Veteran teachers: Characteristics of late career

Abstract

Older age categories represent a significant proportion of the teacher population in general, in Europe, as well as in our country. That is why it is important to examine the characteristics of these teachers’ vocational behavior, and check the foundations of the negative characterizations that older teachers often confront with. This manuscript intends to answer the following question, on the basis of previous authors’ work contribution: what are the characteristics of veteran teachers’ vocational behavior? We have answered this question by offering a description of late career behavior, and by revealing the reasons that make teachers stay at this job, as well as by describing the way different factors influence teachers’ attitude towards work. We came to a conclusion that a specific stage can be identified at the end of career cycle, called career wind-down. As main features of this stage the following are recognized: tranquility, reducing of previous ambitions and devoting less attention to students’ discipline. The question of teachers’ remaining at this professional role is examined through the three forms of commitment, according to Allen and Meyer: affective, normative and continuance commitment. The findings about the dominance of the affective commitment were analyzed critically, according to the features of our country’s context. Finally, it is stated that previous findings indicating that veteran teachers’ students have lower achievement are not confirmed unambiguously - studies conducted in Serbia indicate that teachers in the late career go through a revival of enthusiasm and often get more devoted than their younger colleagues.

Nastavnici starije starosne dobi čine značajan procenat nastavničke populacije, kako u Evropi, uopšte, tako i u našoj zemlji. Zbog toga je posebno značajno ispitati odlike profesionalnog ponašanja upravo ove kategorije nastavnika, i proveriti utemeljenost negativne karakterizacije sa kojom se pripadnici starije generacije neretko suočavaju u ovoj profesiji. Ovaj rad ima za cilj da na osnovu pregleda naučnog doprinosa različitih autora odgovori na pitanje: koje su karakteristike profesionalnog ponašanja nastavnika veterana? Na navedeno pitanje odgovorili smo nudeći opis ponašanja u kasnoj karijeri, otkrivajući razloge zbog kojih nastavnici ostaju na ovom poslu i opisujući način na koji različiti činioci utiču na odnos nastavnika prema poslu. Zaključeno je, između ostalog, da se može identifikovati posebna faza karijernog ciklusa pred kraj radnog veka nastavnika - faza opuštanja. Kao njene glavne karakteristike raspoznaju se smirenost, smanjivanje pređašnjih ambicija i pridavanje manjeg značaja disciplini učenika. Pitanje ostanka nastavnika u datoj profesionalnoj ulozi razmatra se kroz tri vida privrženosti po Alenu i Mejeru: afektivnu, normativnu i privrženost trajanja. Nalazi o dominantnoj afektivnoj privrženosti kod nastavnika se kritički analiziraju s obzirom na odlike konteksta u našoj zemlji. Takođe, navodi se da nalaz da učenici starijih nastavnika ostvaruju slabije postignuće nije jednoznačno potvrđete da istraživanja rađena u našoj zemlji ukazuju da se kod nastavnika u poslednjim godinama karijere iznova budi entuzijazam, te da oni često pokazuju viši nivo posvećenosti poslu nego njihove kolege srednjih godina.