Ambivalent journey: Teacher career paths in Oman

Ambivalent journey: Teacher career paths in Oman

David W. Chapman • Thuwayba Al-Barwani •

Fathiya Al Mawali • Elizabeth Green

Published online: 29 April 2012

� Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Abstract This study investigated the career paths of 625 university graduates who

prepared to be secondary school teachers in Oman, their assessment of their current

work situation, and the extent to which their initial commitment to teaching was

related to their subsequent career satisfaction and intention to remain in teaching.

While nearly all graduates entered teaching, their decision was marked by

ambivalence. Nearly half of the graduates reported being only somewhat or not at

all committed to teaching as a career when they graduated. It also appears that initial

commitment to teaching operates as an important lens through which teachers view

their subsequent careers. Those initially more committed to teaching were more

likely to be satisfied with the progress they made in their career, more likely to think

that their current teaching position offered them opportunities for advancement, and

more likely to want to remain in teaching than were graduates who had a lower

initial commitment to teaching. The authors discuss both the theoretical and prac-

tical implications of these findings.

Keywords Teachers � Career paths � Teacher retention � Oman � Middle East

D. W. Chapman (&) � E. Green

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, University of Minnesota,

Minneapolis, MN, USA

e-mail: [email protected]

E. Green


T. Al-Barwani

College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman


F. A. Mawali

Oman Ministry of Education in Muscat, Muscat, Oman


123

Int Rev Educ (2012) 58:387–403

DOI 10.1007/s11159-012-9293-5

Resume Parcours professionnels des enseignants du Sultanat d’Oman : un

cheminement ambivalent – La presente etude examine les parcours professionnels

de 625 diplomes d’universite qui se destinaient au professorat de l’enseignement

secondaire a Oman ainsi que leurs opinions sur leur situation professionnelle

actuelle, et si la satisfaction pour leur carriere ulterieure et leur intention de pour-

suivre dans la profession refletent leur engagement initial dans l’enseignement.

Alors que presque tous ces diplomes ont embrasse la carriere d’enseignant, leur

decision etait empreinte d’ambivalence. Presque la moitie d’entre eux declarent

n’avoir ete que peu ou pas du tout convaincus par cette profession au moment de

leur diplome. Il ressort en outre que leur conviction premiere en faveur de l’ens-

eignement agit comme une loupe a travers laquelle ils jugent leur carriere ulterieure.

Les plus convaincus lors de la decision initiale sont aussi plus susceptibles d’etre

satisfaits de leur progression professionnelle, de penser que leur position actuelle

leur ouvre des opportunites de promotion, et de desirer continuer a enseigner.

Les auteurs analysent les implications tant theoriques que pratiques de ces

conclusions.

Zusammenfassung Zwiespaltige Reise: Der berufliche Werdegang von Lehrkraften

in Oman – Untersuchungsgegenstand dieser Studie war der berufliche Werdegang von

625 Universitatsabsolventen und -absolventinnen, die sich auf den Lehrerberuf an einer

Sekundarschule in Oman vorbereiteten: wie sie ihre derzeitige Arbeitsplatzsituation

einschatzen und inwiefern ihre anfangliche Einstellung zum Unterrichten mit ihrer

spateren Berufszufriedenheit und ihrer Absicht, auch weiterhin als Lehrkraft tatig zu

sein, in Zusammenhang steht. Zwar sind fast alle Absolvent(inn)en in den Lehrerberuf

eingestiegen, doch war ihre Entscheidung von Ambivalenzen gepragt. Fast die Halfte

von ihnen gab an, sich beim Abschluss nur wenig oder gar nicht fur den Lehrerberuf

begeistert zu haben. Anscheinend dient das anfangliche Bekenntnis zum Unterrichten in

erheblichem Maß auch als Brille, durch die die Lehrkrafte ihre anschließende

Berufslaufbahn betrachten. Diejenigen, die sich zu Beginn entschiedener zu ihrer

Unterrichtstatigkeit bekannten, wiesen hinsichtlich der Fortschritte, die sie wahrend

ihrer beruflichen Laufbahn gemacht haben, eine hohere Zufriedenheit auf; sie

waren haufiger der Ansicht, dass ihre derzeitige Position als Lehrkraft ihnen

Aufstiegsmoglichkeiten bietet, und sie hatten haufiger die Absicht, den Lehrerberuf

auch weiterhin auszuuben, als Absolventen, deren anfangliche Begeisterung fur das

Unterrichten geringer war. Die Autorinnen und Autoren diskutieren sowohl die

theoretischen als auch die praktischen Implikationen dieser Ergebnisse.

Resumen Viaje ambivalente: trayectorias profesionales de docentes en Oman –

Los autores de este estudio investigaron las trayectorias profesionales de 625

graduados universitarios que se preparaban para ser docentes de la escuela secun-

daria en Oman; cual era la evaluacion que hacıan de su situacion laboral actual y en

que medida su inicial compromiso con la docencia se relacionaba con su posterior

satisfaccion con la carrera y con la intencion de seguir dedicandose a la ensenanza.

