Beginning teachers’ expectations of teaching

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Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 1246–1257

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Beginning teachers’ expectations of teaching

Chris Kyriacoua,�, Richard Kuncb

aDepartment of Educational Studies, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UKbSchool 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

certificate 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 first 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-yearpostgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) sec-ondary school teacher training course in England. Ifwe were to follow these students up 3 years later, anumber of these students will not be found teachingin a secondary school. Some of these will havewithdrawn from their PGCE course; some of thosewho successfully completed their PGCE course willnot have taken up a teaching post; and some ofthose who did take up a teaching post, will havedecided to leaving teaching and changed to anothercareer within their first year or two in the profes-sion. The retention of new entrants into the

e front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

e.2006.06.002

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33459.

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profession from the beginning of a PGCE pro-gramme to a point beyond their first few years asqualified teachers in post has been an area ofconcern for many years (Cockburn & Haydn, 2004;Coulthard & Kyriacou, 2000; White, Gorard, &See, 2006).

In England, about 40 per cent of those whoembark on a training course (on all routes) neverbecome teachers, and of those who do becometeachers, about 40 per cent are no longer teaching 5years later (House of Commons Education andSkills Committee, 2004; Purcell, Wilton, Davies, &Elias, 2005; Smithers & Robinson, 2003). Why is itthat many of the students starting a PGCE will notbe found teaching in a secondary school a few yearslater?

One contributing factor that has been developedby researchers is based on viewing career choice asbeing influenced by the degree of match between

.

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ARTICLE IN PRESSC. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 1246–1257 1247

what one is seeking from a job and what the jobactually offers (Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000). Itmay well be the case that many of those whoembark upon teaching as a career have expectationsabout what teaching as a job will offer, and that thereality of their experiences during the PGCE yearand beyond begins to alter these expectations sothat the degree of match required to sustain theirinitial career choice is undermined. In order toexplore the possible impact of expectations onretention, we need to know more about the typeof expectations students hold at the start of theirPGCE course, and the extent to which these maychange in the light of their subsequent experiences.

Studies of PGCE students’ experiences indicatethat the most frequent reason given by student forwithdrawing from the course is that they simply findthe work is more demanding that they expected itwould be (Chambers, Coles, & Roper, 2002;Chambers & Roper, 2000; Hobson et al., 2005).Studies which have explored the reasons given byteachers who leave the profession within the firstfew years have identified four key reasons(Cockburn & Haydn, 2004; Menter, Hutchings, &Ross, 2002; Spear, Gould, & Lee, 2000; Ross, 2002).Firstly, workload: the workload is too heavy, thework is too pressurised and stressful, and there istoo much administration to do. Secondly, salary:

the salary level does not provide them with the typeof lifestyle they want and the associated careerprospects are poor. Thirdly, disruptive pupils: somepupils’ constant misbehaviour makes the work toodifficult. Fourthly, low status: the status of theteaching profession is perceived to be low.

The seminal study conducted by Huberman(1993), based on interviews with a sample of 160secondary school teachers in Switzerland, identifieda number of issues and concerns that teachers faceduring different periods in their careers, and howthe way they resolved these issues appeared toimpact on their decision to remain in the profession.He notes that the early years in teaching aretypically described by researchers as a period of‘survival and discovery’: survival in the sense ofhaving to deal with the reality shock of thecomplexity and uncertainties involved, and discov-ery in the sense of the heady enthusiasm generatedby seeing oneself as a colleague within a guild ofprofessionals.

Huberman presents scenarios of different teachersin the sample to contrast those who had ‘easybeginnings’ with those who had ‘painful begin-

nings’, and also contrasts teachers who wereabsolutely committed to teaching at the outset withthose who were hesitant about this career choice.This study provides fascinating insights into tea-chers’ lives and how they deal with periods ofdisenchantment, although he concluded their wasno clear link between these two variables (easy/painful beginnings and hesitant/non-hesitant choiceof teaching as a career) and retention.

