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Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 12461257 www.elsevier.com/locate/tate

Beginning teachers expectations of teaching

Chris Kyriacoua,, Richard Kuncb
b

Department of Educational Studies, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK School of Business and Management, Bradford College, Great Horton Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1AY, UK Received 29 March 2006; received in revised form 3 June 2006; accepted 6 June 2006

Abstract This study explores the expectations of teaching as a career held by beginning teachers who undertook a postgraduate certicate in education (PGCE) teacher training course for secondary schools at three institutions in the North of England. Over 300 student teachers completed a questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of their PGCE course. A sample of 28 students were then tracked through their rst 2 years in post by e-mail communication. During this 3-year period, the most frequently cited positive factor was the pleasure generated by pupil success and the most frequently cited negative factor was workload. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Beginning teachers; Teacher retention

1. Introduction Each year about 16,000 students begin a 1-year postgraduate certicate in education (PGCE) secondary school teacher training course in England. If we were to follow these students up 3 years later, a number of these students will not be found teaching in a secondary school. Some of these will have withdrawn from their PGCE course; some of those who successfully completed their PGCE course will not have taken up a teaching post; and some of those who did take up a teaching post, will have decided to leaving teaching and changed to another career within their rst year or two in the profession. The retention of new entrants into the
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1904 433464; fax: +44 1904 433459. E-mail address: ck1@york.ac.uk (C. Kyriacou).

profession from the beginning of a PGCE programme to a point beyond their rst few years as qualied teachers in post has been an area of concern for many years (Cockburn & Haydn, 2004; Coulthard & Kyriacou, 2000; White, Gorard, & See, 2006). In England, about 40 per cent of those who embark on a training course (on all routes) never become teachers, and of those who do become teachers, about 40 per cent are no longer teaching 5 years later (House of Commons Education and Skills Committee, 2004; Purcell, Wilton, Davies, & Elias, 2005; Smithers & Robinson, 2003). Why is it that many of the students starting a PGCE will not be found teaching in a secondary school a few years later? One contributing factor that has been developed by researchers is based on viewing career choice as being inuenced by the degree of match between

0742-051X/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2006.06.002

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what one is seeking from a job and what the job actually offers (Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000). It may well be the case that many of those who embark upon teaching as a career have expectations about what teaching as a job will offer, and that the reality of their experiences during the PGCE year and beyond begins to alter these expectations so that the degree of match required to sustain their initial career choice is undermined. In order to explore the possible impact of expectations on retention, we need to know more about the type of expectations students hold at the start of their PGCE course, and the extent to which these may change in the light of their subsequent experiences. Studies of PGCE students experiences indicate that the most frequent reason given by student for withdrawing from the course is that they simply nd the work is more demanding that they expected it would be (Chambers, Coles, & Roper, 2002; Chambers & Roper, 2000; Hobson et al., 2005). Studies which have explored the reasons given by teachers who leave the profession within the rst few years have identied four key reasons (Cockburn & Haydn, 2004; Menter, Hutchings, & Ross, 2002; Spear, Gould, & Lee, 2000; Ross, 2002). Firstly, workload: the workload is too heavy, the work is too pressurised and stressful, and there is too much administration to do. Secondly, salary: the salary level does not provide them with the type of lifestyle they want and the associated career prospects are poor. Thirdly, disruptive pupils: some pupils constant misbehaviour makes the work too difcult. Fourthly, low status: the status of the teaching profession is perceived to be low. The seminal study conducted by Huberman (1993), based on interviews with a sample of 160 secondary school teachers in Switzerland, identied a number of issues and concerns that teachers face during different periods in their careers, and how the way they resolved these issues appeared to impact on their decision to remain in the profession. He notes that the early years in teaching are typically described by researchers as a period of survival and discovery: survival in the sense of having to deal with the reality shock of the complexity and uncertainties involved, and discovery in the sense of the heady enthusiasm generated by seeing oneself as a colleague within a guild of professionals. Huberman presents scenarios of different teachers in the sample to contrast those who had easy beginnings with those who had painful begin-

