have changed in response to their experiences of many policy and social reforms,
school leaders, and cohorts of students, as well as the ageing process and unan-
ticipated personal circumstances. The persistence of such combination of chal-
lenges, which are part of the experience of most of those who work for prolonged
periods of their lives in one occupation, may have begun to take its toll on the
motivation, commitment and resilience which are essential to the willingness and
capacity of veteran teachers to maintain teaching at its best.
Huberman’s( 1993 ) research on secondary and middle school teachers’lives in
Switzerland found that teachers in the later stages 2 of their career became either
‘disenchanted’or‘serene’as they approached retirement. The VITAE research
provided broad confirmation of this picture, but also more nuanced portraits of
teachers’lives and work,finding that a distinctive sub-group of the teachers in the
final two phases of their professional lives (24–30 years and 31+ years) demon-
strated, alongside‘serenity’and‘positive focusing’, a high level of motivation and
commitment and a strong sense of‘active’engagement in the profession. However,
it showed, also, differences in the relative proportions of teachers in each group who
were sustaining their commitment, motivation and sense of efficacy.
3.6.1 Professional Life Phase 24–30 Years—Adjusting
to Change
Teachers in this phase were facing more intensive challenges to sustaining their
motivation in the profession. Eighty-eight per cent had additional leadership
responsibilities. Deteriorating pupil behaviour, the impact of personal life events,
resentment at‘being forced to jump through hoops by a constant stream of new
initiatives’, taking stock of their careers (and lives) and length of service in the
school were key influences on the effectiveness of teachers in this cohort. However,
not all teachers were disenchanted. Two sub-groups were identified: (a) those with
improved work–life balance and sustained motivation and; and (b) those who were
holding on but losing motivation and commitment.
Teachers’identities in this phase were constantly challenged by the need to
adjust. For those who still had additional out-of-classroom responsibilities (58%),
professional learning opportunities which targeted at strengthening their effective-
ness as managers continued to be of importance. However, for those who struggled
to manage extremefluctuations caused by combined negative influences from
outside and within the workplace and their professional and personal lives,
in-school support focussing upon mediating the effects of unsolicited and undesired
external policy initiatives and assisting them in adjusting successfully to these, had
a significant role to play in sustaining their motivation and commitment and
enabling them to teach at their best.
48 Q. Gu