A study reported by Heafford and Jennison(1998) collected data from 165 teachers whocompleted their PGCE (secondary) at the Univer-sity of Cambridge 16 years earlier in 1978. Theyfound that 51 per cent were still teaching insecondary schools or post-16 colleges, 25 per centwere working in a range of education-related posts(including working in higher education), 20 per centwere employed in non-education related posts, and5 per cent were unemployed. When the respondentswere asked about factors which contributed to ordetracted from the enjoyment of teaching, the mainpositive factors cited were ‘working with youngpeople in the classroom’ and ‘enjoyment of usingtheir subject knowledge’. The main detractors citedwere ‘administrative tasks’ and ‘teaching load’. Itwas also evident that for many of the teachers, thereasons for leaving included a lack of success andsatisfaction in the job, a feeling that teaching was‘not for them’.

A study by Wilhelm, Dewhurst-Savellis, andParker (2000) looked at the impact of studentteachers’ expectations on retention based on alongitudinal study of a group of teachers who hadtrained in 1978 at Sydney Teachers’ College,Australia. After 15 years, in 1993, 70 of theseteachers had left teaching and 87 had stayed inteaching. Looking at the data collected in 1978 aspredictors of retention, they reported that the mostpowerful predictor of retention was the extent towhich the student teachers anticipated gainingpleasure from teaching as a career.

A study by Goddard and O’Brien (2003) inAustralia looked at 123 graduate teachers 6 weeksafter they first commenced full-time teaching andagain 6 months later. They reported that a highproportion of these (almost of third) were seriouslyconsidering leaving teaching after 8 months in post asa result the distress generated by work overload anda lack of professional support to help them cope withan emotionally demanding working environment.

A comparative study of primary teachers inFinland and England reported by Webb et al.

ARTICLE IN PRESSC. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 1246–12571248

(2004) was based on interviews with 13 Finnishteachers and 24 English teachers. Webb et al.identified the crucial factors discouraging theteachers in both countries from remaining in theprofession were work intensification, low pay,deteriorating pupil behaviour and a decline inpublic respect; they identified the positive influenceson teacher retention were a commitment to children,professional freedom and supportive colleagues.

A study by Purcell et al. (2005) looked at thecohort of students who became qualified teachers in1999 through all routes (undergraduate, postgrad-uate, and employment-based) based on 984 surveyresponses and 42 interviews. In a section of theirreport entitled ‘living up to expectations’ theylooked at the views of teachers in their fourth yearof teaching, and compared the ‘positives’ (pupilcontact, the variety and challenge of teaching, theautonomy within their role), with the ‘negatives’(workload, bureaucracy, working hours, lack ofwork-life balance and pupils’ behavioural pro-blems). They concluded that although for most ofthe teachers in this sample the job was living up toexpectations, many reported that it being harderwork than anticipated. Looking at those teacherswho had left the profession, their decision to leavewas characterised as being the result of an overallimbalance where intrinsic job satisfaction had beenoutweighed by extrinsic dissatisfaction.

A study by Flores and Day (2006) in Portugallooked at the experiences of 14 teachers (eightprimary and six primary/secondary) over a 2-yearperiod following their completion of a teachertraining degree programme. Interestingly, inPortugal, new teachers normally have to move fromone school to another during the first years ofteaching, and most of this group did so. The studywas based on semi-structured interview held at thebeginning and end of each academic year. Thefindings highlighted the way these teachers wentthrough a process of having to ‘reconstruct’ theirinitial identity as teachers in the light of thediscrepancies they experienced between their as-sumptions about teaching and the reality of teach-ing. Flores also noted the idiosyncratic and contextdependent nature of teacher change.

Despite the growing literature on the reasons whybeginning teachers chose to remain in or leave theprofession, surprisingly little attention has beenpaid specifically to the initial expectations ofteaching held by beginning teachers during thePGCE year and then monitored these through into

their first 2 years in post. As such, this study wasdesigned to explore the expectations held bybeginning teachers about teaching as a career overthis 3-year period. The study initially focussed onstudent teachers at three training institutions in theNorth of England, and then tracked a sample ofthese during their first 2 years in the profession.

In England, the first year in post is known as theinduction year, at the end of which newly qualifiedteachers (NQTs) need to have attained the perfor-mance standards for NQTs in order to have theirqualified teacher status ratified by the Departmentfor Education and Skills (DfES, 2003). Thisjudgment is made by the headteacher of theschool-based progress reports from colleagues.

