Teachers' careers: accident or design?

Abstract

Careers in teaching may take many forms. Early work suggested many teachers seek horizontal opportunities rather than seeking promotion. This article reports the findings of a study of 192 teachers' past decision-making and their future career intentions. The teachers involved were from primary and secondary schools and had 5, 10 and 15 years of teaching experience. The data are used to construct a typology of career strategies which has implications for the range and type of professional development opportunities which might be made available to teachers. The findings show that the majority of teachers chose career paths which took them increasingly out of the classroom, and that many of those who stayed in the classroom did not do so by choice.