life phases. It found that while CPD (continuing professional development) is a
necessary and important component of professional learning, it is likely to be less
effective in all its forms if the professional life phase scenarios which teachers
experience and which influence their attitudes to and motivation for learning are
predominantly negative. In other words, the success of professional development
(planned interventions in teachers’learning lives) is dependent upon the opportu-
nities for professional learning (unplanned, unrewarded and often implicit) which
occur in their everyday context.
3.3 Professional Life Phases: Characteristics
and Trajectories
There are different ways to analyse and define the characteristics of teachers’work
and lives. We found distinctive phases over the course of teachers’professional lives
where groups of teachers demonstrated similar professional needs and concerns and
characteristics of professional identities. These concerns and characteristics were
shown to be associated with their length of service in the profession, rather than
chronological age. They revealed not only different levels of psychological, spiritual
and emotional strength in the inner landscape of their professional selves (Palmer
2007 ), but also the influence of their ability to manage (or not manage) successfully
the complex internal and external influences which threatened to impact negatively
on their commitment, resilience and capacity to teach to their best.
‘Professional life phase’refers to the number of years that a teacher has been
teaching, rather than age or responsibilities. Teachers are likely to experience dif-
ferent challenges in different professional life phases and the ways in which they—
and their leaders—are able to manage these are likely to affect their job satisfaction
and fulfilment. We know from a range of research, for example, that teachers may
lose heart over time as a result of: (i) tensions in relations with pupils and parents;
(ii) excessive externally imposed initiatives and reforms; (iii) increases in bureau-
cracy; and (iv) negative images of teaching in the media.
The analysis of teachers’professional life phases and identity scenarios revealed
that they are an important influence in their work, lives and effectiveness; and that
variations in teachers’perceived effectiveness can be understood by examining
teachers and groups of teachers who are experiencing different scenarios within and
between particular phases of their professional lives. We identified key influences
on teachers’work in different professional life phases and the differential impact of
these on teachers’commitment and effectiveness. Understanding the impact of such
interaction between the influences of teachers’professional life phases and iden-
tities and the mediating factors in these, i.e. the situated (workplace), the profes-
sional (ideals and polices), and the personal (life experiences and events), was
central to achieving an understanding of what causes variations in the conditions for
teachers’professional learning and development over the course of their careers and
3 Variations in the Conditions for Teachers’Professional... 39