Teacher career journey – Progress
These are the key insights, opportunities, goals, drivers and blockers in the progress phase of the teacher career journey.
Overview
After the launch phase teachers look to make progress in several ways:
- grow their career
- impact more students and colleagues
- reduce the impact of disadvantage
- make their mark.
Once teachers have progressed through a new role, position or project, they are likely to optimise before looking for the next opportunity to progress.
Insights
- Teachers struggle to reconcile career and salary progression with the reward of face-to-face student time.
- The highs of working directly with students makes every other task feel bland, especially administrative duties.
- Lack of work-life balance becomes more of a problem when tasks don’t directly impact students.
- Teachers now reconcile their inner purpose with the department by either impacting more students or reducing the negative impact of disadvantage on students.
Opportunities
- How might we help teachers increase job satisfaction and compensation?
- How might we help teachers leverage the highs of student interaction and feel energised throughout?
- How might we foster and ensure effective support networks for teachers tackling new professional challenges?
- How might we relieve teachers from time-consuming out-of-classroom tasks and focus their energy on student growth?
In-depth research
The key jobs to be done in the progress phase are:
“There was no-one to talk to about my career … what I was going to do and in which direction? I was feeling disconnected to the actual pedagogy of new trends. I was floundering because I didn’t have the qualifications to back myself.”
Opportunities
- How might we help teachers secure a rewarding career pathway and reach their full potential?
- How might we help teachers increase job satisfaction and compensation?
- How might we re-energise teachers who stay in the same role for a long time?
- How might we help teachers find an area of expertise they enjoy in order to forge their pathway?
Key blocker
- I have an uncertain career pathway and risk relinquishing direct student teaching.
Key driver
- To advance my career and secure future professional opportunities.
General blockers
- I have to trade off job satisfaction and direct contact with, and impact on, students for increased compensation.
- Going corporate or beyond the standard teaching career pathway seems risky.
- I don’t feel additional compensation is commensurate with the additional responsibilities.
- It’s an effort to maintain and extend my professional network which is where I would find other opportunities.
- I don’t want to relocate my life for the sake of a promising professional opportunity.
- Completing external applications takes effort.
- I don’t know how to write an effective external application.
- I don’t want to waste time on applications where an internal candidate is likely to succeed.
- I’m worried the principal will not recommend me for future opportunities.
- I get the feeling that my skills and experience aren’t valuable in the light of competition from younger teachers.
- I’m not sure which skills might lead to the best opportunities.
- I feel disconnected and disregarded for school positions I apply for when my current position isn’t in that school.
- I’m anxious about taking the right direction.
General drivers
- Increasing my compensation is important.
- I want to widen my impact on students.
- I want to increase the support for students.
- Supporting other teachers is important to me.
- I’ve exhausted all valuable opportunities available in my role.
- I’m feeling bored and stagnant in my role and I’m looking for new energy.
- I’m strengthening the expertise I want to develop.
- I enjoy staying abreast of new trends and technology.
- I’m future-proofing my career with several options.
- I enjoy finding valuable pedagogy that is up to date with current teaching methods, practices and trends.
Tasks
- determine next position/role/curricular and extracurricular duties
- explore opportunities beyond the department
- network in and outside my school
- monitor job forums
- complete an application
- go for an interview
- accept or decline an offer
- determine and submit a project proposal.
“You need to have a mentor to guide you as well as a confidante being a positive influence to say ‘hey, you’re doing the right thing’. Having that makes you feel more welcome when it comes to doing your job.”
Opportunities
- How might we foster and ensure effective support networks for teachers tackling new professional challenges?
- How might we prepare and educate teachers to tackle new professional challenges?
Key blocker
- Finding professional feedback on my performance, and a peer to confide in.
Key driver
- Progressing my career and succeeding in my new position.
General blockers
- It takes effort to access insightful professional supervision.
- I’m anxious about requesting guidance from someone trustworthy about my personal experiences and challenges.
- I’m afraid of making mistakes and being embarrassed in front of peers and students.
- It takes effort to adapt to different or new IT tools and ways of working.
- It’s difficult to fit time for education and training into my existing schedule.
- I have to renegotiate home and parental duties to make time for education and training.
- There is an additional cost for education and training.
- I have so many time-consuming tasks to complete that have minimal impact on student outcomes.
- It requires a big effort to engage parents who are reluctant to support in-class learning outside of school time.
General drivers
- I’m excited about learning new things and increasing my skill set.
