Educational Review, Vol. 55, No.

3, 2003

Student Teachers’ Expectations of

Teaching as a Career in England and
Norway
CHRIS KYRIACOU, University of York, UK
RICHARD KUNC, Bradford College, UK
PAUL STEPHENS & ÅGE HULTGREN, Stavanger University College, Norway

ABSTRACT Research on student teachers’ expectations regarding teaching as a

career may help explain the reasons underlying problems of teacher recruitment and
teacher retention which are causing concern in many countries. This study explores
the expectations held by a group of student teachers in York, England and Stavanger,
Norway. Questionnaires were completed by 121 York PGCE students and 75
Stavanger B.Ed. students. A majority of students in both groups were absolutely
certain that they will be doing a socially worthwhile job, will be happy with the
amount of holiday, and will feel elated by pupil achievement. However, only a low
percentage in both groups were absolutely certain they will have enough time to do
a good job. A majority of student teachers in both groups also regard teaching pupils
as more important than their specialist subject, expect a proportion of the job to
involve bad times (most often between 11 and 25% of the time), expect to be involved
in management within a few years, and expect to stay in teaching for more than 10
years. Overall, the Stavanger students appeared to hold more positive expectations.

Introduction
In many countries throughout the world there have been problems in both attracting
entrants into teaching as a career and in retaining those who do enter the profession.
These two problems are referred to as problems of ‘teacher recruitment’ and ‘teacher
retention’, respectively. In countries where there is intense competition in the labour
market for newly graduating students, teaching has to compete with a host of other
potential choices of career, such as marketing, management consultancy, account-
ancy, the media, banking, research and other public services. As such, problems with
teacher recruitment has been an issue for many years.
In recent years, however, studies have indicated that a large proportion of those
who do choose to enter the teaching profession, leave teaching for another career
within 5 years. In some countries, problems with teacher retention is now regarded
as being a greater cause of concern than problems with teacher recruitment (Mc-
Graw, 2001; Menter et al., 2002; Ross, 2002). No matter how successful strategies
are in increasing the supply of new teachers, if many of these do not remain in the
ISSN 0013–1911 print; 1465–3397 online/03/030255-09  2003 Educational Review
DOI:10.1080/0013191032000118910
256 C. Kyriacou et al.

profession for more than a few years, then maintaining a healthy workforce of
teachers will not be achievable, and the workforce that is in place will increasingly
be composed of young teachers who will inevitably lack the experience needed to
take on senior roles where effective leadership and management requires longer
experience.
A number of studies have explored the reasons given by teachers who leave the
profession within the first few years (Newson, 1993; Spear et al., 2000; Wilhelm et
al., 2000). Four reasons appear to be particularly frequent. Firstly, workload: the
workload is too heavy, the work is too pressurised and stressful, and there is too
much administration to do. Secondly, salary: the salary level does not provide them
with the type of lifestyle they want and the associated career prospects are poor.
Thirdly, disruptive pupils: some pupils’ constant misbehaviour makes the work too
difficult. Fourthly, low status: the status of the teaching profession is perceived to be
low. However, the various features of teaching as a career should not come as any
surprise to those who have thought about making this career choice, particularly as
the period of initial teacher training should provide them with a very good idea of
what the work involves. It may, of course, be the case that some new teachers have
overly optimistic views about the job, or that they are appointed to a school where
they face particularly challenging pupils, or it may be the case that many new
teachers never see teaching as a long-term career in the first place.
Despite the growing literature on the reasons why people choose a career in
teaching and why they decide to leave the profession (Menter et al., 2002; Ross,
2002), surprisingly little attention has been paid to the initial expectations of teaching
held by new teachers. As such, this study was designed to explore the expectations
held by student teachers about teaching as a career. The study focussed on a group
of student teachers during their initial teacher training at the University of York and
Stavanger University College. These two settings were chosen as part of an on-going
collaboration between these two universities which seeks to explore the ways in
which teaching and teacher education differ in England and Norway (the York–Sta-
vanger Project).
In England, problems of teacher recruitment and teacher retention have been
discussed widely (Coulthard & Kyriacou, 2000; Menter et al., 2002; Morris, 2001).
There are three stages to the problem of teacher drop out. A proportion of those who
start a teacher training course do not complete it. A proportion of those who
complete it do not take up posts as teachers. A proportion of those who take up posts
as teachers do not stay in the profession for very long. In England, about 40% of
those who embark on a training course never become teachers, and of those who do
become teachers, about 40% are no longer teaching 5 years later. Norway is one of
the countries identified by McGraw (2001) as having a skewed population of older
teachers, where there is a serious concern that the number of new teachers entering
the profession over the next 10 years will not be adequate to replace those who will
be retiring. The problem in Norway is largely one of recruitment rather than
retention.
One of the few studies that has looked at the impact of student teachers’
expectations on retention is that of Wilhelm et al. (2000) based on a longitudinal
study of a group of teachers who had trained in 1978 at Sydney Teachers’ College,
Australia. After 15 years, in 1993, 70 of these teachers had left teaching and 87 had
stayed in teaching. Looking at the data collected in 1978 as predictors of retention,
they reported that the most powerful predictor of retention was the extent to which
Student Teachers’ Expectations of Teaching as a Career 257