nings, and also contrasts teachers who were absolutely committed to teaching at the outset with those who were hesitant about this career choice. This study provides fascinating insights into teachers lives and how they deal with periods of disenchantment, although he concluded their was no clear link between these two variables (easy/ painful beginnings and hesitant/non-hesitant choice of teaching as a career) and retention. A study reported by Heafford and Jennison (1998) collected data from 165 teachers who completed their PGCE (secondary) at the University of Cambridge 16 years earlier in 1978. They found that 51 per cent were still teaching in secondary schools or post-16 colleges, 25 per cent were working in a range of education-related posts (including working in higher education), 20 per cent were employed in non-education related posts, and 5 per cent were unemployed. When the respondents were asked about factors which contributed to or detracted from the enjoyment of teaching, the main positive factors cited were working with young people in the classroom and enjoyment of using their subject knowledge. The main detractors cited were administrative tasks and teaching load. It was also evident that for many of the teachers, the reasons for leaving included a lack of success and satisfaction in the job, a feeling that teaching was not for them. A study by Wilhelm, Dewhurst-Savellis, and Parker (2000) looked at the impact of student teachers expectations on retention based on a longitudinal study of a group of teachers who had trained in 1978 at Sydney Teachers College, Australia. After 15 years, in 1993, 70 of these teachers had left teaching and 87 had stayed in teaching. Looking at the data collected in 1978 as predictors of retention, they reported that the most powerful predictor of retention was the extent to which the student teachers anticipated gaining pleasure from teaching as a career. A study by Goddard and OBrien (2003) in Australia looked at 123 graduate teachers 6 weeks after they rst commenced full-time teaching and again 6 months later. They reported that a high proportion of these (almost of third) were seriously considering leaving teaching after 8 months in post as a result the distress generated by work overload and a lack of professional support to help them cope with an emotionally demanding working environment. A comparative study of primary teachers in Finland and England reported by Webb et al.

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(2004) was based on interviews with 13 Finnish teachers and 24 English teachers. Webb et al. identied the crucial factors discouraging the teachers in both countries from remaining in the profession were work intensication, low pay, deteriorating pupil behaviour and a decline in public respect; they identied the positive inuences on teacher retention were a commitment to children, professional freedom and supportive colleagues. A study by Purcell et al. (2005) looked at the cohort of students who became qualied teachers in 1999 through all routes (undergraduate, postgraduate, and employment-based) based on 984 survey responses and 42 interviews. In a section of their report entitled living up to expectations they looked at the views of teachers in their fourth year of teaching, and compared the positives (pupil contact, the variety and challenge of teaching, the autonomy within their role), with the negatives (workload, bureaucracy, working hours, lack of work-life balance and pupils behavioural problems). They concluded that although for most of the teachers in this sample the job was living up to expectations, many reported that it being harder work than anticipated. Looking at those teachers who had left the profession, their decision to leave was characterised as being the result of an overall imbalance where intrinsic job satisfaction had been outweighed by extrinsic dissatisfaction. A study by Flores and Day (2006) in Portugal looked at the experiences of 14 teachers (eight primary and six primary/secondary) over a 2-year period following their completion of a teacher training degree programme. Interestingly, in Portugal, new teachers normally have to move from one school to another during the rst years of teaching, and most of this group did so. The study was based on semi-structured interview held at the beginning and end of each academic year. The ndings highlighted the way these teachers went through a process of having to reconstruct their initial identity as teachers in the light of the discrepancies they experienced between their assumptions about teaching and the reality of teaching. Flores also noted the idiosyncratic and context dependent nature of teacher change. Despite the growing literature on the reasons why beginning teachers chose to remain in or leave the profession, surprisingly little attention has been paid specically to the initial expectations of teaching held by beginning teachers during the PGCE year and then monitored these through into