Si bien casi todos los graduados comenzaron a trabajar como docentes, su decision

estaba marcada por la ambivalencia. Aproximadamente la mitad de los graduados

388 D. W. Chapman et al.

123

informaron que solamente sentıan un poco o ningun compromiso con la ensenanza

como carrera cuando se graduaron. Tambien se manifiesta que el compromiso

inicial con la profesion docente como carrera funciona como una especie de lente

importante por la que los docentes visualizan sus posteriores carreras. Los

graduados que inicialmente sentıan un mayor compromiso con la ensenanza eran

mas propensos a estar mas satisfechos con el progreso de sus carreras, mas

propensos a pensar que su actual posicion como docentes les ofrecıa oportunidades

para progresar y mas propensos a querer seguir ejerciendo la docencia que aquellos

que sentıan un menor compromiso inicial con la ensenanza. Los autores debaten las

implicaciones tanto teoricas como practicas de estos resultados

.Improving the quality of primary and secondary education is one of the highest

priorities of virtually all countries across the Middle East (World Bank 2008). With

good reason. While countries across the region have experienced dramatic growth in

primary and secondary enrolments over the last decade, student achievement has

tended to lag compared to other regions of the world (World Bank 2008; Chapman

and Miric 2009). In many countries’ efforts to address this issue, teachers are seen

as the key to improving the quality of education. This has led to extensive efforts in

many Middle Eastern countries to improve incentives aimed at attracting and

retaining academically stronger individuals in teaching and improving teachers’

conditions of service.

Nonetheless, such efforts have not always paid off. Secondary school graduates’

motivation for entering teacher training is not necessarily that they want to become

teachers (Rolls and Plauborg 2009; Kyriacou et al. 2003; Wilhelm et al. 2000). In

countries as diverse as Yemen and Laos, entrance to university-based teacher

training programmes is sometimes used as a ‘‘backdoor’’ strategy for securing

university admission by those unable to secure admission to other, more competitive

Ambivalent journey 389

123

academic programmes in the university and who have little or no intention of

pursuing teaching as a career (USAID 1988; ADB 1999). While a government’s

investment in educating those individuals may contribute to overall national

development, it does little to improve the quality of secondary education in the

country.

Moreover, teacher commitment to and retention in teaching may have even wider

implications. While pre-service teacher training is one of the most widely used

interventions to improve the quality of schooling, it is also one of the most

expensive. If the training is effective and teachers enter and persist in teaching, then

the investment is worthwhile. However, if these teachers leave teaching, the

investment is not fully recovered. On the other hand, if teachers remain in teaching

because they lack employment alternatives, it can result in disillusioned teachers

which can translate into lower quality instruction. The goal, then, is to retain

teachers most likely to enjoy and find satisfaction in their work.

This study investigated (a) the early career paths of those who prepared to be

secondary school teachers in Oman, (b) their own assessment of their current work

situation, and (c) the extent to which their initial commitment to teaching was

related to their subsequent career satisfaction and intention to remain in teaching.

For reasons discussed later, Oman is a particularly interesting context in which to

investigate these issues.

While this study was carried out in Oman, the factors associated with teacher

career development and attrition are of wide international interest. The relation-

ships between teacher commitment to teaching, instructional quality and teacher

retention have been investigated in settings as diverse as Australia (Wilhelm et al.

2000), Canada (Klassen and Chiu 2011), Hong Kong (Choi and Tang 2011), Israel

(Fresko et al. 1997), Singapore (Chan et al. 2008) and the United States (Ladd

2011; Frankenberg et al. 2010; Rolls and Plauborg 2009, Ingersoll et al. 1997;

Firestone and Pennell 1993). Many of these studies focused on how conditions of

employment relate to job commitment and retention. Some were undertaken to

identify incentives that could be used to increase teacher commitment (e.g.

Somech and Bogler 2002). Findings indicate that, while relationships are often

complicated and interwoven with other factors, commitment to teaching is

frequently associated with teachers’ instructional effectiveness and with teachers’

retention in teaching. A recent study of initial commitment to teaching carried out

in Oman compared the motivation to enter teaching between pre-service teacher

trainees in Canada and Oman (Klassen et al. 2011). The study found that Omani

participants were more likely to view teaching as a fallback career than were their

Canadian counterparts. Still, relatively few studies have addressed how initial

commitment to teaching at the point of pre-service teacher training relates to

subsequent career development.

Theoretical and practical implications

This study has both theoretical and practical implications. At the theoretical level,

this study is a further test of elements of Chapman’s (1983) model of factors


123

associated with teacher attrition from teaching and Chapman and Lowther’s (1982)

model of the factors associated with teachers’ job satisfaction. These authors posit,

and subsequent empirical tests confirm, that teachers’ job satisfaction and

persistence are linked to their initial commitment to teaching. Those with lower

initial commitment to teaching as a career are more likely to leave teaching or, if

they persist in teaching, are more likely to express lower levels of job and career

satisfaction. This can have important practical implications for classroom practice,

since higher levels of job satisfaction can contribute to better teaching (Rogers-

Jenkinson and Chapman 1990). It is unlikely that unhappy, dissatisfied teachers will

be particularly effective instructors over substantial periods of time.

