen by 10% or more of the sample. In add~t~on, only one

factor was selected by more than a quarter of teachers (subJect

staff-shortage, 26%). On the bas~s of these observat~ons lt

may be concluded that there ~s no h~gh degree of consensus

amongst teachers as to what factors are cruc1al 1n promot~on.

It 1S 1nterest1ng to note that there was a much h1gher level of

agreement over factors that ought to be 1mportant.

Teach1ng 1n a subJect 1n wh~ch there 1S a staff shortage was

v1ewed as the most 1mportant factor (see Table 1) and 1t underl1nes

an ObV10US, but very 1mportant, fact cruc~al to any career structure

namely that all promot10n 1S essent~ally dependent on ava11ab~11ty

of posts and that 1n teach~ng, subJect staff-shortages have 1mportant

consequences for those who teach such subJects.

(1) Hl1sum, S. and Start, K.B (1974) Promotton and Careers tn Teaching· NFER Publ1shlng Company.

(2) Bradley, J. and Sdverleaf (1979) Making the Grade Ca:t'eers tn Further Educatton, NFER Publ1shlng Company.

55

Table 1 Most ~mportant factors ~n be~ng successful ~n promot~on:

All teachers N=220

Factor

Teach~ng ~n a subJect ~n wh~ch there ~s a staff shortage

Adm~n~strat~ve ab~l~ty

Fam~l~ar~ty w~th new ~deas ~n teach~ng

Be~ng known to selectors

Good relat~onsh~p w~th head teacher

% choos~ng

factor

26

24

24

23

21

The four rema~n~ng factors ~n Table 1 can be d~v~ded ~nto

two groups, those relat~ng to the expert~se or knowledge of an

~nd~v~dual teacher (adm~n~strat~ve ab~l~ty and fam~l~ar~ty w~th

new ~deas ~n teach~ng)and those concerned w~th f~gures of ~nfluence

~n promot~on (be~ng known to selectors and good relat~onsh~p w~th

head teacher, and the~r prom~nence as factors ~n promot~on

clar~f~es some of the propos~t~ons that were formulated ~n the

work~ng papers.

It has been noted that teachers assess themselves ch~efly

on the bas~s of the~r classroom teach~ng and ~t ~s w~th reference

to th~s that teachers ach~eve some not~on of personal competence.

(see Work~ng Paper: Competence). Competence ~s also a maJor

factor ~n dec~d~ng on the 'appropr~ateness' of apply~ng for

promot~on but th~s ~s not strongly reflected ~n the results ~n

the table above. If teachers place a h~gh value on competence

~n classroom teach~ng then teach~ng ab~l~ty would be expected to

f~gure prom~nently as an ~mportant factor but th~s factor d~d not

appear ~n the top f~ve and was selected by less than a f~fth of

the sample.

However as was stated ~n the paper on competence teachers

refer to two d~fferent perspect~ves ~n cons~der~ng promot~on, the

~deal~st~c or~entat~on, that classroom teach~ng ~s and ought to

be the maJor determ~n~ng factor ~n be~ng successful ~n promot~on

and, at the other end of the cont~num, the cyn~cal or~entat~on

wh~ch emphas~ses strategy, the development of certa~n appearances

and attract~ng the attent~on of ~nfluent~al f~gures.

56.

Teachlng ablllty lt can therefore be argued may well b,

looked upon as a necessary condltlon, In a prescrlptlve sen~L

to applylng for promotlon but lts relatlvely low placlng may l

sald to be due to the low strateglc value lt may afford to

teachers who feel they have to 'convlnce' selectors and referee~

of thelr ellglblllty. Teachlng takes place In the lsolatlon of

the classroom and glven thlS context teachers, desplte the value

they attrlbute to teachlng ablllty, estlmate that other factors

are more lmportant.

As was lndlcated above factors In Table 1 can be dlvlded lnto

two dlfferent groups, characterlstlcs of lndlVldual teacher and

relatlonshlps wlth lnfluentlal flgures. It can be seen that

famlllarlty wlth new ldeas In teachlng and admlnlstratlve ablllty

were both hlghly placed and lt can be argued that thlS supports

the ldea of an ldeallstlc orlentatlon as they focus attentlon

on the teacher's competence. Certalnly they were both hlghly

placed as factors that ought to be lmportant ln promotlon.

Slmllarly the hlgh placlng of belng known to selectors and good

relatlonshlp wlth head teacher tends to hlghllght the awareness

that teachers have of the lmportance of flgures of lnfluence

on promotlon.

Factors that ought to be lmportant In promotlon As was already

stated there was a much hlgher level of agreement among teachers

as to what factors ought to be lmportant In promotlon. Teachlng

ablllty was seen as the most lmportant factor by almost two

thlrds of the sample and such strong agreement underllnes the

value teacher attrlbute to lt (see Table 2). ThlS stands In

sharp contrast to the 18% of teachers who felt lt actually was

an lmportant lnfluence on promotlon and thlS dlsparlty can be

seen, to some extent, to conflrrn teachers' strategles awareness

of what are lnfluentlal factors.

57.

