Veterans versus Beginners: a study of teachers at a time of fundamental change in comprehensive schooling

Abstract

Qualitative data are presented which were obtained from group interviews with 160 experienced and less‐experienced teachers in 20 schools in six local authorities in the North of England. These were conducted during 1986. The paper documents the destruction of experienced teachers’ career timetables, their consequent crises of motivation and the associated mortification of self. The paper also documents the antithetical perspective of beginning teachers who were career building in highly motivated ways. In conclusion, these two segments are contextualised and analysed with reference to the ‘Conservative Educational Offensive’. Overall, hopefully the paper offers a critical appreciation of how personal, social and educational change is induced and resisted.