Careers in teaching, at least in the West, are somewhat different from other

occupations, for several reasons. First, in some countries, such as the U.S., teaching

is regarded as an ‘‘easy-in, easy-out’’ career, a condition that allows for low

professional commitment and which fosters considerable career mobility (Lortie

1975). Second, daily activities for teachers do not necessarily change much over the

duration of their work life. The work of a teacher after ten years of teaching may not

differ dramatically from that individual’s activities during their second year of

teaching. Third, in most countries, salaries in teaching are relatively flat. The salary

of an experienced teacher is not that much more than the salary of a beginning

teacher, at least compared to salary differences between novice and experienced

personnel in other fields.

These characteristics may play out somewhat differently in the Middle East.

Teaching across the Middle East may be an ‘‘easy-in’’ profession given the shortage

of qualified teachers in many Middle Eastern countries over the last decade (World

Bank 2008). Whether it is an ‘‘easy out’’ occupation is not as clear. Much depends

on the availability of viable alternative employment opportunities. Despite what

teachers may regard as low salaries, in many Middle Eastern countries teaching

offers a level of compensation and job security that is attractive relative to other

available employment opportunities (Chapman and Miric 2009). At the same time,

across many of those same countries, salary structure is tightly tied to seniority,

hence what salary increases there are do not necessarily provide teachers with

validation for outstanding performance.

Whether initial commitment to teaching operates among Middle Eastern teachers

in the same way observed in Western teachers is unclear. An empirical study of

career paths and the role initial commitment to teaching plays in the evolution of

those paths can offer a useful insight to those responsible for teacher recruitment

and training.

Context

Oman offers a particularly interesting context in which to investigate the importance

of initial commitment to teaching in teachers’ subsequent career paths, job

satisfaction and decision to remain in or leave teaching. Few countries have a

stronger motivation to improve the quality of education than the Sultanate of Oman.

With an oil-based economy, the country now faces the prospect of the oil being


123

largely depleted within the next 10 to 15 years (Ministry of Higher Education 2004;

Ministry of Finance 2007; Chapman et al. 2009). New technologies for extraction

and recent discovery of some new oil reserves have extended this horizon, but the

country’s oil reserves are finite and already on the decline (Chapman et al. 2009).

The government of Oman anticipates that developing an alternative economy will

depend heavily on an educated citizenry. To that end, the government has been

engaged in an aggressive campaign to expand school enrolments at all levels, raise

education quality and extend post-secondary options in the country.

Changing pressures on teacher mobility

The employment picture for Omani teachers has changed considerably over the last

35 years. During the initial expansion of the education system, large numbers of

expatriate (non-national) teachers were employed and by 1980, 92 per cent of the

teacher corps were non-Omani. By the mid-1980s, with the introduction of an

increased number of domestic teacher training programmes, there was a rapid

Omanisation of the teaching staff and by the 2008/2009 school year there were over

38,000 Omani teachers, accounting for more than 89 per cent of the total number of

teachers in Oman. Of these, 40 per cent were under the age of 30 and 89 per cent

were under the age of 40. At present, then, Oman has a relatively young teaching

force. If teacher attrition is low, these are the teachers who are likely to remain in

place well into the future.

Success brought new problems. There is now an excess of teacher supply in most

subjects and recruitment into the teaching profession is no longer automatic. A

significant number of newly qualified teachers are unable to find teaching positions.

In an effort to address the oversupply of teachers, the Ministry of Education (MoE)

created 3,000 new support positions in schools, thus increasing the number of

teachers required from 2,000 to 5,000. Another solution to the problem of teacher

excess, though not a popular one, is the assignment of newly graduated teachers to

the remote areas where Omanisation ratios are still low. The upside of this shift in

teacher demand is that the MoE can now afford to be more selective in its

appointment of teachers. Qualifying tests are now being administered and only those

who satisfy the requirements get appointed to a teaching position. The impact of

these changes is that career mobility for teachers already in the system has

diminished.

Within that dynamic (e.g. the tightening job market for teachers), women have an

advantage. Female teachers make up approximately 75 per cent of the teaching

force in grades 1–6, in large part due to an MoE policy that mandates that primary

schools should be co-educational and should only be staffed by female teachers.

This policy helped increase employment opportunities for women in a culture that

considers teaching to be an acceptable profession for women.

Teacher work

Despite diminished career options in teaching, teachers in Oman have reasonably

attractive conditions of employment relative to their counterparts across the Middle


123

East (Chapman and Miric 2005). The MoE assigns and provides funding for

teachers according to a set formula. For grades 1–9, funding is based on supplying

1.9 teachers for each class of 35 students in girls’ schools, and 1.7 teachers in boys’

schools. At grades 10–12, the ratio increases to 2.7 teachers for each class of 35

students. Consequently, most teachers are expected to teach approximately 20–21 of

the 35 periods allocated for the week, which represents about 60 per cent of their

working time. In addition to classroom instruction, teachers are expected to

undertake other school duties such as monitoring school clubs (e.g. media club, art

club, music club, etc.), supervising school assemblies, supervising school buses,

monitoring students during break time and coordinating school trips. Overall,

teaching loads, class size and other professional expectations of teachers tend to be

on the favourable side of averages for the region (Chapman and Miric 2005).