their rst 2 years in post. As such, this study was designed to explore the expectations held by beginning teachers about teaching as a career over this 3-year period. The study initially focussed on student teachers at three training institutions in the North of England, and then tracked a sample of these during their rst 2 years in the profession. In England, the rst year in post is known as the induction year, at the end of which newly qualied teachers (NQTs) need to have attained the performance standards for NQTs in order to have their qualied teacher status ratied by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES, 2003). This judgment is made by the headteacher of the school-based progress reports from colleagues. 2. Method The main aim of this study was to explore the expectations of teaching held by beginning secondary school teachers over a 3-year period covering their PGCE (secondary school) year and their subsequent rst 2 years in post. In order to produce more robust ndings, questionnaire data were collected during the PGCE year from three teacher training institutions in the North of England from two cohorts (the second cohort began their PGCE programme the year after the rst cohort). This generated six sub-groups. Although there were some differences in responses between these six subgroups, in order to focus on the main trends, the questionnaire data from the PGCE students is based on averaging the responses across the six separate groups. The questionnaire comprised 16 questions. Eleven statements were prefaced with the question When you are a qualied working teacher how certain do you feel that y together with a four-point response scale labelled from unlikely to absolutely certain (see Table 1). The other ve questions each had a specic question together with a specic response scale (see Table 2). This questionnaire was completed by PGCE students at the start and at the end of their PGCE year. During the second administration of this questionnaire, students were asked an additional question concerning whether they would be willing to remain in e-mail contact with the researchers during their rst 2 years in post (and if so to provide their e-mail address). A total of 335 secondary PGCE students completed the questionnaire at the start of the year and

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C. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 12461257 Table 1 Percentage response to questions 111 (rounded to one decimal place) When you are a qualied working Start of year teacher how certain do you feel Unlikely Fairly sure Quite sure that y 1. You will be doing a socially worthwhile job? 2. You will have enough time to do a good job? 3. Your chosen career is generally well respected by people? 4. You will have a good rapport with your pupils? 5. You will be happy with the amount of holidays? 6. Teaching will full your personal needs? 7. The administration associated with a teachers job is essential? 8. You will feel elated by pupil achievement? 9. Your pay will be sufcient for your lifestyle? 10. Your training will have prepared you for the job? 11. The teaching profession is the right career for you? 1.2 16.8 8.2 0.3 0.3 1.9 23.2 0.8 18.7 3.5 0.4 3.8 47.0 27.3 19.7 10.6 20.5 39.4 3.6 41.6 37.1 20.0 36.2 33.4 53.1 66.8 44.9 62.3 28.1 30.2 30.3 49.1 53.3 End of year Absolutely Unlikely certain 58.8 2.8 11.4 13.3 44.3 15.2 9.4 65.5 9.3 10.3 26.3 0.2 16.7 10.7 0 2.6 5.7 30.6 1.1 20.4 4.2 2.8 Fairly sure Quite sure Absolutely certain 64.0 4.1 8.3 32.1 46.0 13.6 7.3 62.4 5.8 11.3 31.9 1249

7.0 44.4 29.6 9.5 4.3 24.1 44.1 6.4 34.6 38.5 18.7

28.9 34.9 51.5 58.5 47.2 56.6 18.1 30.2 39.2 46.1 46.7

Table 2 Percentage response to questions 1216 (rounded to one decimal place) 12. What is more important to you, your specialist subject or teaching pupils? Subject without Mainly subject Both equally doubt important Start of year End of year 0.5 0.7 5.2 4.9 50.6 43.8

Mainly teaching pupils 29.5 32.5

Teaching pupils without doubt 14.3 18.2

13. Every job has good times and bad times. What proportion of the time might you expect to be bad times? Less than 10% 1125% 2640% More than 40% Start of year 14.9 59.6 21.5 4.1 End of year 16.9 59.8 20.5 2.8 14. How many years do you expect to work as a basic teacher before promotion? 12 years 34 years 56 years Start of year 14.2 66.8 13.9 End of year 17.2 65.8 9.8 More than 6 years 5.1 7.2

15. Would you hope to be involved in management (as well as teaching) in your school, within a few years? Denitely not Probably not Probably yes Denitely yes Start of year 4.5 24.0 54.2 17.4 End of year 6.7 29.0 45.5 18.8 16. How long do you plan to stay in the teaching profession (in any capacity)? 3 years or less 410 years More than 10 years Start of year End of year 2.8 5.5 19.3 25.8 47.0 42.6 My entire working life 30.9 26.1