2. Method

The main aim of this study was to explore theexpectations of teaching held by beginning second-ary school teachers over a 3-year period coveringtheir PGCE (secondary school) year and theirsubsequent first 2 years in post. In order to producemore robust findings, questionnaire data werecollected during the PGCE year from three teachertraining institutions in the North of England fromtwo cohorts (the second cohort began their PGCEprogramme the year after the first cohort). Thisgenerated six sub-groups. Although there were somedifferences in responses between these six sub-groups, in order to focus on the main trends, thequestionnaire data from the PGCE students is basedon averaging the responses across the six separategroups.

The questionnaire comprised 16 questions. Elevenstatements were prefaced with the question ‘‘Whenyou are a qualified working teacher how certain doyou feel thaty’’ together with a four-pointresponse scale labelled from ‘unlikely’ to ‘absolutelycertain’ (see Table 1). The other five questions eachhad a specific question together with a specificresponse scale (see Table 2).

This questionnaire was completed by PGCEstudents at the start and at the end of their PGCEyear. During the second administration of thisquestionnaire, students were asked an additionalquestion concerning whether they would be willingto remain in e-mail contact with the researchersduring their first 2 years in post (and if so to providetheir e-mail address).

A total of 335 secondary PGCE students com-pleted the questionnaire at the start of the year and

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Table 1

Percentage response to questions 1–11 (rounded to one decimal place)

When you are a qualified working

teacher how certain do you feel

thaty

Start of year End of year

Unlikely Fairly sure Quite sure Absolutely

certain

Unlikely Fairly sure Quite sure Absolutely

certain

1. You will be doing a socially

worthwhile job?

1.2 3.8 36.2 58.8 0.2 7.0 28.9 64.0

2. You will have enough time to do

a good job?

16.8 47.0 33.4 2.8 16.7 44.4 34.9 4.1

3. Your chosen career is generally

well respected by people?

8.2 27.3 53.1 11.4 10.7 29.6 51.5 8.3

4. You will have a good rapport

with your pupils?

0.3 19.7 66.8 13.3 0 9.5 58.5 32.1

5. You will be happy with the

amount of holidays?

0.3 10.6 44.9 44.3 2.6 4.3 47.2 46.0

6. Teaching will fulfil your

personal needs?

1.9 20.5 62.3 15.2 5.7 24.1 56.6 13.6

7. The administration associated

with a teacher’s job is essential?

23.2 39.4 28.1 9.4 30.6 44.1 18.1 7.3

8. You will feel elated by pupil

achievement?

0.8 3.6 30.2 65.5 1.1 6.4 30.2 62.4

9. Your pay will be sufficient for

your lifestyle?

18.7 41.6 30.3 9.3 20.4 34.6 39.2 5.8

10. Your training will have

prepared you for the job?

3.5 37.1 49.1 10.3 4.2 38.5 46.1 11.3

11. The teaching profession is the

right career for you?

0.4 20.0 53.3 26.3 2.8 18.7 46.7 31.9

Table 2

Percentage response to questions 12–16 (rounded to one decimal place)

12. What is more important to you, your specialist subject or teaching pupils?

Subject without

doubt

Mainly subject Both equally

important

Mainly teaching

pupils

Teaching pupils

without doubt

Start of year 0.5 5.2 50.6 29.5 14.3

End of year 0.7 4.9 43.8 32.5 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% 11–25% 26–40% 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?

1–2 years 3–4 years 5–6 years More than 6 years

Start of year 14.2 66.8 13.9 5.1

End of year 17.2 65.8 9.8 7.2

15. Would you hope to be involved in management (as well as teaching) in your school, within a few years?

Definitely not Probably not Probably yes Definitely 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 4–10 years More than 10 years My entire working

life

Start of year 2.8 19.3 47.0 30.9

End of year 5.5 25.8 42.6 26.1

C. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 1246–1257 1249


391 completed the questionnaire at the end of theyear. The number of PGCE students who withdrewfrom the programme during the course of the yearwas around 15 per cent. However, a problem indistributing the ‘start of year’ questionnaire at oneof the three institutions for the first cohort, meantthat the sample size for this sub-group was muchlower than for the end-of-year administration; thishas resulted in the total figure for the end of yearadministration in this study being slightly higherthan for the start of year (despite the fact that somestudents had withdrawn during the year).