Efforts to improve education quality

Over the last 15 years the government has launched a series of initiatives aimed at

modernising instruction in primary and secondary schooling. On the one hand, this

illustrates the government’s commitment to experiment with and implement

strategies aimed at improving the quality of education. On the other hand, it has

resulted in four different curricula and instructional approaches in operation across

different schools at the same time. Each reform has been aimed at getting teachers

to use different classroom practices; each implies that previous efforts have been

inadequate. The not-so-hidden message is that teachers have not done enough. For

some educators, this history of frequent, multiple reforms has been confusing, as the

introduction of each subsequent strategy suggests that the previous strategies were

found lacking.

Prior to 1994, the country’s General Education programme largely emphasised

teacher-centred instruction and rote learning. While the General Education

curriculum is being phased out, some pockets still exist. In the early 1990s, the

government engaged in a national strategic planning process that resulted in a

national plan for economic development for the country, Vision 2020, which, among

other things, called for further modernisation of the education system. In 1994, to

put Vision 2020 into practice, the government started planning for a BasicEducation System, with implementation of the new reforms beginning in 1998. In

shifting to the Basic Education System, government increased the national

budget allocated to basic education. Particular attention was given to implementing

a new curriculum and upgrading instruction in grades 1 and 2, with a progressive

rollout of the reform to higher grades each year as the initial group progressed

upward through the system. This Basic Education System is now implemented in all

grades across primary and secondary school levels. The first intake of secondary

students who went through the complete cycle of the Basic Education approach

entered Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), the flagship public university and the only

public university offering a programme in secondary school teacher preparation, in

2010.

In 2003, the Ministry of Education initiated a pilot rollout of Learner-CentredMethodology. It was initially implemented in grades 1 and 2 in 20 schools and was


123

then progressively expanded into higher grades and into more schools. Then, in

2005–2006, the Ministry launched the Integrated Curriculum on a pilot basis,

initially with two schools and then expanded it to ten schools in Muscat. In 2011 this

Integrated Curriculum was introduced in two schools in each of the eleven regions

of the country.

While teachers may view this progression of reforms as implicit criticism of their

work, there is reason for national concern. Though these reforms were all

undertaken with the intention of raising the quality of education, there is still

considerable evidence that instruction at primary and secondary levels continues to

be weak. One indicator is the large proportion of students graduating from

secondary school who are not prepared academically to enter higher education. To

compensate, most colleges and universities in Oman have had to offer a transition

year programme in which incoming students spend an additional year in remedial

studies, usually focused around English (the language of instruction in Oman higher

education institutions), maths, computing and study skills (Ameen et al. 2010). Even

at SQU, which attracts the academically strongest students in the country, over one-

third of the entering students need to take an extra year of academic preparation at

government expense before being ready to start their regular college-level work.

This raises the cost of funding these students’ university education by about 25 per

cent and increases the overall cost of operating SQU by over 8 per cent (Chapman

2004).

Considerable evidence suggests that the low student performance is due in large

part to the limited professional capacity of teachers. Particularly at secondary level,

some teachers have only a limited command of the content they are expected to

teach and many lack a large repertoire of pedagogical skills. These shortcomings, in

turn, are often attributed to weaknesses in Oman’s secondary school teacher

preparation programmes. That said, the merit-based admissions process at SQU

means that SQU students may have the strongest academic background. However,

students enrolled in education may have the lowest commitment to teaching as a

career, given the financial incentive to secure admission to any college within SQU.

Secondary teacher preparation in Oman

Omani teachers attend secondary school teacher preparation programmes either at

one of three private universities in Oman (Sohar, Nizwa, Dofar), at Ajman

University (a private university in the United Arab Emirates), or at Sultan Qaboos

University (SQU), currently the only public university in Oman.1 Though SQU

produces only 13 per cent of teachers currently employed in Omani secondary

schools, these teachers may be the most capable. This is due to admission to SQU

being merit-based and education being free to its students, thus making it an

attractive option.

While the private universities charge tuition fees, the government pays all costs

for Omani citizens admitted to SQU. These students receive a generous tuition

1 A smaller number of Omani teachers receive their training at other locations, including Jordan, Qatar,

Yemen, Kuwait and other universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).


123

package and are provided with accommodation, food, transportation and books.

Consequently, there is a keen preference among students to attend SQU, allowing

SQU to attract the academically strongest students. Competition for admission is

intense. Those not able to secure admission to other colleges may see education as

an easier route of entry to SQU. One consequence is that applicants may find

admission to the SQU College of Education attractive for several reasons besides an

interest in teaching. In 2010, 2,733 graduates of the SQU teacher preparation

programme were teaching at grades 7–12 in Omani schools, distributed across the

regions as indicated in Table 1.

This study was organised around three research questions: (1) What patterns of

career development characterise graduates of SQU College of Education? (2) To

what extent was SQU teacher preparation graduates’ initial commitment to teaching

related to their subsequent level of job satisfaction and to their progress in their

career? And (3) To what extent was graduates’ initial commitment to teaching

related to their current intention to remain in or leave teaching?