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391 completed the questionnaire at the end of the year. The number of PGCE students who withdrew from the programme during the course of the year was around 15 per cent. However, a problem in distributing the start of year questionnaire at one of the three institutions for the rst cohort, meant that the sample size for this sub-group was much lower than for the end-of-year administration; this has resulted in the total gure for the end of year administration in this study being slightly higher than for the start of year (despite the fact that some students had withdrawn during the year). Two hundred and sixty-six students offered to participate in follow-up e-mail communication. E-mail communication was chosen as the followup method as it was felt that students would nd this a very easy and convenient method to use (particularly as some students took up their rst post in schools far away from the training institutions), and that the students would be more readily able and willing to respond to questions about their experiences in schools in this more informal manner. Using e-mail communication generated the feeling of an on-going conversation with each student. However, one potential problem did emerge: two students felt that the researcher (who sent all the e-mails) now knew a lot about them and asked whether they could meet the researcher faceto-face to get some advice on how their career in schools was developing (this request was declined). Twelve of the students from the rst cohort and 16 from the second cohort were selected to produce a stratied sample based on location, age, gender and discipline for each cohort for this second (e-mail) phase of the study. During their rst and second years in post, these 28 students were contacted by e-mail and asked about the how things were going, and how they now viewed teaching as a career. Each student was contacted 12 times spread out at even intervals during their rst 2 years in post. Each student received an identical e-mail. Some e-mails were fairly short and generally asked how the teacher was getting on and included some open-ended questions about aspects of job satisfaction; other e-mails were much lengthier and took more the form of a questionnaire with questions coupled with rating scales presented in the form of a grid to be completed. Four examples of open-ended questions were: (i) Can you name one high point and one low point, during the last two terms? Were these particularly satisfying or dissatisfying?

(ii) Have you chosen the right career? (iii) Starting your second year! How do you feel? (iv) Would you advise a very good friend to join the teaching profession? What are your reasons, briey? Four examples of items coupled with rating scales were as follows: (i) Rate yourself honestly for the last year on your level of enjoyment, your level of job satisfaction, and your ability as a teacher, coupled with a ve-point rating scale labelled from very low to very high. (ii) How would you rate your feelings about teaching?: successful, satised, hopeful, ambitious, angry, exhausted, frustrated, important, respected by colleagues, respected by pupils, fullled, and condent, coupled with a vepoint rating scale labelled from not at all to extremely. (iii) What are the important things that affect your life as a teacher?: salary, attitude of colleagues, bureaucracy, social interaction, management of the school, respect from the public, respect from pupils, respect from colleagues, having sufcient time, workload, pupil success, and pupil behaviour, coupled with a ve-point rating scale labelled from not important at all to extremely important. (iv) How often do you think about leaving the teaching profession?, coupled with a seven-point rating scale labelled from every day to never. Of these 28 teachers, eight provided a complete record of responses (i.e. replied to all 12 e-mails), and a further eight provided 10 or 11 responses; three teachers only responded intermittently; the remaining nine teachers failed to respond at all during year 2. Of these nine teachers who failed to respond after their rst year in post, it is possible that some of these may have left teaching, but no information is available on these teachers to indicate with any certainty who remained in the profession. A case summary was drawn up for each teacher and sent to the teacher mid-way through their third year to check for accuracy. 3. Findings and discussion The responses to the questionnaire are shown in Tables 1 and 2 separately for the start of year

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and end of year data. It is evident that there is no major shift in opinion that occurs over the year. Looking at Table 1, a high percentage of the students are absolutely certain that they will be doing a socially worthwhile job and will feel elated by pupil achievement. In contrast, only a low percentage is absolutely certain that they will have enough time to do a good job and that their pay will be sufcient for their lifestyle. Also of particular note in Table 1 is that few students are absolutely certain that their training will have prepared them for the job. Looking at Table 2, very few students regard their specialist subject as more important than teaching pupils; and the majority of students expect around 1125 per cent of the job to involve bad times, and expect to be involved in management within a few years. A clear majority (78 per cent at start of year, and 69 per cent at end of year)) also expected to stay in teaching for more than 10 years. This nding is in line with the gure of 70 per cent who saw themselves teaching in 10 years time reported by Manuel and Hughes (2006) for their questionnaire sample of 79 pre-service teachers in Australia who were in year 3 of a 5-year undergraduate secondary school teacher training programme. Perhaps if there is a suggestion of a difference emerging between the start of year and end of year data, it is in this nal item, which suggests a slight move towards more students at the end of the year reporting they intend to stay in teaching for a shorter period than they reported at the start of the year. An analysis of the e-mail data comprised both separate case summaries for each of the 28 teachers and a search for general themes and trends that were evident when the data were looked at as a whole. These data highlighted the ups and downs for teachers in the early part of their careers. For each teacher is a grid was drawn up of positives and negatives in their response to each of the e-mails. For all the teachers there were both positives and negatives. For some teachers there is a clear bias towards the positive: pleasure at pupil success, a very good lesson, supportive staff, enthusiastic (pleasure at pupil success was the most frequently cited positive experience); while for other teachers there is a clear bias towards the negative: was never aware how much teaching takes over your life, arrogant pupils, may leave teaching in a year (workload was the most frequently cited negative experience).

