2. Overview
• Background to the talk
• Introductory task
• Some factors that influence career
decisions
• Some mini case studies of transitions
• Task focussing on transitions (if time)
• Support for teachers in approaching and
negotiating transitions
• Conclusions
4. Some background factors that influence
teachers’ career decisions
1. Positive factors
➢Desire for improvement in one’s
performance as a teacher
➢Desire for greater understanding of
teaching and learning
➢Desire to contribute to the profession
➢Ambition to succeed and be
recognised
5. Some background factors that influence
teachers’ career decisions
2. Negative factors
➢Poor pay and working conditions
➢Poor status and recognition of teachers
➢Poor line management/lack of support
➢Excessive bureaucracy/paperwork
➢Discipline problems and lack of
motivation among learners
➢Lack of CPD opportunities
➢Feelings of isolation
➢Boredom and burnout
6. Example
countries
well paid highly sought
after
well respected
Finland,
Singapore ✓✓✓ ✓✓✓ ✓✓✓
Germany,
Switzerland ✓✓ ✓ ✓
India,
Russia,
Poland
xx ?? ✓✓
U.K.,
U.S.A.,
France
x xx x
Brazil, Italy,
Greece xx x x
7. Situation in the USA
Education International estimates that
150,000 new teachers are being trained
each year, yet within the first five
years of service, half of them quit.
Annually a half a million teachers either
move or leave the profession.......
Source: UNESCO Survey (Chapman)
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/0009
91/099192eo.pdf
8. Some words of consolation!
"In a completely rational society, the
best of us would be teachers and the
rest of us would have to settle for
something less.“
(Lee Iacocca)
“Teaching is not a lost art but the
regard for it is a lost tradition”
(Jacques Barzun)
9. A Typical Career Cycle
Pre-Service (from learner to teacher)
Novice teacher
Competency and confidence building
Enthusiastic & Growing
Career Frustration
Stable & Stagnant; teaching as a routine
Career Wind-down
Career Exit (retirement)
(adapted from White 2008)
10. Some voices from the profession
reflecting on a transition that
made a difference in their
careers
18. Support and Guidance
What’s available to us?
➢Frameworks
➢Appraisal
➢Precedents in our context
➢Mentoring
➢Our instincts and self-awareness
19. CPD Frameworks
The British Council Framework as an example: four
stages of development.....
1. Awareness 2. Understanding
3. Engagement 4. Integration
..... across twelve professional practices:
Planning lessons and courses/Understanding learners/
Managing the lesson/Knowing the subject/Managing
resources/Assessing learning/Integrating ICT/Taking
responsibility for professional development/Using
inclusive practices/Using multilingual approaches/
Promoting 21st century skills/Understanding
educational policies and practice
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/CPD%20framework%20for%20
teachers_WEB.PDF
