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A flat profession? Developing an evidence-based career ladder by teachers for teachers–A case study

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This case study aimed at developing a research-based career ladder for public school teachers in Qatar, in an attempt to combat the flatness of the teaching career. Six focus groups interviews, each involving 3–5 teachers from governmental schools comprised the study sample. Data was analyzed using theme-based analysis. Findings suggest the legitimacy of a multi-directional career path for teachers, rather than the current linear career system, in order to support their resilience and wellbeing. A data-driven teacher career ladder is presented, discussed, and debated.
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Heliyon 9 (2023) e15037
Available online 29 March 2023
2405-8440/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
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Research article
A at profession? Developing an evidence-based career ladder by
teachers for teachersA case study
Norma Ghamrawi
a
,
*
, Abdullah Abu-Tineh
b
a
Educational Leadership & Management, College of Education, Qatar University, Qatar
b
Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, Head of Educational Sciences Department, College of Education, Qatar University, Qatar
ARTICLE INFO
Keywords:
Teaching career path
Professionalizing teaching
Professional growth
Teacher resilience
School improvement
ABSTRACT
This case study aimed at developing a research-based career ladder for public school teachers in
Qatar, in an attempt to combat the atness of the teaching career. Six focus groups interviews,
each involving 35 teachers from governmental schools comprised the study sample. Data was
analyzed using theme-based analysis. Findings suggest the legitimacy of a multi-directional career
path for teachers, rather than the current linear career system, in order to support their resilience
and wellbeing. A data-driven teacher career ladder is presented, discussed, and debated.
1. Introduction
According to the United Nations Education, Scientic and Cultural Organization [1], countries are in short of 24.4 million primary,
and 44.4 million secondary school teachers. Thus, there is a shortage of teachers worldwide, necessitating the recruitment of new
teachers, and retaining current teachers especially those with high academic abilities. Yet, substituting teachers brings along not only
nancial burdens [2], but also has a negative impact on students attainment and progress, and hence the overall quality of an
educational system [3,4,5].
Sadly, the gures worldwide regarding teacher attrition remain alarming [6], both quantity and quality wise [7]. For example, in
the United States, it is estimated that 33% of newly hired teachers leave the career after their third year of teaching, and around 46%
leaving after 5 years of service [8]. These gures have been reported to be further augmented by 2020, according to Ref. [9]. Likewise,
shortage in teachers has been reported in the UK [10], Europe [11], Africa [12], and the Arab World [13].
Being a global issue, retaining and avoiding teacher burnout has been addressed in the literature as early as 1980s. This literature
has researched several interventions, including merit pay, development of teacher frameworks and ladders, professionalizing teaching,
and many others [14]. However, most of the published work included top-down interventions that do not cite in teachersperceptions
and views on how best they can be motivated to carry on with their roles as teachers in schools.
It is needless to say that the interest in the teaching profession in generally declining. However, if there are no or little opportunities
in the profession throughout teacherscareers, the interest in the profession gets even lower, leading to potential dropouts. Thus, it is of
great importance to have good and motivated teachers, because they are the foundation of society and development.
As such, this case study targeted the Qatari educational context, aiming to foster a teacher developed career ladder that would
encourage and motivate them to remain in the profession. We rst discuss the challenges confronting teachers and promoting their
leave from the profession, touching upon the international literature. Then, we provide a brief description of the status of teacher
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: norma.g@qu.edu.qa (N. Ghamrawi).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Heliyon
journal homepage: www.cell.com/heliyon
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15037
Received 10 October 2022; Received in revised form 16 February 2023; Accepted 24 March 2023
Heliyon 9 (2023) e15037
2
attrition in Qatar. Finally, we present and discuss our ndings, arriving at a teacher-developed career ladder. The ramications of the
results arrived at are discussed within the global debate on the topic.
2. Literature review
2.1. Teacher attrition
The literature distinguishes two forms of loss in the teaching workforce. The rst is the declining numbers of new teacher can-
didates joining the career [15,16]; and the second is the number of teachers leaving the profession [17,18,19]. According to Ref. [20],
the research addressing the second category of teacher loss is signicantly less than the rst one.
Several factors are acknowledged in the literature for teacher attrition, which according to Ref. [21] is a term that refers to those
teachers who leave teaching for reasons other than retirement. Building on a number of studies in different national contexts [22],
considers job satisfaction to be a premise for teacher retention and hence lower teacher attrition. Among the factors for teacher
dissatisfaction comes inadequate pay and benets, stress, burnout, lack of respect, conict with school leadership, workload, and poor
working conditions [23,24,25]. These factors can be classied into intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors [26].
According to Ref. [27] pay and security top extrinsic motivational factors for teachers, distinguishing teacher pay as the annual
income a teacher would get, whilst referring to security as the school policies that cover tenure, seniority, layoffs, pension, retirement,
and dismissal(p. 159). According to research, both factors are considered by teachers as indicators of recognition and achievement or
of failure [4,28]. Other extrinsic motivational factors include working conditions such as the availability of resources, advancement,
and social relations [29,30]. On the other hand, intrinsic motivational factors include professional identity, professional growth,
self-efcacy, autonomy and resilience to burnout and stress [29,30,31].
Nonetheless, research on teacher retention have also emphasized altruistic motivational factors for teachers as integral reasons for
staying in the career [32]. Altruistic motivational factors relate to the inclination of individuals to serving children, setting a role model
for them and making a difference in their lives [33], and beneting them with no apriori external rewards [34].