Two hundred and sixty-six students offered toparticipate in follow-up e-mail communication.E-mail communication was chosen as the follow-up method as it was felt that students would findthis a very easy and convenient method to use(particularly as some students took up their firstpost in schools far away from the training institu-tions), and that the students would be more readilyable and willing to respond to questions about theirexperiences in schools in this more informalmanner. Using e-mail communication generatedthe feeling of an on-going conversation with eachstudent. However, one potential problem didemerge: two students felt that the researcher (whosent all the e-mails) now knew a lot about them andasked whether they could meet the researcher face-to-face to get some advice on how their career inschools was developing (this request was declined).

Twelve of the students from the first cohort and 16from the second cohort were selected to produce astratified sample based on location, age, gender anddiscipline for each cohort for this second (e-mail)phase of the study. During their first and second yearsin post, these 28 students were contacted by e-mailand asked about the how things were going, and howthey now viewed teaching as a career. Each studentwas contacted 12 times spread out at even intervalsduring their first 2 years in post. Each studentreceived an identical e-mail. Some e-mails were fairlyshort and generally asked how the teacher was gettingon and included some open-ended questions aboutaspects of job satisfaction; other e-mails were muchlengthier and took more the form of a questionnairewith questions coupled with rating scales presented inthe form of a grid to be completed.

Four examples of open-ended questions were:

(i)
Can you name one high point and one lowpoint, during the last two terms? Were theseparticularly 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,briefly?

Four examples of items coupled with rating scaleswere as follows:

(i)
Rate yourself honestly for the last year on yourlevel of enjoyment, your level of job satisfac-tion, and your ability as a teacher, coupled witha five-point rating scale labelled from ‘very low’to ‘very high’.
(ii)
How would you rate your feelings aboutteaching?: successful, satisfied, hopeful, ambi-tious, angry, exhausted, frustrated, important,respected by colleagues, respected by pupils,fulfilled, and confident, coupled with a five-point rating scale labelled from ‘not at all’ to‘extremely’.
(iii)
What are the important things that affect yourlife as a teacher?: salary, attitude of colleagues,bureaucracy, social interaction, management ofthe school, respect from the public, respectfrom pupils, respect from colleagues, havingsufficient time, workload, pupil success, andpupil behaviour, coupled with a five-pointrating scale labelled from ‘not important atall’ to ‘extremely important’.
(iv)
How often do you think about leaving theteaching profession?, coupled with a seven-pointrating scale labelled from ‘every day’ to ‘never’.
Of these 28 teachers, eight provided a completerecord of responses (i.e. replied to all 12 e-mails),and a further eight provided 10 or 11 responses;three teachers only responded intermittently; theremaining nine teachers failed to respond at allduring year 2. Of these nine teachers who failed torespond after their first year in post, it is possiblethat some of these may have left teaching, but noinformation is available on these teachers toindicate with any certainty who remained in theprofession.

A case summary was drawn up for each teacherand sent to the teacher mid-way through their thirdyear to check for accuracy.

3. Findings and discussion

The responses to the questionnaire are shownin Tables 1 and 2 separately for the ‘start of year’


and ‘end of year data’. It is evident that there is nomajor shift in opinion that occurs over the year.Looking at Table 1, a high percentage of thestudents are absolutely certain that they will bedoing a socially worthwhile job and will feel elatedby pupil achievement. In contrast, only a lowpercentage is absolutely certain that they will haveenough time to do a good job and that their pay willbe sufficient for their lifestyle. Also of particularnote in Table 1 is that few students are absolutelycertain that their training will have prepared themfor the job.

Looking at Table 2, very few students regard theirspecialist subject as more important than teachingpupils; and the majority of students expect around11–25 per cent of the job to involve bad times, andexpect to be involved in management within a fewyears. A clear majority (78 per cent at start of year,and 69 per cent at end of year)) also expected to stayin teaching for more than 10 years. This finding is inline with the figure of 70 per cent who ‘‘sawthemselves teaching in 10 years’ time’’ reported byManuel and Hughes (2006) for their questionnairesample of 79 pre-service teachers in Australia whowere in year 3 of a 5-year undergraduate secondaryschool teacher training programme.

Perhaps if there is a suggestion of a differenceemerging between the start of year and end of yeardata, it is in this final item, which suggests a slightmove towards more students at the end of the yearreporting they intend to stay in teaching for ashorter period than they reported at the start of theyear.