Table 2 Factors that ought to be lmportant In belng

successful In promotlon: All teachers N=220

Factor %

choosl.ng factor

1. Teachl.ng ablllty

2. Concern for pupll welfare

3. Admlnlstratlve ablllty

4. Good relatlons wlth staff

5. Famlllarlty wlth new ldeas In teachl.ng

64

46

44

22

21

Male and female teachers There was substantlal agreement between

men and women wl.th regard to whlch factors were selected by both

groups (teachl.ng In a subJect In whlch there lS a staff shortage,

faml.ll.arlty wlth new ldeas l.n teachlng, admlnlstratlve abl.llty

and belng known to selectors) . More men than women emphaslsed

the relatlonshl.p wlth head teacher whl.le more women than men

consldered teachlng ablllty lmportant but l.t cannot be clalmed

that these dlfferentl.als (7% l.n the former case and 6% l.n the

latter) constl.tute a sl.gnl.fl.cantly dl.fferent attl.tude towards

l.nfluentl.al factors l.n promotl.on.

A s~l.lar consensus preval.led for factors that ought to be

l.mportant l.n promotl.on both groups selectlng teachl.ng ablll.ty,

concern for pupl.l welfare and adrnlnl.stratl.ve abl.llty as the top

three but 23% more women than men rated teachl.ng ablll.ty as

l.mportant. Female teachers l.ncluded farnl.ll.arl.ty wl.th new l.deas

l.n teaching and length of teachlng experl.ence (the dl.fferentl.al

between the two groups bel.ng 3% and 4% respectl.vely) whl.le male

teachers selected good relatl.ons wl.th staff and mal.ntal.nl.ng

classroom dl.scl.pll.ne (the dl.fferentlals bel.ng 6% and 5%

respectl.vely).

On the basl.s of thl.s eVl.dence, then, l.t l.S clear that there

were no substantl.al dl.fferences between men and women l.n thel.r

perceptl.on el.ther of what were l.mportant factors l.n promotl.on or

what ought to be.

, Level of post Non-promoted leachers and those at the low-promoted

level (ass1slant pr1nc1pal and prlnclpal teachers) 1ncluded the

same factors 1n thelr top [lve (teachlng In a subJect 1n Wh1Ch there

1S a staff-shortage, be1ng known to selectors, fam1l1ar1ty w1th

new 1deas 1n teach1ng, good relat1onsh1p with head-teacher and

soc1al contacts w1th 1nfluent1al people). Two observat1ons can be

made concern1ng th1S select1on. F1rst, three of these factors

relate to f1gures of 1nfluence 1nd1cat1ng a d1st1nctly strateg1c

approach by these teachers. Second, the non-1nclus1on of

adm1n1strat1ve ab1l1ty Wh1Ch was h1ghly placed by teachers

overall (see table 2).

In contrast to these two groups probat1onary teachers

emphas1sed factors relat1ng to personal attr1butes. Adm1n1strat1ve

ab1l1ty was seen as the slngle most 1mportant factor 1n promot1on,

be1ng chosen by over half of these teachers, wh1le teach1ng ab1l1ty

was placed second. But factors of a more strateg1c nature were

also h1ghly placed (be1ng known to selectors and teach1ng 1n a

subJect staff shortage). However, 1t must be observed that

probat1onary teachers have d1st1nct1vely d1fferent V1ews from

non-promoted and low-promoted teachers as to what 1S 1mportant

1n promot1on.

H1gh-promoted teachers (ass1stant head, deputy head and

head teachers) not unexpectedly, Slnce 1t reflected the content

of much of the1r work 1n teach1ng, selected adm1n1strat1ve ab1l1ty

as the most 1mportant factor. They also selected fam1l1ar1ty

w1th new 1deas 1n teach1ng, teach1ng 1n a subJect 1n Wh1Ch there

1S a staff shortage and exper1ence 1n a w1de var1ety of schools

be1ng the only group to glve such a h1gh place to th1S latter

factor.

All groups were 1n substant1al agreement as to what factors

ought to be 1mportant (teach1ng ab1l1ty, concern for pup1I welfare,

adm1n1strat1ve ab1l1ty and good relat10ns w1th staff).

Probat1onary teachers 1ncluded length of teach1ng exper1ence,

non-promoted and h1gh-promoted 1ncluded fam1l1ar1ty w1th new 1deas

and low-promoted stressed the 1mportance that should be attached

to ma1nta1n1ng classroom d1sc1pl1ne.

-J N')N-PRmIOTIONAL ~lOVEI'lEI\T IN TEACHING

In conslderlng a career In teachlng there 1S a tendency

to focus on movement In an upwardly dlrectl0n through a serles

of hlerarchlal posts wlthln the teachlng professl0n but there

are other types of movement WhlCh are slgnlflcant for some

teachers In thelr career and wlthln thlS sectl0n horlzontal

movement and absence from teachlng wl11 be dlscussed.