The following extracts, by way of illustration, are taken from case CC, an English teacher, who was under 25 years of age at the start of the PGCE, at a co-educational 1118 comprehensive school serving a small town in Yorkshire with 1500 pupils. At the start and at the end of her PGCE year she was positive and condent about becoming a teacher. She was absolutely certain that she will be doing a worthwhile job, that she will have good rapport with her pupils, and that teaching would full her personal needs; she expected to stay in teaching for her entire working life and expected about 1125 per cent of the time to be bad times. The only notable change in her responses over the PGCE year was a move from absolutely certain at the start of the year to fairly sure at the end of the year regarding whether her training will have prepared her for the job. In late August, just before starting her rst job, CC felt extremely excited and petried. She is excited by having my own classes that no else will interfere with and petried of getting lost and not knowing people. Her greatest fear is that she will not enjoy the job. This following extract was taken 2 months into her post. I have more or less settled in but I am in a department that cannot cope with change. Overwhelming complacency is the norm. There is no commitment, drive or innovation. People hardly speak to each other. There is little planning and co-ordination so I have to do everything from scratch. I do not think I can work in this department for long and am looking for a new school. I am totally exhausted and losing sleep. One year 10 class I teach is very demoralising. I am surprised there are so many things (apart from teaching) to do, for example, break duty, bus duty, meetings, cover, etc. Marking takes too long. I need to develop a coping strategy. This next extract was made 6 months later (i.e. midway through her rst year in post). I am happy with my progress. Its been an uphill battle, lack of support. I have improved my subject knowledge and planning. Still need to focus on my classroom management and marking. There is so much marking that once you fall behind it is extremely difcult to catch up. Still, Easter should solve that. My low point was three weeks after Christmas, physical exhaustion, I was on my knees, but satisfying to get through it.

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High points included developing a much better relationship with a difcult year 10 class. They are now working much harder and their grades are improving. An expected high point will be when year 11 hand in their overdue GCSE coursework. It has been like trying to draw blood. I am sure I have chosen the right career. I get a constant thrill from the teaching and interaction with the pupils. I am never ever bored and nd it incredibly rewarding. I intend (at the moment) to stay in teaching for the rest of my life. Until November I was adamant I would leave the school. Now the Head of Department has stood down and the replacement has created a relaxed atmosphere and has started talking, delegating and discussing. A new deputy head has started getting involved in the NQT programme. This has all helped. I feel far more positive about the school generally. This nal extract is taken from a communication mid-way through her second year in post (she is still at the same school): Yes, I would advise a friend to teach, if they really wanted to. I have always wanted to teach and cant imagine how you would do your job if you didnt. When things are good its extremely rewarding, but when it is bad it is emotionally and physically draining and allows little opportunity to do anything else except work and think about work. Reasons to teach are the immense pleasure you get from spending time with students and seeing them develop, learn and grow. As far as mentoring goes, you need guidance, support and encouragement. from your Head. An experienced teacher would be the best mentor, providing they had a suitable personality. If you dont get on with the person, then mentoring is a waste of time. You need someone you can trust, so you can say things without feeling inadequate or incompetent. An NQT might be a good sounding board, but cannot offer support and advice. Heads and Heads of Departments are too busy. I would dearly love to observe my colleagues. Being observed keeps me on my toes, and the feedback is useful. This is the best way to improve your teaching. I never think about leaving, even though I have felt extremely run down, I would not leave. I learnt a lot last year and more this year and I realise there is still more to learn. I have improved my strategies