Methodology

Overview

During spring 2010, 625 graduates of the SQU College of Education completed our

Tracer Study of Graduates of the College of Education at SQU which collected

information on their initial commitment to teaching at the time of their graduation

from SQU, their career choices following graduation, their perceptions of their

current work, and their future plans. Analysis focused on tracing the career paths of

these individuals following graduation and on examining the extent to which initial

commitment to teaching was associated with their subsequent career experiences

and plans for the future.

Table 1 Number of SQU

graduates employed as teachers

(at all levels) in 2010, by district

Source Table compiled for the

purposes of this paper from data

collected by regional education

offices across Oman

Region Number of graduates

Al Batinah North 528

Muscat 413

Al Batinah South 318

Al Sharqiya North 328

Al Sharqiya South 248

Dhofar 365

Musamdam 57

Wusta 32

Buraimi 45

Al Dhahina 65

Al Dakhliya 334

Total 2,733


123

Sample

Our questionnaire was distributed to current teachers through a cascade distribution

system, as required by Omani MoE rules.2 Copies of the questionnaire were sent to

the Technical Department of the central MoE, which is responsible for distribution

of all research instruments going to the schools. The Technical Department sent the

questionnaires to the Training Departments of the Regional Education Offices

which then distributed an appropriate number of questionnaires to the principal of

each school in the region. The principal then distributed the questionnaire to

teachers who were SQU graduates. Completed questionnaires were returned through

this same chain. Questionnaires were also distributed to SQU College of Education

graduates employed in the Ministries of Civil Service, Manpower, Higher Education

and the other private and public colleges in the country.

One consequence of the questionnaire distribution system employed (and

required) by the MoE is that it is not possible to calculate how many questionnaires

were ultimately distributed to graduates, what percentage of SQU graduates actually

received a questionnaire to complete, or what proportion of completed question-

naires was ultimately returned to the research team. Nonetheless, with 625 usable

questionnaires completed and returned, this study may well represent one of the

largest data sets on teacher training graduates yet developed for Oman.

Instrumentation

The Tracer Study of Graduates of the College of Education at SQU was developed

by the authors to collect data on initial commitment to teaching, pattern of career

progression, job characteristics valued by teachers, teachers’ self-rated skills and

abilities, teachers’ pedagogical practices, job and career satisfaction, future career

plans, graduates’ assessment of their experience at SQU, and demographic

information. Initially developed in English, it was then translated into Arabic and

the translation checked through a dual back-translation process. Content validity

was assessed by a panel of five university instructors who reviewed the

questionnaire for fidelity to the organising constructs, clarity and appropriateness

to the Omani situation.

Analysis

Descriptive statistics were used to examine the questionnaire data. Analysis of

variance was used to test the significance of differences in job satisfaction and

2 Given the growing number of studies seeking to collect school-based data, the MoE has introduced

measures to consolidate the distribution and collection of surveys and questionnaires to minimise

redundancies in what is being collected and reduce the demands on the schools. Though no individual

identifying information was collected in our survey form, it is possible that having MoE representatives

distribute and collect the questionnaires might have jeopardised confidentiality or caused respondents to

be more cautious in their responses. While it is not possible to assess these risks in the present study, and

anecdotal evidence suggests these considerations did not present a problem, the possibility of bias due to

compliance with MoE data collection requirements cannot be entirely discounted.


123

satisfaction with progress in their career among teachers who differed in their initial

commitment to teaching.

Findings

Career paths

As Fig. 1 illustrates, of the 625 graduates (2001–2009) of the SQU College of

Education, 84 per cent went directly into teaching after graduation and remained in

teaching throughout the time of this survey. Another 8 per cent started as teachers

but subsequently moved into some level of education administration or supervision.

Where a move out of secondary teaching occurred, it was mostly to teaching at a

lower level of the education system. While SQU mainly prepares teachers for lower

and upper secondary schools, 13 per cent of graduates were employed at lower

levels of the system (primary, early childhood). At the time of this survey, very few

(2 per cent) of the graduates were employed outside education. In many respects,

that is a remarkable retention rate: a total of 98 per cent of the graduates were still

employed in some role in education at the time of writing. It signals either the

attractiveness of a career in teaching or the limited availability of alternatives, an

issue that will be addressed later.

Fig. 1 Career paths of SQU teacher training graduates


123

The high proportion of graduates who entered and remained in teaching masks a

considerable level of ambivalence many of these graduates had about entering

teaching in the first place. Nearly half, 47 per cent, of the graduates report being

only somewhat or not at all committed to teaching as a career immediately after

having completed their studies at SQU (Table 2). This is consistent with the finding

in other countries that students use teacher preparation as a backdoor route to higher

education without necessarily intending to pursue teaching as a career. Once in

teaching, 73.7 per cent of respondents in this study report that their job measured up

extremely or very well to the sort of job they wanted when they first took it. Such a

positive response may indicate that graduates were pleasantly surprised once they

started as teachers, that their initial expectations of the job were low, or some of

both. But some findings point to low expectations: Fifty-eight per cent (58%) of the

respondents indicated that, if given the opportunity to decide all over again whether

to take the job they have now (and knowing what they know now), it is extremely or

very likely they would choose a different job. Hardly an endorsement of teaching as

a career.

