ABSTRACT

Since the mid-1980s, the working lives of teachers has become an enduring research topic. Much research has focused on early-career teachers and is often reported from deficit positions, i.e. why they leave the profession. However, career trajectory studies have described a small cohort of veteran teachers who remain positive and committed to teaching. This article reports on the creation and piloting of an instrument designed to test whether this positive cohort can be empirically identified within a wider teaching population. Four constructs (experimentation, challenge, comfort and leadership) drawn from Huberman (1993), and Day and Gu (2007) formed the basis for an online pilot survey completed by 145 teachers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported three of the four factors (experimentation, comfort, leadership), with challenge loading strongly with experimentation. Initial findings suggest the potential of the instrument in helping identifying positive veteran teachers within systems, as well as the voracity of the research approach. Examining and articulating how these veteran teachers maintain their positive outlook may prove valuable as many countries confront an ageing teaching workforce, increasing student numbers and difficulties in retaining experienced teachers, meaning those who remain will be expected to sustain their commitment for longer.

摘要

自1980年代中期以来，教师的工作生活已成为一个持久的研究课题。许多研究都集中在早期职业教师上，并且经常从赤字职位（即他们为什么离开该行业）中进行报告。但是，职业发展轨迹研究描述了一小群资深教师，他们仍然保持积极并致力于教学。本文报告了一种仪器的创建和试行情况，该仪器旨在测试是否可以在更广泛的教学人群中根据经验确定这种积极的队列。从Huberman（1993）以及Day and Gu（2007）得出的四种结构（实验，挑战，舒适和领导）构成了由145名教师完成的在线试点调查的基础。探索性和确定性因素分析支持四个因素中的三个（实验，舒适度，领导力），挑战充满了实验。初步发现表明，该工具具有潜力，可以帮助确定系统内的资深资深教师，以及研究方法的多样性。由于许多国家面临着教师队伍老化，学生人数增加以及聘请经验丰富的教师的困难，因此对这些资深教师如何保持乐观的态度进行检查和阐明可能是有价值的，这意味着留守的教师将有望保持更长的承诺。