This study set out to document and compare differences in career
paths and career aspirations between women and men primary school
teachers in the ACT. The study wished to confirm in the ACT, the kinds
of differences between career patterns well documented elsewhere and to
go beyond this to an exploration of why these differences persist and
the implications of them.
A questionnaire with factual items on teachers' career backgrounds
and open-ended questions on teachers' attitudes was sent to a random
sample of teachers in ACT government primary schools within the four
cells made by the two dichotomous criteria of women and men, promoted
and non-promoted. Data was tallied, categorized, and despite the small
sample, statistically significant differences were found:
Women take more and different kinds of leave; women teach the
younger children but have greater teaching experience across the grades;
in terms of intending to stay in their career, women have a greater
commitment to teaching than men.
Women are more negative towards promotion and express career
ambition in professionally oriented terms, i.e. in terms of children and
teaching. Men, particularly those promoted, express career ambitions in
extrinsic, promotional terms. Women have high career satisfaction;
promoted men are the most dissatisfied. In contrast with promoted men,
non-promoted men come from metropolitan areas and have less extrinsic
and more child-centred career aspirations.
Teachers' attitudes to grades were studied: grades 5/6 were the
most sought after for promotional purposes, had the highest status yet
were considered to be relatively easy to teach. The early years had
least value in promotional terms, lower status and were the most
difficult to teach.
The system needs to re-appraise definitions and assumptions about
teachers' careers in general and women's role as a commited group of
professional teachers. Teachers disinterested in conventional career
ambitions, most of whom are women, are undervalued while decision-making
is in the hands of non-practicioners in male-dominated heirarchical
structures.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219291 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Richards, Rosemary, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Rosemary Richards |
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