An analysis of the e-mail data comprised bothseparate case summaries for each of the 28 teachersand a search for general themes and trends thatwere evident when the data were looked at as awhole. These data highlighted the ups and downsfor teachers in the early part of their careers. Foreach teacher is a grid was drawn up of positives andnegatives in their response to each of the e-mails.For all the teachers there were both positives andnegatives. For some teachers there is a clear biastowards the positive: ‘pleasure at pupil success’, ‘avery good lesson’, ‘supportive staff’, ‘enthusiastic’(pleasure at pupil success was the most frequentlycited positive experience); while for other teachersthere is a clear bias towards the negative: ‘was neveraware how much teaching takes over your life’,‘arrogant pupils’, ‘may leave teaching in a year’(workload was the most frequently cited negativeexperience).

The following extracts, by way of illustration, aretaken from case CC, an English teacher, who wasunder 25 years of age at the start of the PGCE, at aco-educational 11–18 comprehensive school servinga small town in Yorkshire with 1500 pupils. At thestart and at the end of her PGCE year she waspositive and confident about becoming a teacher.She was ‘absolutely certain’ that she will be doing aworthwhile job, that she will have good rapportwith her pupils, and that teaching would fulfil herpersonal needs; she expected to stay in teaching forher entire working life and expected about 11–25 percent of the time to be bad times. The only notablechange in her responses over the PGCE year was amove from ‘absolutely certain’ at the start of theyear to ‘fairly sure’ at the end of the year regardingwhether her training will have prepared her for thejob. In late August, just before starting her first job,CC felt ‘‘extremely excited and petrified’’. She isexcited ‘‘by having my own classes that no else willinterfere with’’ and petrified of ‘‘getting lost and notknowing people’’. Her greatest fear is ‘‘that she willnot enjoy the job’’.

This following extract was taken 2 months’ intoher post.

I have more or less settled in but I am in adepartment that cannot cope with change. Over-whelming complacency is the norm. There is nocommitment, drive or innovation. People hardlyspeak to each other. There is little planning andco-ordination so I have to do everything fromscratch. I do not think I can work in thisdepartment for long and am looking for a newschool. I am totally exhausted and losing sleep.One year 10 class I teach is very demoralising. Iam surprised there are so many things (apartfrom teaching) to do, for example, break duty,bus duty, meetings, cover, etc. Marking takes toolong. I need to develop a coping strategy.

This next extract was made 6 months later (i.e. mid-way through her first year in post).

I am happy with my progress. It’s been an uphillbattle, lack of support. I have improved mysubject knowledge and planning. Still need tofocus on my classroom management and mark-ing. There is so much marking that once you fallbehind it is extremely difficult to catch up. Still,Easter should solve that. My low point was threeweeks after Christmas, physical exhaustion, I wason my knees, but satisfying to get through it.


High points included developing a much betterrelationship with a difficult year 10 class. Theyare now working much harder and their gradesare improving. An expected high point will bewhen year 11 hand in their overdue GCSEcoursework. It has been like trying to drawblood. I am sure I have chosen the right career. Iget a constant thrill from the teaching andinteraction with the pupils. I am never everbored and find it incredibly rewarding. I intend(at the moment) to stay in teaching for the rest ofmy life. Until November I was adamant I wouldleave the school. Now the Head of Departmenthas stood down and the replacement has createda relaxed atmosphere and has started talking,delegating and discussing. A new deputy headhas started getting involved in the NQT pro-gramme. This has all helped. I feel far morepositive about the school generally.

This final extract is taken from a communicationmid-way through her second year in post (she is stillat the same school):