the student teachers anticipated gaining pleasure from teaching as a career. This
finding suggests that entering teaching with positive expectations may have a
significant impact on retention. One might speculate here that positive expectations
may provide new teachers with the momentum to carry them through the first few
years of teaching, during which time they will inevitably experience some problems,
disappointments and misgivings, and that this will enable them to establish them-
selves as teachers for the longer term. Wilhelm et al. note that of the 70 teachers who
left teaching, 74% of these had done so within the first 5 years. As such, anything
that can help new teachers develop and maintain confidence and enthusiasm for
teaching in these early years is likely to increase retention.

Data Collection
The main aim of this study was to explore the expectations of teaching as a career
held by two groups of student teachers at the start of their course of initial teacher
training. The first group comprised 121 PGCE students training to be secondary
school teachers for pupils aged 11–18 years at the University of York. The second
group comprised 75 first year B.Ed. students at Stavanger University College training
to teach pupils aged 6–16 years. In Norway, there are four phases of schooling:
primary (6–10 years), middle (10–13 years), junior high (13–16 years) and senior
high (16–18 years). Sometimes primary, middle and junior high are integrated into
one school to cover the full period of compulsory schooling (6–16 years). B.Ed.
students are prepared for the whole period of compulsory schooling. About two-
thirds of the Stavanger group expressed an intention to teach the primary/middle
school sector and one-third in the junior high school sector. As such, whereas the
York PGCE students were intending to pursue careers in secondary schools, the
Stavanger B.Ed. students included a mix of intentions across the primary/secondary
divide. This difference needs to be borne in mind when considering the data. All
student teachers completed a questionnaire during one of their teaching sessions at
the beginning of their first term to ensure a full (100%) response rate. The
questionnaire was translated into Norwegian for the Stavanger sample.
The questionnaire comprised 16 questions. Eleven statements were prefaced with
the question “When you are a qualified working teacher how certain do you feel
that …” together with a four-point response scale labelled from ‘unlikely’ to
‘absolutely certain’ (see Table I). The other five questions each had a specific
question together with a specific response scale (see Table II).

Findings and Discussion

The responses to the questionnaire are shown in Tables I and II. Looking at Table
I, a high percentage of the students in both groups (over 50%) are absolutely certain
that they will be doing a socially worthwhile job, will be happy with the amount of
holiday, and will feel elated by pupil achievement. In contrast, only a low percentage
in both groups (less than 10%) are absolutely certain that they will have enough time
to do a good job.
Looking at Table II, a majority of the students in both groups regard teaching
pupils as more important than their specialist subject, expect for around 11 to 25%
of the time the job will involve bad times, expect to be involved in management
within a few years, and expect to stay in teaching for more than 10 years.
 258