for coping with the pressures, stress and the workload. I put in the time because I enjoy my job. Whether I would feel like this in a tough inner city school is another matter. I am considering applying for an assistant Head of Year post. My department is still very frustrating, but I do not need them so much now. I nd interaction with my students priceless. I feel secure and established at the school, which makes a big difference to the way students treat you. During her second year, this teacher had taken on responsibility for ITT training and looking after NQTs, and her intention was to remain at the school for the immediate future. In order to convey more strongly the voice of these 28 teachers, two further cases (BH and KM) are summarised in Appendix A. The mix of experiences that each teacher highlighted well illustrates the way in which both positive and negative experiences run in parallel; for example, a teacher may convey a number of positive aspects of the way their work is going whilst at the same time feel they have made the wrong career choice and begin explore moving to another career. In analysing these 28 cases, we gradually worked through different possible models to represent what was happening and to understand why some teachers were able to incorporate their disappointments without seriously calling into question their intention to remain as teachers whilst others were less able to do so. During these analyses, we have been struck by the usefulness of marriage and divorce as metaphors for these teachers experiences. Entering teaching is like a marriage and leaving it is like a divorce. On the one hand, there are those who work hard at their marriage to sustain it and who react to failed expectations by seeking out new sources of satisfaction. On the other hand, there are those who just say I have had enough of this, I want to get out!. Some of the phrases used by teachers, such as I didnt come in to teaching to spend all my time doing paperwork (or babysitting pupils who dont want to learn, or being an automaton doing whatever the government wants teachers to do), convey the sense of career reappraisal noted by Huberman in his research. Looking at the data from these 28 teachers as a whole, what emerged for this group was the

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importance of four key factors: the management of the school, having sufcient time, pupil behaviour, and having a happy private life. Where these were going well, the tilt was towards the positive, with the teachers feeling they had made the right career choice and a move towards a greater or sustained wish to remain in teaching; where these were seen as areas of disappointment, the tilt was towards the negative and a move towards a reduced wish to remain teaching. However, there were also cases, as also reported in the study by Flores and Day (2006), where beginning teachers who experience a balance titled towards negative circumstances nevertheless retained their enthusiasm and commitment towards teaching as a career, and cases where beginning teachers experiencing a balance tilting towards positive circumstances did not do so. It is clear that the agenda of expectations for beginning teachers is a complex one and how the precise experiences they encounter during their PGCE year and in their rst 2 years of teaching interacts with the expectations they held at the outset and how that in turn inuences their views of teaching as a career will differ from case to case. This complexity, which is evident from considering these 28 cases, is largely a reection of the weight different teachers give to different aspects of their work. For one teacher it is the sense of elation that comes from pupil success that is of particular importance, whilst for another it might be not wanting to be buried under paperwork that it the crucial factor. It would appear that it is when for each teacher those expectations they hold dearest are being fullled or undermined that their view of teaching as a career is most likely to be shaped. This interpretation is supported by the study carried out by Kersaint, Lewis, Potter, and Meisels (2006), who used telephone interviews to compare the views of 901 teachers who had left the profession with a demographically matched group of 898 teachers who stayed in the profession drawn from two large school districts in Florida (the sample included elementary, middle and high schools). The leavers rated time with family, administrative support and nancial benets as more important to them compared with stayers; this suggests that teachers who are most likely to leave are those whose expectations are being disappointed in those areas that are most important to them.

What is needed to explore this further is a study which can combine data about (i) areas of disappointed expectations; (ii) areas of importance; and (iii) retention. What, however, may add to the complexity here is that expectations and importance may change over time. For example, Kersaint et al. (2006) note that once teachers start a family, their views about the importance of nancial benets may change from those they held when they rst entered teaching. 4. Conclusion At a time when teacher retention is an area of concern, it is becoming increasingly important to understanding how beginning teachers expectations about teaching as a career impacts on their decision to remain in the profession. This study sheds some light on the expectations held by a group of student teachers during their PGCE year and their rst 2 years in post. The ndings indicate that it is difcult to discern a clear pattern that links the expectations held during their PGCE year with how their expectations of teaching develop during their rst 2 years in post. What does appear to be evident is that, in line with others studies, the four major inuencing factors which bear upon their commitment towards teaching are: school management (and in particular the degree to which senior staff in the school are seen to be supportive); time pressures (and in particular a feeling that there is not time enough to do the work demanded to an acceptable standard); pupil behaviour (and in particular the degree the teacher is able to experience and enjoy pupils successes as against a feeling that pupils are badly behaved and disaffected); and having a happy private life (and in particular a concern about the extent to which workload encroaches unacceptably into too much of the time for their private life). It is also interesting to note that concerns about pay were not highlighted by this sample during the rst 2 years in post. This may be because the salary for beginning teachers is generally quite good, and this area of concern may only become acute several years into their career, which teachers salary appear to lag behind that of other professional careers. This study indicates that more detailed longitudinal research is needed to explore more fully how such expectations change during the rst few years in teaching, and the extent to which