While most graduates have remained in education, upward career mobility within

education seems limited, with only 14 per cent of the respondents involved in some

form of administrative position. These administrative positions range from subject

supervisor in a school to work at the Ministry of Education and are sometimes still

combined with teaching responsibilities. This finding is consistent with Dan C.

Lortie’s (1975) description of teaching as an ‘‘unstaged’’ career. That is, upward

mobility for teachers is limited; there are few career steps between entry-level and

experienced teachers.

As discussed earlier, one of the attractive features of attending SQU was a tacit

understanding that graduates would have guaranteed public sector employment after

graduation if they wanted it. Most did. Consequently, it was not a surprise that 75

per cent of the graduates found it extremely or very easy to find their first job after

graduation. What is more intriguing is why the other 25 per cent did seem to

experience difficulty in this regard. It is not clear from the data whether those

difficulties were solely in securing a teaching position in general or finding a

Table 2 Teacher reflections on teaching as a career

extremely very somewhat not

To what extent were you committed to

teaching as a career when you completed

your studies? (N = 500)

N 149 116 124 111

% 29.8 23.2 24.8 22.2

In general, how well would you say that your

job measures up to the sort of job you

wanted when you took it? (N = 494)

N 131 233 110 20

% 26.5 47.2 22.3 4.0

Knowing what you know now, if you had to

decide all over again whether to take the

job you have now, how likely is it that you

would choose a different job? (N = 500)

N 171 119 122 88

% 34.2 23.8 24.4 17.6


123

teaching position in their home environment or close to home or whether they

reflected difficulty in finding a position outside education.

How teachers view their current and future employment

Nearly 60 per cent of the teachers felt that their work provides them with sufficient

status and prestige, 66 per cent felt their skills are well utilised in their work as

teachers, nearly 69 per cent believe their educational experiences are well utilised in

their employment (Table 3). Nonetheless, over half of the teachers did not believe

their current employment offered opportunities for further advancement and only

half wanted to remain in their current occupation for the foreseeable future.

Teachers are split about whether they want to remain in teaching. While 50 per

cent strongly agree or agree that they would like to remain for the foreseeable

future, 50 per cent do not. However, wanting to leave teaching and actually doing it

are different issues. Two-thirds of respondents believe it would not be at all easy for

them to find a position with another employer that offered them income and benefits

comparable to what they now have as teachers. Another 20 per cent believe making

a switch would pose at least some difficulty. This may suggest that most teachers

feel trapped.

For the most part, teachers do not think they have much career mobility.

Nonetheless, over 54 per cent think it likely they will leave teaching within the next

five years (Table 4). This seeming discrepancy is difficult to reconcile. One

possibility is that teachers are so eager to leave teaching that they would accept a cut

in their salary and benefits to do so. Another possibility is that the seeming

inconsistency reflects wishful thinking. Teachers would like to leave teaching but,

for the most part, recognise that they will not really act on that sentiment. This may

Table 3 Graduates’ beliefs about their future in teaching

Number of respondents Per cent of respondents

N SA A SWD SD SA A SWD SD

My current occupation provides me

with sufficient status or prestige

508 70 234 177 27 13.7% 46.1% 34.8% 5.3%

My skills are well utilised in my

current employment

508 96 240 144 28 18.8% 47.2% 28.2% 5.5%

My educational experiences are

well utilised in my current

employment

509 104 247 140 18 20.4% 48.4% 27.5% 3.5%

My current employment offers

opportunities for further

advancement

508 46 180 243 39 9.1% 35.4% 47.8% 7.6%

I would like to remain in my

current occupation (in education)

for the foreseeable future

503 83 169 126 125 16.5% 33.6% 25% 24.9%

SA = Strongly agree; A = Agree, SWD = Somewhat disagree, SD = Strongly disagree


123

be particularly true for female teachers and those who work in remote villages who

may lack career options at their present locations.

The lasting effects of initial commitment to teaching

Teachers who differed in their initial commitment to teaching differed significantly

in the way they viewed their overall career, their current job and their future as a

teacher (Table 5). Those more committed to teaching at the beginning of their

career tended to believe their educational experiences and skills were better utilised

in their employment and that teaching provided them with sufficient status or

prestige. They were more likely to be satisfied with the progress they had made in

their career and with their current job. They are more likely to think that their

current teaching job offered them opportunities for advancement and were more

Table 4 Likelihood that teachers will remain in teaching

SA A SWD SD

I would like to remain in current occupation

(in education) for the foreseeable

future (N = 503) (Mean = 2.58)

N 83 169 126 125

% 16.5% 33.6% 25% 24.9%

extremely very somewhat not

How easy would it be for you to find a

position with another employer with the same

income and benefits as you have now?

