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Abstract

Using a research framework derived from the
sociology of occupations, this study aimed to achieve an
improved understanding of teachers as an occupational
group by undertaking a case study of the promotion and
career patterns of state school teachers in one
Australian State, that of Tasmania.
The theoretical assumption upon which the study was
based is that the career movements of teachers are not
random: rather, they move in patterned ways between
competing positions.
It seeks to describe and explain differences and
similarities in the career patterns of those occupying
different promotion positions (men and women teachers, -
graduates and non-graduates, and those employed in
different types of schools and sectors of the school
system); and to ascertain their perceptions regarding a
career and promotion in teaching.
The survey population consisted of 770 full time
teachers in promotion positions, 675 (87.7%) of whom were
employed in schools and 95 (12.3%) in non-school
supervisory, advisory and administrative positions in the
Education Department of Tasmania. The research methodology adopted was one which
blended together quantitative (structural) and
qualitative (phenomenological) data. Information on the
career histories of teachers was obtained from Education
Department records, while data on individuals perceptions
about the school teaching career was obtained through a
questionnaire and by conducting semi-structured
individual and group interviews. In essence, the main findings of the study are: the
career movement of teachers, in both the horizontal and
vertical mobility sense, are not random but generally
planned and patterned; both horizontal and vertical
mobility are important features of the school teaching
career; there are substantial differences in the career
patterns and perceptions of teachers according to their
age, level of experience, gender, marital status,
academic and professional qualifications, promotion
position occupied and sector of the Education Department
in which they are employed; teachers conveived of the
teaching career as consisting of a number of distinct
stages these differing markedly in both number and
content to those identified in other studies; school
teaching is an occupation that offers a number of
different types of careers; the most successful teachers
in gaining promotion develop a career map, strategy and
career timetable; teachers develop a 'career anchorage
perspective' which influences the level of promotion that
satisfies their career needs, this perspective being
reassessed and readjusted by the individual at different
stages in their career; and the fact that teachers
develop a career perspective which recognises that there
is both an internal (phenomenological) and external
(structural) aspect to an individual's working life.

Item Type:	Thesis - PhD
Authors/Creators:	Maclean, RDI
Keywords:	Teachers, Teaching
Copyright Holders:	The Author
Copyright Information:	Copyright 1987 the author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s).
Additional Information:	Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tasmania, 1989. Bibliography: leaves 404-425
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