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such expectations impact on the decision to remain in the profession. In view of the complexities involved here, it may be more fruitful for studies to focus on the way in which beginning teachers reconstruct their identity as teachers and how they balance their assessments of positive and negative experiences.

Appendix A A.1. Case BH BH is male, was under 25 at the start of the PGCE course, and teaches modern languages. His rst job was in Northumberland, in a small ex-mining town. The school also draws pupils from some others similar towns nearby. It is a co-educational secondary school with 1100 pupils

aged 1318 years. During the PGCE year, BH said he was absolutely certain that he will be doing a socially worthwhile job, and only expected less than 10 per cent of the time will be bad times. However, he thought it was unlikely that the job is generally well respected by people (this links with his complaint that teachers are assumed to be guilty when anything goes wrong made in March of his rst year in post (see below). During the PGCE year he also thought that the pay will be sufcient for his lifestyle. At the end of the PGCE year he said he plans to be in teaching for a few years, go away and try something else, then return to teaching: this links with his explorations about other careers in September and November of his second year in post (see below). Compared with most PGCE students, he is highly ambitious and expected to be promoted within 12 years (Table A1).

Table A1 Time line Year 1: August Positive Negative

October

December

January March

June

He feels he wants to do some good for others; he is He feels apprehensive; his greatest fear is that I dont condent that he will enjoy the work; he feels he has been deliver what is expected of me, and what I expect from welcomed by the school: they say there are looking myself. He is disheartened by the publicity about teacher forward to working with me shortages and poor retention and feels it puts increased pressure on new teachers to perform at a very high level when all around we are faced with criticism He feels he is settling in ne but is not used to continually He feels there is too much paperwork to do; he is depressed moving to new rooms. He feels condent and positive. He to hear that all the NQTs who joined the school last year feels he is impressing his colleagues and that the pupils are left before the end of the year; he feels he is not beginning to accept him academically challenged; an incident occurs with a pupil in his lesson where a pupil was injured, but the staff stood by me and nothing came of it He feels resolute: I am learning not to take any shit and to The October incident has caused him a lot of stress, come down hard on pupils; he is complimented about how particularly as some pupils say he was to blame; a pupil he handled the October incident; he feels the department is loses his temper when being told off and calls BH a like a family homosexual No response No response He feels he has made progress; he has received compliments He feels he has not chosen the right career; he is angry from pupils about his teaching and feels a loyalty to the because teachers are assumed to be guilty when anything school; he thinks he will stay at the school for another year goes wrong He feels happy; he loves the pupils; his personal life has He criticises colleagues, the head of department, and the improved and he feels that things are going better than time consuming nature of the job expected He feels positive about teaching as a career and feels better He is about to start a course in management accountancy now than he did in June; his personal life has also improved and if successful, he intends to move into that eld as a career He is being primed to take over as the Head of Spanish He criticises the bad management of the head: she cannot motivate and speaks to me in a disrespectful way; he has spilt up with his girlfriend; he has some trouble with pupils in the town at the weekend when he is called names; he is considering leaving teaching for the Royal Air Force (RAF)

Year 2: September November

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C. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 12461257 Table A1 (continued ) Time line December Positive Negative 1255