Yes, I would advise a friend to teach, if theyreally wanted to. I have always wanted to teachand can’t imagine how you would do your job ifyou didn’t. When things are good it’s extremelyrewarding, but when it is bad it is emotionallyand physically draining and allows little oppor-tunity to do anything else except work and thinkabout work. Reasons to teach are the immensepleasure you get from spending time withstudents and seeing them develop, learn andgrow. As far as mentoring goes, you needguidance, support and encouragement. fromyour Head. An experienced teacher would bethe best mentor, providing they had a suitablepersonality. If you don’t get on with theperson, then mentoring is a waste of time. Youneed someone you can trust, so you cansay things without feeling inadequate or incom-petent. An NQT might be a good soundingboard, but cannot offer support and advice.Heads and Heads of Departments are too busy. Iwould dearly love to observe my colleagues.Being observed keeps me on my toes, and thefeedback is useful. This is the best way toimprove your teaching. I never think aboutleaving, even though I have felt extremely rundown, I would not leave. I learnt a lot lastyear and more this year and I realise there isstill more to learn. I have improved my strategies

for coping with the pressures, stress and theworkload. I put in the time because I enjoy myjob. Whether I would feel like this in a toughinner city school is another matter. I amconsidering applying for an assistant Head ofYear post. My department is still very frustrat-ing, but I do not need them so much now.I find interaction with my students priceless.I feel secure and established at the school, whichmakes a big difference to the way students treatyou.

During her second year, this teacher had taken onresponsibility for ITT training and looking afterNQTs, and her intention was to remain at theschool for the immediate future.

In order to convey more strongly the ‘voice’ ofthese 28 teachers, two further cases (BH and KM)are summarised in Appendix A. The mix ofexperiences that each teacher highlighted wellillustrates the way in which both positiveand negative experiences run in parallel; forexample, a teacher may convey a number ofpositive aspects of the way their work is goingwhilst at the same time feel they have made thewrong career choice and begin explore moving toanother career.

In analysing these 28 cases, we gradually workedthrough different possible models to represent whatwas happening and to understand why someteachers were able to incorporate their disappoint-ments without seriously calling into question theirintention to remain as teachers whilst others wereless able to do so.

During these analyses, we have been struck by theusefulness of ‘marriage’ and ‘divorce’ as metaphorsfor these teachers’ experiences. Entering teaching islike a marriage and leaving it is like a divorce. Onthe one hand, there are those who work hard attheir marriage to sustain it and who react to failedexpectations by seeking out new sources of satisfac-tion. On the other hand, there are those who just say‘I have had enough of this, I want to get out!’. Someof the phrases used by teachers, such as ‘‘I didn’tcome in to teaching to spend all my time doingpaperwork (or babysitting pupils who don’t want tolearn, or being an automaton doing whatever thegovernment wants teachers to do), convey the senseof career reappraisal noted by Huberman in hisresearch.

Looking at the data from these 28 teachers as awhole, what emerged for this group was the


importance of four key factors: the management ofthe school, having sufficient time, pupil behaviour,and having a happy private life. Where these weregoing well, the tilt was towards thepositive, with the teachers feeling they hadmade the right career choice and a move towardsa greater or sustained wish to remain in teaching;where these were seen as areas of disappointment,the tilt was towards the negative and a movetowards a reduced wish to remain teaching. How-ever, there were also cases, as also reported in thestudy by Flores and Day (2006), where beginningteachers who experience a balance titled towardsnegative circumstances nevertheless retained theirenthusiasm and commitment towards teaching as acareer, and cases where beginning teachers experi-encing a balance tilting towards positive circum-stances did not do so.

It is clear that the ‘agenda of expectations’ forbeginning teachers is a complex one and how theprecise experiences they encounter during theirPGCE year and in their first 2 years of teachinginteracts with the expectations they held at theoutset and how that in turn influences theirviews of teaching as a career will differ from caseto case. This complexity, which is evident fromconsidering these 28 cases, is largely a reflectionof the weight different teachers give to differentaspects of their work. For one teacher it is thesense of elation that comes from pupil success that isof particular importance, whilst for another itmight be not wanting to be buried under paperworkthat it the crucial factor. It would appear that it iswhen for each teacher those expectations they holddearest are being fulfilled or undermined that theirview of teaching as a career is most likely to beshaped.

This interpretation is supported by the studycarried out by Kersaint, Lewis, Potter, and Meisels(2006), who used telephone interviews to comparethe views of 901 teachers who had left the prof-ession with a demographically matched group of898 teachers who stayed in the profession drawnfrom two large school districts in Florida(the sample included elementary, middle andhigh schools). The ‘leavers’ rated ‘time withfamily’, ‘administrative support’ and ‘financialbenefits’ as more important to them compared withstayers; this suggests that teachers who are mostlikely to leave are those whose expectations arebeing disappointed in those areas that are mostimportant to them.