Horlzontal movement Horlzontal movement, movement from one

post to another at the same level, may be undertaken for a

varlety of reasons, e.g. to prevent 'golng stale' 1n a

partlcular post. Such a move prov1des a new teachlng

enVlronment and new colleagues. It may also be undertaken

as a tact1cal movement to lncrease chances of promotlon through

developlng sk1l1s and broadenlng exper1ence and the new school

may provlde opportunlt1es for 1ntra-school promotl0n (see

Worklng Paper: Career Movement).

Of the twenty teachers 1n the high promoted group (asslstant

head, deputy head and head teachers) 60% had made at least one

hor1zontal move at some stage 1n the1r career (three of these

were female teachers whl1e the remaln1ng n1ne were male).

There was no clear pattern as to the level of post at WhlCh such

a move was made, almost half of these teachers mak1ng the move

at the non-promoted level. For the remalnder th1S was at the

level of pr1nclpal teacher, except for one case where an

asslstant head teacher moved to another post at the same level.

Twenty e1ght per cent of lOUJ-promoted teachers (asslstant

pr1nc1pal and prlnc1pal teacher: N=85) had made at least one

horlzontal move. In over two-thlrds of these cases the move

was made at the non-promoted level wh11e for the remainder th1S

Occurred at the level of prlnc1pal teacher. Ten of these

teachers were female and fourteen were male.

There was a relat1vely h1gh proport10n of horlzontal movers

1n the non-promoted group (N=95) 44% hav1ng moved In a horlzontal

dlrect10n. Of these teachers 19% had moved w1thln the flrst

f1ve years of teach1ng and any lndlv1dual who had been a non­

promoted teacher longer than 15 years had made at least one

horlzontal move. The eVldence here suggests two dlfferent

approaches to such movement. Flrst, at an early stage 1n

GO.

leachlng horlzontal movement may be seen as developlng Skllls

and experlence and thlS may be partlcularly 1mportant for new

teachers who are concerned w1th promot1on. Second, hor1zontal

movement may have a d1stlnctlve slgnlflcance for teachers who

are not concerned wlth promotlon or who percelve that the1r

chances of promot1on are poor.

It should also be noted that of all non-promoted teachers

41% were male and 59% were female but women teachers are over­

represented 1n the group who have made a hor1zontal Sh1ft

(67% were female compared to 33% be1ng male) . Th1S may to

some extent be a reflectlon of the d1st1nct1ve role that women

teachers have as teacher-mother, teacher-w1fe or teacher-moth er­

w1fe but such a propos1t1on certa1nly demands further 1nvest1gat1on.

The eV1dence presented above 1S a clear 1nd1cation of a

cons1derable level of hor1zontal movement w1thln teach1ng. Of

all the teachers 1n the sample 37% had undertaken a hor1zontal

move at some stage 1n the1r career and these f1nd1ngs 111ustrate

the danger of conce1v1ng of movement 1n teach1ng purely 1n

promotlonal terms.

Absence from teach1ng Of all the teachers 1n the sample 20%

(N=45) had been absent from teach1ng for a per10d of one term or

longer. Teachers gave a var1ety of reasons for leav1ng 1nclud1ng

marrlage, spouse/fam1ly movement to another area, d1ssat1sfact1on

w1th a part1cular post or w1th teach1ng at the t1me of leav1ng,

111 health and care of dependants, but the percentage of teachers

referrlng to anyone of these factors was never more than

4%. The most common factor quoted for leav1ng teach1ng was

b1rth of a Ch1ld, the reason glven by 53% of those teachers and

1t should be noted that female teachers const1tuted 86% of all

those 1n the sample who had left teach1ng but Slnce returned.

It was also found that 22% of absent teachers had left teach1ng

on more than one occaS1on and that 1n each case th1S was a female

teacher. It therefore seems reasonable to suggest that not only

1S b1rth of a Ch1ld a maJor reason for leav1ng teach1ng but that

1t may also account for mult1ple leav1ng. Certa1nly, these

f1nd1ngs tend to support the 1dea that women 1n teach1ng have

an 'open' career Wh1Ch enables them to move out of teach1ng and

back aga1n because of the woman's dual role as teacher and mother

(see Work1ng Paper: Teach1ng and Outs1de L1fe).

6]

As can be seen ln Table 1 for teachers leavlng to have

chlldren there was a wlde varlatlon ln the length of tlme absent

from teachlng (12t relurned ln under one year and a further l6~

returned in under four years). But lt lS clear that the ma)Orlty

dld not return untll the Chlld had reached school age or later.

Table 1 Length of tlme away from teachlng: teachers leavlng

because of blrth of Chlld N=24

No. of years absent % of teachers

Under 1 12

1 8

3 8

5 4

6 17

7 8

8 17

10 12

12 4

Insuff1clent data 8

Of all absent teachers 53% returned V1a a full tlMe post, 31%

took up a part-t1me appolntment and 16% were employed as supply

teachers. However, the f1gures for those teachers who left

because of b1rth of a Ch1ld lnd1cate a greater rellance on

part-tlme posts (54%) and only 33% returned Vla a full-tlme

appo1ntment. The advantages of a part-t1me post for work1ng

mothers 1S ObV10US and any change ln the avallablllty of such

posts could ser10usly reduce the cho1ces female teachers have 1n

how they 1ntegrate the1r dual role as teacher and mother.