- I get great satisfaction from widening my impact on students.
- I want to increase my support for students I feel are under-supported.
- I have clarity on how peers and predecessors approach similar work.
- I’m being coached in new ways of teaching from supportive teachers with more experience.
- New practices and methods leave me feeling certain about my ability.
- Leveraging prior experiences gives me confidence.
Tasks
- grow support network
- obtain actionable feedback from support network
- determine and undertake suitable training
- implement school-wide initiatives.
“What really drove me to make progress in my own career was to become an advocate for kids that have every right to be educated in the same setting as another student. When a student has additional needs in their classroom and they don’t have anyone speaking for them or being their advocate then they don’t have access to the curriculum on the same basis as their peers.”
Opportunities
- How might we foster and ensure effective support networks for teachers tackling new professional challenges?
- How might we prepare and educate teachers to tackle new professional challenges?
Key blocker
- Spending too much unnecessary time on tasks that don’t affect student outcomes.
Key driver
- Make my mark and affirm my position and identity as an educator.
General blockers
- I’m frustrated by the number of administrative duties I have to do outside the classroom.
- It takes effort to plan, prioritise and switch between multiple teaching duties.
- It takes time to assess, analyse, personalise and report on individual student learning, particularly for students with learning difficulties.
- There are sensitivities about competing for jobs with peers I want to collaborate with.
- It’s a major effort to engage students in schools where there are prevalent behavioural issues and a lot of time is spent managing those behaviours.
- With the existing schedule it is difficult to fit in time for new initiatives.
- It is an effort to lead colleagues and parents who are not open to new approaches.
- I feel anxious about the risks associated with an initiative I want to lead.
- It is an effort to learn the new skills required to deliver an idea or initiative.
General drivers
- Progressing my career affirms my position and identity as an educator.
- I feel a sense of accomplishment through student progress.
- I get a lot of satisfaction and joy from witnessing my students progress emotionally and intellectually.
- I feel encouraged by constructive feedback.
- It is satisfying experimenting with new ways of engaging students.
- I am making my professional mark.
- I’m improving the education system on a micro and macro level.
Tasks
- manage the classroom
- plan lessons and create materials
- research and experiment with new ways of engaging students
- assess and analyse student progress
- provide students with emotional support
- work cooperatively with parents and carers
- troubleshoot student behaviour difficulties
- participate in extracurricular activities
- collaborate with colleagues
- pitch my initiative or program to colleagues and more broadly.
“You work your way up, and for what? If you want higher pay then the expectations go up. If you want leadership then you get more responsibility to students, teachers and parents. There are extra pressures of higher roles that don’t compensate for what’s expected.”
Opportunities
- How might we help teachers better manage the highs and lows of student interaction to feel energised throughout?
- How might we relieve teachers from time-consuming out-of-classroom tasks that have a low perceived value to student outcomes?
- How might we reinforce the purpose of key out-of-classroom tasks?
Key blocker
- having to comply with work responsibilities of out-of-school hours.
Key driver
- reclaiming my personal life and wellbeing.
General blockers
- There is an increasing number of new duties I have to satisfy obligations in and out of the classroom.
- It is hard to plan, prioritise and switch between multiple teaching duties while avoiding small tasks that cause disruption.
- Maintaining the high quality of such a large amount of work is hard.
- I’m left feeling like I could to do more to assist student growth.
- There are so many time-consuming tasks to do that have minimal impact on student outcomes.
- I work in an environment that keeps me from being effective.
- Having to fulfil my duty of care outside of school hours never ends.
- It is hard to meet the communication expectations of parents.
- It takes time and effort to gain additional income (for example tutoring).
General drivers
- I can meet my family and social obligations.
- I’m confident about what work can be compromised without impacting on student outcomes.
- I save time reusing my own resources.
- I’m careful to avoid burnout.
Tasks
- cooperate with parents and carers
- perform general administrative work
- plan lessons and create materials
- assess and analyse student progress
- provide strong guidance to students
- collaborate with colleagues
- participate in school management.
Glossary
Job to be done: A core goal that a teacher is trying to achieve to feel progress.
Driver: A factor that motivates teachers towards achieving a job.
Blocker: A factor that stops teachers from achieving a job.
Insights: A highlighted observation of teacher behaviour.
Opportunities: A thought starter that reframes key insights into potential areas for ideation.
Tasks: Activities that must be performed in order to achieve a job.
Want to know more?
Email us at askgef@det.nsw.edu.au.