3.6.2 Professional Life Phase 31+—Sustaining
Commitment
Pupils’progress and positive teacher–pupil relationships were the main source of
job satisfaction for these teachers. However, ill health was also a primary personal
concern.
Teachers in this phase were categorised into two subgroups: (a) Teachers whose
motivation and commitment remained high despite or because of changing per-
sonal, professional and organisation contexts and whose expected trajectories were
strong agency, efficacy and achievement; and (b) Teachers whose motivation was
declining or had declined and whose expected trajectories were increased fatigue,
disillusionment and exit.
Not only were supportive school cultures of crucial importance to teachers’
sense of effectiveness across all six professional life phases but, for teachers in this
professional life phase, in-school support (high social capital investment) which
provided for professional care and emotional well-being played a major part in
teachers’continued engagement in the profession. These were of crucial importance
to teachers’commitment and sense of effectiveness in thisfinal phase.
3.6.3 Andrew’s Story
Andrew was 53 years old and had taught for 33 years, 16 of them in his current
primary school of 200+ pupils. He was a member of the school leadership team,
responsible for maths, design and technology and physical education.
Andrew came into teaching because he had‘hated’school and thought that he
could do better. He was still enjoying teaching in the school. Andrew’s workline
shows his sense of effectiveness over time following an initial entry period in which
he built his classroom management and teaching skills and established his sense of
professional identity. It shows, also, that in the mid-career,‘watershed’phase, he
sought new professional challenges through promotion to a different school. His
renewed enthusiasm, commitment and strong sense of self-efficacy were maintained
until an adverse external inspection report placed his school on‘special measures’.
However, within a year the school had recovered under the leadership of a new
head:‘There have been quite big changes in the school. Management have got an
awful lot sorted out and have worked hard. Everything is working well at the
moment.’
This had resulted in a change of teaching group for Andrew, significant in that he
no longer taught the year group that was subject to national testing. This had a
positive effect on his work life. As the workline was‘unpacked’during further
conversations, it became clear that Andrew continued to be devoted to his pupils,
despite his distaste for the effects of reforms upon his work (Fig.3.3).
3 Variations in the Conditions for Teachers’Professional... 49