Naser Shirbagi
University of Kurdistan
Naser Shirbagi is an Associate Professor in Educational Administration and a faculty member of the University of Kurdistan in Iran. He graduated from Panjab University- Chandigarh in India and is interested in the areas of school management and leadership and human resource management in education. He is also editor of the School Administration Journal which is published in Persian language in Iran.
Abstract
The present research aims in exploring teachers’ experience and perception of the concept of career path due to the significance teachers’ maintenance. The research was conducted with an interpretive paradigm and a phenomenography strategy. Participants were Iranian Teachers in the city of Sanandaj. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 52 teachers (34 male and 18 women) who were selected by purposeful sampling with maximum diversity. Teachers experienced career path as the three concepts of achieving managerial positions, professional growth and meaninglessness of the concept of career path. These concepts were under the influence of factors including personal issues (such as critical situations or family dynamics), organizational environment (such as the educational system expectations or managerial style), the economic situations (such as teacher welfare and compensation) and the political factor (such as factionalism and the existence of relationships) for teachers. In the emerging concepts, there were differences in terms of goals, process, results, and orientation. According to new regulations in Iran, teachers can continue their education up just to one level higher than their level of education, and if they continue to study and have higher levels of qualifications, they cannot change their positions, which is an obstacle to their career development. Male teachers identified the existence of various discrimination and political relationships as the most significant obstacles in their career path, while female teachers identified the culture of society and patriarchy as the most important obstacles. They tried to empower themselves and create some kind of cognitive hope in personal philosophy in order to counteract the lack of a career path. Teachers, for example, have tried to mitigate the role of institutional discrimination in society, by providing practical solutions to strengthen their abilities, use their skills and talents through the opportunity of professional growth and achieve a better position in associations, networks, society and especially in the school system. The consequence of these experiences was the formation of equality discourse among women and men in achieving a career path. Accordingly, although the schools’ realities indicate that there are still no adequate grounds for women access to the career path, in the theoretical field, they seek to find audiences to hear their voices in the educational system. Participant teachers in the present research had an emotional point of view towards teachers’ career path. Also, teachers used self-reference evaluations to represent their experiences.
