A people profession: understanding the career decisions of early career teachers in England

England, like many countries, has experienced enduring issues with teacher
recruitment and retention for over 50 years, with short periods when teacher demand
has been met. The profession’s volatility complicates workforce planning, demanding
research into teachers’ career decision-making. While existing literature often focuses
on one or two career decision points, this thesis investigates teaching as a career
trajectory: exploring the justifications that explain early career teachers’ decisions to
enter, remain in, and potentially leave the profession. I present a systematic literature
review and a reflexive thematic analysis of 44 interviews with early career teachers in
England. I developed a theoretical framework which reconciles major sociological
divergences, bringing together Bourdieu’s theory of practice and Archer’s
morphogenetic approach to understand teachers’ career decision-making. The
themes—the journey of helping others, the intuitive feel and the social influence sub
themes of homeward bound, being kidfluenced, mentored into momentum, socially
boosted and wisdom on loan—were developed through abductively coding. Teachers’
referral to others unifies the themes, characterising teaching as a people profession.
This research contributes a matrix that maps career justifications across two parallel
categories: intrinsic versus extrinsic motivations and philosophical versus practical
environments. I contribute three developments to social theory. Firstly, I demonstrate
the stratification of Bourdieu’s social capital, showing how social contacts offer
teachers varying job market advantages. Secondly, I expand on Archer’s communicative
reflexivity, to include how external conversations with others and imagined futures
through others influence career decision-making. Thirdly, I introduce the concept of the
negotiated habitus by linking Bourdieu’s habitus with Archer’s communicative
reflexivity. The findings support existing and new initiatives, including supporting
altruistic motivations, reducing workload, encouraging flexible working, extending
mentorship, addressing student behaviour and elevating the profession’s status. I
recommend future research identifies long-term justifications of mid-career and more
experienced teachers to inform further strategies.