What is needed to explore this further is a studywhich can combine data about (i) areas ofdisappointed expectations; (ii) areas of importance;and (iii) retention. What, however, may add to thecomplexity here is that expectations and importancemay change over time. For example, Kersaint et al.(2006) note that once teachers start a family, theirviews about the importance of financial benefitsmay change from those they held when they firstentered teaching.

4. Conclusion

At a time when teacher retention is an area ofconcern, it is becoming increasingly important tounderstanding how beginning teachers’ expectationsabout teaching as a career impacts on their decisionto remain in the profession. This study sheds somelight on the expectations held by a group of studentteachers during their PGCE year and their first 2years in post. The findings indicate that it is difficultto discern a clear pattern that links the expectationsheld during their PGCE year with how theirexpectations of teaching develop during their first2 years in post.

What does appear to be evident is that, in linewith others studies, the four major influencingfactors which bear upon their commitment towardsteaching are: school management (and in particularthe degree to which senior staff in the school areseen to be supportive); time pressures (and inparticular a feeling that there is not time enoughto do the work demanded to an acceptablestandard); pupil behaviour (and in particular thedegree the teacher is able to experience and enjoypupils’ successes as against a feeling that pupils arebadly behaved and disaffected); and having a happyprivate life (and in particular a concern about theextent to which workload encroaches unacceptablyinto too much of the time for their private life).It is also interesting to note that concerns aboutpay were not highlighted by this sample during thefirst 2 years in post. This may be because thesalary for beginning teachers is generally quitegood, and this area of concern may only becomeacute several years into their career, whichteachers’ salary appear to lag behind that of otherprofessional careers.

This study indicates that more detailed long-itudinal research is needed to explore more fullyhow such expectations change during the firstfew years in teaching, and the extent to which


such expectations impact on the decision to remainin the profession. In view of the compl-exities involved here, it may be more fruitful forstudies to focus on the way in which beginningteachers reconstruct their identity as teachers andhow they balance their assessments of positive andnegative experiences.

Appendix A

A.1. Case BH

BH is male, was under 25 at the start of thePGCE course, and teaches modern languages. Hisfirst job was in Northumberland, in a smallex-mining town. The school also draws pupilsfrom some others similar towns nearby. It is aco-educational secondary school with 1100 pupils

Table A1

Time line Positive

Year 1:

August

He feels he wants to do some good for others; he is

confident that he will enjoy the work; he feels he has b

welcomed by the school: ‘‘they say there are looking

forward to working with me’’

October He feels he is settling in fine but is not used to continu

moving to new rooms. He feels confident and positive

feels he is impressing his colleagues and that the pupil

beginning to accept him

December He feels resolute: ‘‘I am learning not to take any shit an

come down hard on pupils’’; he is complimented about

he handled the October incident; he feels ‘‘the departme

like a family’’

January No response

March He feels he has made progress; he has received complim

from pupils about his teaching and feels a loyalty to t

school; he thinks he will stay at the school for another

June He feels happy; he loves the pupils; his personal life h

improved and he feels that things are going better tha

expected

Year 2:

September

He feels positive about teaching as a career and feels b

now than he did in June; his personal life has also impr

November He is being primed to take over as the Head of Spani

aged 13–18 years. During the PGCE year, BH saidhe was ‘absolutely certain’ that he will bedoing a socially worthwhile job, and only expectedless than 10 per cent of the time will be badtimes. However, he thought it was ‘unlikely’ that thejob is generally well respected by people (thislinks with his complaint that ‘‘teachers areassumed to be guilty when anything goes wrong’’made in March of his first year in post (see below).During the PGCE year he also thought that thepay will be sufficient for his lifestyle. At the end ofthe PGCE year he said he plans to ‘‘be in teachingfor a few years, go away and try somethingelse, then return to teaching’’: this links withhis explorations about other careers in Septemberand November of his second year in post(see below). Compared with most PGCE students,he is highly ambitious and expected to be promotedwithin 1–2 years (Table A1).

