Teachers' Professional Learning and the Workplace Curriculum

Abstract

Every year, a new set of Danish teachers graduate and begin work in a school, hereby embarking upon a career trajectory teaching various classes and subjects and meeting new colleagues, pupils, parents and the school management. This often represents a considerable challenge; indeed, so great are the challenges faced by new teachers that a number of them soon begin considering changing careers and leaving the profession. Among Danish teachers who graduated in 1997, almost one in four (23%) had left teaching by 2007 (FTF, 2007). Over time, those who remain develop career strategies, partly based on the various career opportunities and pathways which can be identified within the profession, partly based on their individual circumstances. In this chapter, we present the results of a case study which, by describing and analysing the teaching and collegial relations of two male teachers during their first 8 years in the profession, shows two very different career trajectories and career strategies. In other words, the two teachers trod two different pathways among the multitude of possible career trajectories open to teachers. The objective of this study was to shed light on teachers' professional learning and the relationship between their career strategies and career trajectories. Teachers' career trajectories have been described and analysed by Sikes (1985), Fessler and Christensen (1992), Huberman (1993, 1997) and Day et al. (2007) among others. In studies of teachers' career trajectories, changes have usually been outlined in the form of a number of phases from entering the profession to retirement. Career trajectories are understood, as is the case here, as changes in relation to teachers' formal and informal positions within the school system, and in relation to their handling and perception of teaching, collegial relations and their role as teachers. Teachers' career trajectories and career strategies are, however, not universal, but rather situated within a particular context, influenced by a complex web of social, historical and institutional factors. The closer one studies the individual teacher's career trajectory, the more it appears almost unique. In this chapter, we attempt to strike a balance, primarily focusing upon the internal relationships between schools, teaching, colleagues and teachers' professional learning, career trajectories and career strategies.