A Teaching Career: Mobility and Stagnation

Abstract

The definition of "career" has undergone various alterations. In the past, people believed a career was a sequence of promotions up an organizational ladder, but over time, this definition has changed to "all of one’s work-related experiences". The study aimed to examine teachers’ attitudes towards the term ‘career’ and the factors influencing their perception of mobility and stagnation in teaching. Via an open-ended questionnaire, 18 women teachers were asked about the definition of 'career' and the factors affecting its mobility and stagnation. Findings show that most teachers only see teaching as a career in the declarative sense of the word.

Keywords

• career
• empowerment
• stagnation; mobility
• teaching
• principal-staff relations