TABLE I. Percentage response to questions 1– 11 (rounded to the nearest whole number, so not all rows will total 100)

York students Stavanger students

(N ⫽ 121) (N ⫽ 75)

When you are a qualified working teacher Fairly Quite Absolutely Fairly Quite Absolutely
how certain do you feel that … Unlikely sure sure certain Unlikely sure sure certain

1. You will be doing a socially 0 3 26 70 0 0 43 57

worthwhile job?
2. You will have enough time to do 12 54 30 3 4 23 64 9
a good job?
3. Your chosen career is generally 4 24 54 18 3 25 52 20
well respected by people?
4. You will have a good rapport with 1 39 57 3 0 4 76 20
your pupils?
5. You will be happy with the amount 0 6 35 60 0 5 33 62
of holidays?
6. Teaching will fulfil your 1 24 64 11 1 20 58 21
personal needs?
7. The administration associated with 22 41 28 10 8 38 38 17
a teacher’s job is essential?
8. You will feel elated by 1 8 27 65 0 3 25 72
pupil achievement?
9. Your pay will be sufficient for 13 38 37 12 14 32 43 11
your lifestyle?
10. Your training will have prepared 0 35 61 4 0 16 67 17
you for the job?
11. The teaching profession is the 0 26 51 22 1 19 45 35
right career for you?
C. Kyriacou et al.
Student Teachers’ Expectations of Teaching as a Career 259

TABLE II. Percentage response to questions 12–16 (rounded to the nearest whole number)

12. What is more important to you, your specialist subject or teaching pupils?

Subject Both Mainly

without Mainly equally teaching Teaching pupils
doubt subject important pupils without doubt

York 0 7 52 32 10
Stavanger 0 0 39 40 21

13. Every job has good times and bad times. What proportion of the time might you
expect to be bad times?

Less than 10% 11–25% 26–40% More than 40%

York 12 59 23 6
Stavanger 37 56 7 0

14. How many years do you expect to work as a basic teacher before promotion?

1–2 years 3–4 years 5–6 years More than 6 years

York 21 65 12 2
Stavanger 0 16 32 53

15. Would you hope to be involved in management (as well as teaching) in your
school, within a few years?

Definitely Probably Probably Definitely

not not yes yes

York 2 26 53 20
Stavanger 5 32 56 7

16. How long do you plan to stay in the teaching profession (in any capacity)?

3 years More than My entire

or less 4–10 years 10 years working life

York 0 22 41 36
Stavanger 0 7 43 50

There are also some differences between the two groups, which are statistically
significant using a chi-square test (for p ⬍ 0.05) based on a two-by-two frequency
table which collapses the response scale into two categories as appropriate. The
Stavanger students compared with the York students are more certain that they will
have enough time to do a good job, that they will have good rapport with pupils, that
administrative work is essential, and that their training will prepare them for the job
(see Table I). The Stavanger students also regarded teaching pupils as more
important than their specialist subject, expected less bad times, expected to be a basic
teacher for longer before promotion, and expected to stay in teaching longer (see
Table II). Overall, the Stavanger students seem to hold more positive expecta-
260 C. Kyriacou et al.