Negative

een

He feels apprehensive; his greatest fear is that ‘‘I don’t

deliver what is expected of me, and what I expect from

myself’’. He is disheartened by the publicity about teacher

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’’

ally

. He

s are

He feels there is too much paperwork to do; he is depressed

to hear that all the NQTs who joined the school last year

left before the end of the year; he feels he is not

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’’

d to

how

nt is

The October incident has caused him a lot of stress,

particularly as some pupils say he was to blame; a pupil

loses his temper when being told off and calls BH ‘‘a

homosexual’’

No response

ents

he

year

He feels he has not chosen the right career; he is angry

because ‘‘teachers are assumed to be guilty when anything

goes wrong’’

as

n

He criticises colleagues, the head of department, and the

time consuming nature of the job

etter

oved

He is about to start a course in management accountancy

and if successful, he intends to move into that field as a

career

sh 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)

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Table A1 (continued )

Time line Positive Negative

December He has organised a trip to a Roman Fortress and made

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 has applied to join the RAF

January He feels better; he is more positive and feels he manages his

time better; he plan to start going to church again

He has an interview for the RAF; if he gets the job he feels

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!’’

March 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

June He still feels ambitious and confident, and decides to

continue in teaching but wants to move to another school in

September (he does not say if his RAF application was

successful or not); he has found faith in Christianity which

has helped and he is looking forward to next year

Low salary, the poor attitudes of colleagues, and the poor

management of the head had the greatest effect on his

decision to leave this school

Table A2


Year 1:

August

She feels very confident 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 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

October She feels she is settling in well and loves teaching: ‘‘my

enthusiasm for teaching has definitely grown’’. She is

encouraged by applause in a lesson for a particularly

spectacular practical’’; she is getting plenty of advice about

discipline

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

December She feels she has made good progress and has achieved a

good balance between home and work

Her low point is ‘‘having a class that I could not control

(neither can anyone else)’’

January She feels ‘‘pretty good’’; the break has helped her to regroup,

get organised and be in a ‘‘fresh state of mind’’

She has started to ‘‘notice things about pupils, like wearing

trainers’’

March She has decided to move schools for financial reasons; she

feels she is definitely 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 other teachers ‘‘don’t listen to what I have to say,

because of my inexperience, and I feel I have some good

ideas’’

June 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 can’t see myself enjoying anything else or

having the same stimulation in any other career’’

She feels frustrated by the senior management team, whom

she feels offers her little support

Year 2:

September

She feels confident; 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

November She feels more valued ‘‘for the simple reason that he [the

head of department] is willing to listen to ideas, unlike the

last one’’

December She feels more involved and happier than she did last year She describes paperwork as a drag

C. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 1246–1257 1255

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Table A2 (continued )


January 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’’

March She finds the job rewarding and fulfilling and would advise

friends to join the teaching profession; she recommended

teaching to her mother, who is now a primary school NQT

June She describes herself as ambitious, and respected by

colleagues and pupils

She does not mention whether she applied for and got the

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 doesn’t seem to want to offer any

positions’’

C. Kyriacou, R. Kunc / Teaching and Teacher Education 23 (2007) 1246–12571256

When responding to the case summary sent tohim in year 3, BH confirmed he was now teaching ata new school in Yorkshire, and says he now realisesteaching ‘‘is not a job, it’s a career’’.

A.2. Case KM

KM is female, was under 25 at the start of thePGCE course, and teaches science, specialising inBiology. Her first job was in Surrey. The school is co-educational, with 950 pupils aged 11–16 years,serving a ‘‘rural, well-off area including a couple ofvillages’’. During her PGCE year, KM indicatedboth at the start and at the end of the year that sheexpected to spend her entire working life as a teacherand was absolutely certain that this was the rightcareer. Interestingly, however, at the start of the yearshe was ‘absolutely certain’ that the pay will besufficient for her lifestyle, but at the end of the PGCEyear she indicated this was ‘unlikely’: this links withher concerns about pay in March of first year in post(see Table A2). The only other notable change in thePGCE year was a move from being ‘absolutelycertain’ at the start of the year that the administra-tion associated with a teacher’s job is essential tobeing ‘fairly sure’ at the end of the PGCE year: thislinks with her description of paperwork as a drag inDecember of her second year in post (see Table A2).

When responding to the case summary sent to herin year 3, KM confirmed she was still teaching at hersecond school and said that ‘‘moving schools wasright for me’’.

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Documents

Beginning teachers’ expectations of teaching