(N = 333)

N 15 27 67 224

% 4.5% 8.1% 20.1% 67.3%

How likely is it that you will leave teaching

within the next five years? (N = 492)

N 139 128 89 136

% 28.3% 26.0% 18.1% 27.6%

SA = Strongly agree; A = Agree, SWD = Somewhat disagree, SD = Strongly disagree

Table 5 Summary of separate regression analyses testing the relationship of initial commitment to

teaching to selected characteristics of teachers’ career development

Relationship of initial commitment to teaching to career

development

Standardised

beta

Adjusted

R2F P.[

Extent to which your educational experiences are well utilised

in your current employment

.202 .039 21.9 .001

Extent to which your skills are well utilised in current

employment

.133 .016 9.0 .003

Extent to which you believe teaching provides you with

sufficient status or prestige

.200 .084 45.8 .001

How satisfied are you with progress in your career .305 .091 50.5 .001

How satisfied are you with your current employment -.247 .059 32.3 .001

Extent to which your current employment offers opportunities

for advancement

.309 .093 52.3 .001

Extent to which you would like to remain in teaching in the

foreseeable future

.344 .116 65.9 .001

Note Sample sizes across these analyses ranged from N = 493 to 499 due to missing data


123

likely to want to remain in teaching than were those SQU graduates who had a

lower initial commitment to teaching.

Overall, it appears that initial commitment to teaching operates as an important

lens through which teachers view their subsequent careers. However, while these

relationships are statistically significant, are they of practical importance? Initial

commitment to teaching explains relatively small amounts of the variation in

teachers’ views of the extent to which their educational experiences (3.9 per cent) or

their skills (1.6 per cent) are utilised in their current employment, too little to be of

much practical consequence. On the other hand, teacher training graduates who

were more reluctant entrants to teaching at the start of their careers continued to be

less satisfied with their career, had a less positive view of their future in teaching,

and said they were more likely to leave teaching in the near future than were

graduates who were more committed to teaching in the first place.

Discussion

Study findings suggest that, at least in Oman, if the government’s goal is to ensure a

supply of well-trained teachers, it would be worthwhile to ensure that those entering

teacher training programmes have a reasonably high level of commitment to

becoming teachers. This was not necessarily the case among teachers in this study at

the time when they entered the teacher preparation programme at SQU. Nearly half

were at least somewhat ambivalent about teaching as a career. Those ambivalent

about entering teaching tend to still be ambivalent about staying in teaching. Why

do they stay? Many teachers appear to believe there are few acceptable career

options open to them outside teaching. Further, those with low initial commitment

to teaching also expressed lower satisfaction with their progress in their career and

lower satisfaction with their current job.

These findings are consistent with earlier research and lend further support to

models of teacher career development that posit that initial commitment to teaching

is an important predictor of both job satisfaction and retention. However, the real

value of these findings is in what they may signal to education leaders in Oman and

to those in other countries who select and train future teachers. What action should

governments and education leaders take, given evidence of substantial teacher

ambivalence about remaining in teaching, even years after graduating from teacher

training?

One response might be to decrease the financial benefits of entering SQU, but

that could undermine other national goals aimed at promoting higher education.

Another response might be to screen SQU applicants more rigorously for admission.

However, SQU admits largely on the basis of merit, and assessment of applicants’

long-term intentions is murky at best. A third alternative is to develop career advice

strategies aimed at helping future teachers at SQU to more realistically understand

the nature of teaching as a career. To the extent that early experiences of teachers

have a lasting impact on their career path, teacher preparation programmes may be

able to influence graduates’ career development through efforts to reinforce

commitment to teaching. Nonetheless, there is a good chance that students have a


123

reasonably realistic view about what they are getting into, and pursue that option as

a way of maximising other goals.

A fourth response is to increase the attractiveness of teaching through higher

salaries and more attractive conditions of service. In fact, Oman has already made

impressive progress on this front and, while further actions to improve teachers’

conditions of employment may be appropriate, such actions tend to be quite

expensive. A fifth alternative is for the government and SQU to do nothing.

Graduates may continue to enter and remain in teaching with ambivalence. That

ambivalence may be as much due to larger economic factors imposing limitations

on their career mobility as to any particular characteristic of teaching as a career.

The presumption here is that teachers who want to leave teaching will do so, if and

when they find a better opportunity, and that Oman benefits from their work in the

schools in the meantime.

A central function of higher education in any country is the preparation of future

primary and secondary teachers. The goals, values and expectations of those who

enter teaching can often be as important as what happens to them during their

teacher preparation programme. Findings of this study highlight the need to give

considerable attention to the career expectations in the context of Oman.

Bibliography

ADB (Asian Development Bank). (1999). Laos education sector study and education investment plan.

Manila: Asian Development Bank and Vientiane; Lao PDR: Ministry of Education.

Ameen, H., Chapman, D. W., & Al-Barwani, T. (2010). The tension between profit and quality: Private

higher education Oman. In V. D. Rust, L. Portnoi, & S. Bagley (Eds.), Higher education, policy andthe global competition phenomenon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Chan, W. Y., Lau, S., Nie, Y., Lim, S., & Hogan, D. (2008). Organizational and personal predictors of

teacher commitment: The mediating role of teacher efficacy and identification with school.

American Educational Research Journal, 45, 597–630.

Chapman, D. W. (1983). A model of the influences on teacher retention. Journal of Teacher Education,34, 43–49.