January

March

June

He has organised a trip to a Roman Fortress and made He has applied to join the RAF some Italian delights for a language stall at the Christmas Fayre; he feels more involved in the school; he feels better than he did in November and he feels he can cope He feels better; he is more positive and feels he manages his He has an interview for the RAF; if he gets the job he feels time better; he plan to start going to church again he will now be able to leave teaching with some good memories. When asked would be want his children to become teachers he says: Hell, no! He has had time off because of stress; there is too much paperwork and no free time; he has resigned his job due to management, paperwork and time affecting private life; he still does not know if his application to join the RAF is successful He still feels ambitious and condent, and decides to Low salary, the poor attitudes of colleagues, and the poor continue in teaching but wants to move to another school in management of the head had the greatest effect on his September (he does not say if his RAF application was decision to leave this school successful or not); he has found faith in Christianity which has helped and he is looking forward to next year

Table A2 Time line Year 1: August Positive She feels very condent about herself. She did 3 weeks supply work at the school in the previous July and was glad she had: I was thrown in at the deep end but I now know my way around the school She feels she is settling in well and loves teaching: my enthusiasm for teaching has denitely grown. She is encouraged by applause in a lesson for a particularly spectacular practical; she is getting plenty of advice about discipline She feels she has made good progress and has achieved a good balance between home and work She feels pretty good; the break has helped her to regroup, get organised and be in a fresh state of mind She has decided to move schools for nancial reasons; she feels she is denitely in the right career; she has secured a post for September at a school in Yorkshire; she is starting to itch for more responsibility; her high point was a successful lesson with a bottom year 10 group and notes that a colleague with seven years experience had recently walked out on the same group She feels she is a happy teacher; she intends to remain in teaching for the rest of her life even though she is knackered; I cant see myself enjoying anything else or having the same stimulation in any other career Negative She is very worried about the prospect of working in a school which appears to be disorganised as she still has not received her teaching timetable She feels tired but not nearly as much as when she was doing her PGCE; she can see a few things about her teaching that need changing; she is coping with the workload but is waiting for the half-term break to catch her breath Her low point is having a class that I could not control (neither can anyone else) She has started to notice things about pupils, like wearing trainers She feels other teachers dont listen to what I have to say, because of my inexperience, and I feel I have some good ideas

October

December January March

June

She feels frustrated by the senior management team, whom she feels offers her little support

Year 2: September

November

December

She feels condent; she has started at a new school in Yorkshire; the best thing is not being an NQT anymore; she feels the head of department is more receptive to her input and intends to apply for the post of head of biology which is currently vacant She feels more valued for the simple reason that he [the head of department] is willing to listen to ideas, unlike the last one She feels more involved and happier than she did last year She describes paperwork as a drag

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1256 Table A2 (continued ) Time line January Positive Negative C. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 12461257

March

June

She feels optimistic; she attended a course on early professional development which gave me guidance in the way I want my career to go. This has helped a lot She nds the job rewarding and fullling and would advise friends to join the teaching profession; she recommended teaching to her mother, who is now a primary school NQT She describes herself as ambitious, and respected by She does not mention whether she applied for and got the colleagues and pupils post of head of biology but this appears unlikely as she comments that I had hoped to make more progress up the ladder, but my Head doesnt seem to want to offer any positions

When responding to the case summary sent to him in year 3, BH conrmed he was now teaching at a new school in Yorkshire, and says he now realises teaching is not a job, its a career. A.2. Case KM KM is female, was under 25 at the start of the PGCE course, and teaches science, specialising in Biology. Her rst job was in Surrey. The school is coeducational, with 950 pupils aged 1116 years, serving a rural, well-off area including a couple of villages. During her PGCE year, KM indicated both at the start and at the end of the year that she expected to spend her entire working life as a teacher and was absolutely certain that this was the right career. Interestingly, however, at the start of the year she was absolutely certain that the pay will be sufcient for her lifestyle, but at the end of the PGCE year she indicated this was unlikely: this links with her concerns about pay in March of rst year in post (see Table A2). The only other notable change in the PGCE year was a move from being absolutely certain at the start of the year that the administration associated with a teachers job is essential to being fairly sure at the end of the PGCE year: this links with her description of paperwork as a drag in December of her second year in post (see Table A2). When responding to the case summary sent to her in year 3, KM conrmed she was still teaching at her second school and said that moving schools was right for me. References
Chambers, G. N., Coles, J., & Roper, T. (2002). Why students withdraw from PGCE courses. Language Learning Journal(25), 5258.

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