tions about teaching. An exploration of the reasons for such differences will require
further research at these two sites, as well as research at other institutions in England
and Norway, before we can identify how widely expectations vary within a country
and whether they are certainly differences which are fairly consistent between the
two countries.
In England, the PGCE students received a training bursary of £6,000 during their
training year as part of a government initiative aimed to increase the number of
students applying for PGCE courses. There is no training bursary for the Stavanger
students, although they do receive a student loan. One might speculate that in
England more students with less positive expectations of teaching as a career may be
encouraged by such a bursary to give teaching a try, and this may in part account for
some of the differences between the two groups in their expectations.
Based on the study by Wilhelm et al. (2000), discussed earlier, these findings also
suggest that the Stavanger group is likely to stay in teaching longer, but differences
between the two groups will be influenced by many factors of which expectations is
only one. Indeed, Kyriacou et al. (2002), in a study comparing the views of
undergraduates concerning teaching as a career in different countries, have pointed
out how cultural, social and economic factors play an important part in shaping the
attitudes and expectations about teaching as a career held in different countries. What
is of key importance is to consider how the expectations held by student teachers
when they started their training change once they enter teaching. This requires a
longitudinal study, and this is currently being undertaken by one of the authors
(Kunc, 2002).
Research on student teachers’ motivation to become school teachers (e.g. Kyria-
cou et al., 1999) indicates that the reasons given fall into three main categories:
altruistic reasons (e.g. wanting to help others succeed), intrinsic reasons (e.g.
enjoying the activity of teaching) and extrinsic reasons (e.g. long holidays). Those
aspects that motivate a person to choose teaching as a career will be based on their
expectations of what the job will be like in reality. As such, those expectations that
played an important part in the student’s choice of teaching as a career and which
are not subsequently realised by the reality of the job may well be critical in
explaining why some new teachers leave the profession within the first few years.
For example, data here indicate that many students expect to be elated by pupil
achievement. If they find they are teaching in a school where opportunities to help
pupils succeed are very limited, they may find this is very discouraging. Similarly,
another example here is that many students expect to be involved in management
within a few years. Again, if this does not occur, they may feel frustrated. However,
these expectations need to take account of their importance to the individual. We
need to distinguish between expectations which are important for their career choice
and for their decision to remain in the profession, and those expectations which are
not important. This will vary from individual to individual. A crucial question that
needs to be explored in further research is to ask student teachers and new teachers
to indicate which expectations, if not met by the reality of the job, would lead them
to think seriously about leaving teaching as a career.
The work of Herzberg and Maslow is also pertinent here (Herzberg et al., 1959;
Maslow, 1970). Herzberg distinguished between two types of factors that appear to
influence people’s attitudes towards their job. The first set of factors are those which
appear to influence job satisfaction, such as achievement, advancement, recognition,
responsibility and the work itself. Herzberg labelled these ‘motivator factors’. The
Student Teachers’ Expectations of Teaching as a Career 261

second group of factors are those that appear to influence job dissatisfaction, such as
organisational policies, administration, supervision, interpersonal relations and the
working conditions. This latter set were labelled ‘hygiene factors’. Herzberg argued
that if the hygiene factors were poor, we would experience job dissatisfaction, but
that improving hygiene factors beyond a certain level would simply remove job
dissatisfaction, but would not create job satisfaction. Herzberg argued that job
satisfaction would only occur if the motivator factors were good. Herzberg noted that
motivator factors tended be intrinsic to the job, whilst hygiene factors tended to
extrinsic to the job. This distinction has strong parallels with Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs, and his distinction between low-level deficiency needs (e.g. physiological and
safety needs) and high-level growth needs (e.g. esteem and self-actualisation).
Herzberg’s hygiene factors address Maslow’s low-level deficiency, whilst motivator
factors address high-level growth needs. The work of Herzberg and Maslow would
suggest that in order to fully understand the impact that student teachers’ expecta-
tions have on recruitment and retention, some attention needs to be given to whether
the factors that influence staying in the profession are the same as or different from
the factors that influence leaving the profession.
Within this framework, the decision to stay in or leave the profession could be
explained in terms of the relative balance between, on the one hand, the degree of
satisfaction based on motivator factors and high-level needs and, on the other hand,
the degree of dissatisfaction based on hygiene factors and low-level needs. For
example, in this study, being elated by pupil achievement would be classed as a
motivator factor which impacts on the level of satisfaction, whilst viewing the pay
as sufficient for your lifestyle would be classed as a hygiene factor which impacts on
the level of dissatisfaction. The use of this framework to explore how motivator
factors and hygiene factors impact on teacher satisfaction, dissatisfaction and reten-
tion has been employed in a number of studies (e.g. Gawel, 1997; Kaufman, 1984).
The importance of considering how factors motivate and demotivate teachers also
seems to be supported by a large scale survey of 70,011 teachers carried out by the
General Teaching Council (2003), who found that the top three factors which
continue to motivate teachers were working with young people, a sense of personal
achievement, and the stimulating nature of the teacher’s role, whilst the top three
factors which demotivate teachers most were workload, initiative overload, and a
target-driven culture. Fifty-six per cent of the teachers reported that their morale was
lower now than when they first became a teacher, 27% reported it was about the
same, and 11% reported it was now higher (6% did not state their view). The General
Teaching Council’s findings regarding teachers’ complaints about a heavy workload
echo reports by Price Waterhouse Coopers (2001) and the School Teachers’ Review
Body (2002). Concerns about the impact of a heavy workload on teacher recruitment
and retention in England have been widely discussed and have resulted in an number
of strategies being put in place to reduce teachers’ workload (Department for
Education and Skills, 2003). Concerns about a heavy workload are also evident in
Norway. Nordanger and Lindqvist (2002) note that teacher workload has increased
considerably during the last decade in most Western societies, and in Scandinavia the
amount of time spent working outside the classroom on marking, preparation and
administration is causing particular problems.
The General Teaching Council’s study also reported that these three motivators
(and a love of my subject) were also evident in the teachers’ initial decision to
become teachers, and in this respect their initial expectations about teaching as a
262 C. Kyriacou et al.