Chapman, D. W. (2004). The management of higher education in Oman, 2006–2020, Background Paperfor the Council on Higher Education. Muscat: Council on Higher Education.

Chapman, D. W., Al-Barwani, T., & Ameen, H. (2009). Expanding post-secondary access in Oman, and

paying for it. In J. Knight (Ed.), Financing access and equity in higher education. Rotterdam:

SENSE Publishing.

Chapman, D. W., & Lowther, M. (1982). Teachers’ satisfaction with teaching. Journal of EducationalResearch, 75, 241–247.

Chapman, D. W. & Miric, S. (2005). Teacher policy in the MENA region: Issues and options. Background

paper prepared for the Middle East and North Africa Division, Washington D.C.: World Bank.

Chapman, D. W., & Miric, S. (2009). Education quality in the Middle East. International Review ofEducation, 55(4), 311–344.

Choi, P. L., & Tang, S. Y. F. (2011). Satisfied and dissatisfied commitment: Teachers in three generations.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(7), 45–75. http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol36/iss7/5

Firestone, W. A., & Pennell, J. R. (1993). Teacher commitment, working conditions, and differential

incentive policies. Review of Educational Research, 6(4), 489–525.

Frankenberg, E., Taylor, A., & Merseth, K. (2010). Walking the walk: Teacher candidates’ professed

commitment to urban teaching and their subsequent career decisions. Urban Education, 45,

312–346.

Fresko, B., Kfir, D., & Nasser, F. (1997). Predicting teacher commitment. Teaching and TeacherEducation, 13(4), 429–438.


123

http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol36/iss7/5

Ingersoll, R. M., Alsalam, N., Quinn, P., & Bobbitt, S. (1997). Teacher professionalization and teachercommitment: A multilevel analysis. Washington D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S.

Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

Klassen, R. M., Al-Dhafri, S., Hannok, W., & Betts, S. M. (2011). Investigating pre-service teacher

motivation across cultures using the Teachers’ Ten Statements Test. Teaching and TeacherEducation, 27(3), 579–588.

Klassen, R. M., & Chiu, M. M. (2011). The occupational commitment and intention to quit of practicing

and pre-service teachers: Influence of self-efficacy, job stress, and teaching context. ContemporaryEducational Psychology, 36(2), 111–129.

Kyriacou, C., Kunc, R., Stephens, P., & Hultgren, A. (2003). Student teachers’ expectation of teaching as

a career in England and Norway. Educational Review, 55(3), 255–263.

Ladd, H. F. (2011). Teachers’ perceptions of their working conditions: How predictive of planned and

actual teacher movement? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 33(2), 235–261.

Lortie, D. C. (1975). Schoolteacher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ministry of Finance (2007). The State’s General Budget for the Fiscal Year 2007. Muscat: Sultanate of

Oman.

Ministry of Higher Education (2004). The Strategy for Education in the Sultanate of Oman, 2006–2020.

Muscat: Sultanate of Oman.

Rodgers-Jenkinson, F., & Chapman, D. W. (1990). Job satisfaction of Jamaican elementary school

teachers. International Review of Education, 36(3), 299–313.

Rolls, S., & Plauborg, H. (2009). Teachers’ career trajectories: An examination of research. In M. Bayer,

U. L. Brinkkjær, H. Plauborg, & S. Rolls (Eds.), Teachers’ career trajectories and work lives (pp.

9–27). New York: Springer.

Somech, A., & Bogler, R. (2002). Antecedents and consequences of teacher organizational and

professional commitment. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(4), 555–577.

USAID (United States Agency for International Development). (1988). Education and human resourcessector assessment, Liberia. Washington, D.C.: United States Agency for International Development

and Monrovia; Liberia: Ministry of Education.

Wilhelm, K., Dewhurst-Savellis, J., & Parker, G. (2000). Teacher stress? An analysis of why teachers

leave and why they stay. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 6(3), 291–304.

World Bank (2008). The road not traveled: Education reform in the Middle East and North Africa. The

World Bank: Washington D.C.

The authors

David W. Chapman is Distinguished International Professor and Birkmaier Professor of Educational

Leadership at the University of Minnesota where he teaches graduate courses in comparative and

international development in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. His

specialisation is in international development assistance. He has worked in over 50 countries for the

World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, UNICEF, the Asian Development Bank,

the InterAmerican Development Bank, UNESCO, and similar organisations. He has authored or edited

ten books and over 130 journal articles and book chapters, many of them on issues related to the

development of education systems in international settings.

Thuwayba Al-Barwani is Dean of the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. She

serves on the national Oman Council for Higher Education and she previously served as Deputy Minister

for Social Development. Her areas of specialisation include education policy and literacy.

Fathiya Al Mawali is an English section head and Senior Supervisor in the Supervision Department,

Directorate of Human Resources at the Oman Ministry of Education. She holds a Bachelor Degree in

English Literature from Amman University and Master Degree in Curriculum & Teaching Methods from

Sultan Qaboos University.

Elizabeth Green is an advanced doctoral student in the Department of Organizational Leadership,

Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota. She has worked on education development issue

in Zambia, Malawi and Bangladesh.


123

Documents

Ambivalent journey: Teacher career paths in Oman