3.7 Conclusions: Teacher Development, Retention
and Renewal over a Career
Understanding variations in the conditions for teachers’professional learning and
development which enhance their sense of positive professional identity and
well-being requires more than a consideration of the functional needs of organi-
sations and needs arising from teachers’personal lives. It requires, also, a con-
sideration of how tensions within and between these interact and how they might be
managed by organisations and teachers in ways which build commitment and
maintain and enhance effectiveness. Schools need to develop‘expansive’rather
than restrictive learning cultures and practices which pay attention to individual
differences, needs and preferences.
Moreover, the differences in teachers’trajectories and professional learning and
development needs within and between each professional life phase confirm the
significant impact that certain key influences can have on teachers’sense of iden-
tity, commitment and effectiveness. Such diverse life trajectories had led Huberman
( 1993 : 263) to conclude that‘we do not claim to be able to qualitatively or sta-
tistically to‘predict’professional satisfaction’. The VITAE research, however,
suggests that the provision of responsive and differentiated support to meet
teachers’professional and personal learning needs at different times in their work
and lives can help counter declining commitment trajectories, enhance the
Fig. 3.3 Andrew’s workline: renewed commitment
50 Q. Gu