career were being realised. In contrast, it was primarily the frustrations and lowering
of morale caused by the three demotivators that was impacting on the intention of
many of these teachers to leave the profession.
This approach is also evident in the study reported by Heafford and Jennison
(1998), who collected data from 165 teachers who completed their PGCE (second-
ary) at the University of Cambridge 16 years earlier in 1978. They found that 51%
were still teaching in secondary schools or post-16 colleges, 25% were working in
a range of education-related posts (including working in higher education), 20%
were employed in non-education related posts, and 5% were unemployed. When the
respondents were asked about factors which contributed to or detracted from the
enjoyment of teaching, the main positive factors cited were ‘working with young
people in the classroom’ and ‘enjoyment of using their subject knowledge’. The main
detractors cited were ‘administrative tasks’ and ‘teaching load’. It is interesting to
note however that several factors (e.g. status, provision of resources, physical
working conditions) were rated highly by some as a positive factors that contributed
to enjoyment of job and by others as negative factors that detracted from enjoyment
of the job. This reflects both differences between schools (e.g. some schools are
better resourced than others) and differences between teachers in their expectations
(e.g. some teachers’ expectations of the resources may be higher than those of other
teachers). This begs the question as to whether some teachers who left the profession
would still be there had they got a job in a school which better met their
expectations. When the group who were currently in non-education related jobs were
asked about what could be done to prevent teachers like themselves leaving, they
cited the need to improve salary, conditions of service and esteem. However, it was
also evident that for many of them the reasons for leaving included a lack of success
and satisfaction in the job, a feeling that teaching was ‘not for them’. What is of issue
here is whether the job was really ‘not for them’ or whether they merely found
themselves in a school that did not meet their expectations. Many teachers who leave
teaching do so within the first few years, and are thus likely to do so after having
experience of just one school on a full-time basis. As such, the experience of early
success and satisfaction in a teacher’s first appointment is crucial for retention. If the
introduction in 1999 of a compulsory induction year in England for all new teachers,
which includes a structured programme of support, can provide a framework in
which new teachers experience early career success and satisfaction, this may
thereby increase retention.

Conclusion
At a time when a number of countries are facing problems of teacher recruitment and
teacher retention, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how teachers’
initial expectations about teaching as a career impact on their decision to become
teachers and to remain in the profession. This study sheds some light on the initial
expectations held by a group of student teachers studying at York and Stavanger.
Longitudinal research is needed to explore how such expectations influence the
motivation to choose teaching as a career, how such expectations change during the
first few years in teaching, and the extent to which such expectations impact on the
decision to remain in the profession.
Student Teachers’ Expectations of Teaching as a Career 263

Correspondence: Chris Kyriacou, Department of Educational Studies, University of

York, York YO10 5DD, UK.

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