2.2. Attrition in relation to teachers experience
Studies from several parts of the globe suggest that novice teachers, as well as highly experienced teachers, have the highest rates of
attrition [1,29,30,35,36,37,38]. One key reason behind attrition of novice teachers has been attributed to the ‘practice shock, as
suggested by Ref. [39]. According to Ref. [39] there exists a discrepancy between how teachers are often trained, versus the actual
tasks allotted to them, as soon as they start their teaching career [29]. suggest that attrition of this category may be better handled by
securing effective teacher education programs, providing high quality mentoring and coaching programs, decreasing workload, and
securing social networks.
One the other hand, highly experienced teachers are those who make an early retirement. According to the literature, this category
of exiting teachers constitute a real loss for any educational system, because they often bear a long experience; and presumably
developed teaching skills [40,41]. One of the key reasons for their loss is the atness of the career [42], which will be further discussed
in the next section.
While attrition rates decreases slowly after some years in the profession, a third category of teachers exit after experiencing it
carefully, and managing to succeed in it. Teachers of this category are called ‘invested leaversby Ref. [43], and are described as being
demoralized by Ref. [44]. A key reason for their attrition is the lack of autonomy in the career, such as rigid curricula, imposed
teaching methods, pre-determined assessment and evaluation schemes, and the lack of vision for potential growth [43,44].
2.3. Teaching as a at career
Teaching is a unidirectional at career with little opportunities for advancement with relatively few opportunities for leadership,
growth and increased recognition [38,42,45,46,47,48]. In fact, teachers appreciate serving students in classrooms and offering them
suited learning opportunities; however, like in any other career, they still look forward to branching out, by transitioning to new roles,
via which they would display their expertise, and takeover leadership roles [38].
Unfortunately, this route is often blocked, and teachers who enter the job as teachers with certain roles, retire carrying out almost
the same roles [48]. Few teachers are given the opportunity to assume leadership roles throughout their career, thus occupying formal
leadership roles, such as department heads, vice-principals and principals [21,42,47]. According to several studies, such as [42], as
well as [38] the at career is one of the key reasons for experienced teachers to quit the teaching career, as they tend to feel ‘stuck[47].
In this line [49], suggest two kinds of teacher advancement in the school: vertical and horizontal. The vertical advancement in-
cludes upgrading into formal leadership roles, which as stated earlier, are limited in number within the school structure. On the other
hand, the horizontal advancement supports teachers in taking lead over tasks outside the borders of their classrooms, such as leading
on curricular review, serving as mentors for novice teachers, coaching other teachers, supporting the professional growth of other
teachers, and many others. One typical example for the application of such a model allowing for horizontal and vertical advancement
comes from Slovenia [50]. While studies such as [51] suggest that these roles have the potential to increase teacher resilience, other
researchers such as [38] suggest that these roles may not be enough to support teachers in sustaining in the career for long, unless they
are accompanied with formal recognition and appreciation.
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2.4. Teaching career ladders- lessons from global experience
In order to combat the atness of the teaching career, and hence decrease teacher attrition, several countries across the globe have
attempted to develop career ladders [52,53]. In most cases, countries have used the national professional standards for teaching in
order to develop a differentiated structure for teaching relative to several variables such as the level of education, specialization, years
of experience, achievements, and many others [53]. Such structures are often used to support ‘the development and alignment of
teacher recruitment, pre-service and in-service training, appraisal procedures, and career advancement opportunities [53, p. 70].
One example comes from Chile, whose Ministry of Education (MoE) developed a career ladder using its teaching framework called
the ‘Good Teaching Framework [54]. This framework consists of four domains: (a) teacher preparation; (b) learning climate; (c)
teaching learning processes for all students; and (d) professional responsibilities [55]. Each domain is developed into a set of key
performance indicators, with four levels (outstanding, competent, basic, and unsatisfactory) which are used in teacher evaluations and
appraisals; as well as the development of a career ladder, aimed at diversifying teachersroles in schools [56]. According to the [53],
the Chilean example suggests the usefulness of the differentiation of the teaching framework in order to secure career advancement,
with the condition that standards are ‘well adapted to the context, are precise and well structured, and accepted, with a sense of
ownership, by the education community, including teachers themselves (p. 70).
On the other hand, research suggests that it is of great importance to carry out the aforementioned differentiation very wisely
making sure to select carefully a balanced number of career stages/steps and their corresponding responsibilities; otherwise they
would be risking further teacher frustration and estrangement [53]. Any career ladder should be designed based on accurate diagnosis
and understanding of the context [55]. A good example comes from New York City, where the team concerned in developing the
teacher career pathways initiative, informed by the literature, spent the majority of their time observing teachers in schools, which
helped them arrive at a clearly dened career ladder [57].
Contrary to this, the Scottish rst career ladder was jammed with many steps, making the distinction between responsibilities and
hence salaries a very complicated issue [58,59]. The revised career ladder made sure to decrease the number of steps, downsizing them
from seven to four at the secondary level, as an example, and making the distinction amongst steps clearer [59]. While too many steps
can complicate a career ladder, making it less effective, an insufcient number of steps is equally misleading. This is manifested by the
Ethiopian experience with career ladder development [60]. In fact, Ethiopia presents the opposite case of Scotland, whereby the career
ladder necessitated expanding the original steps of the developed career ladder, in order to account for the full spectrum of differ-
entiated roles and responsibilities.
Moreover, the South African experience with career ladders, showed the importance of the specicity of dening responsibilities
[61]. In fact, two roles with different responsibilities were not dened clearly in the career ladder, leading to confusion and different
interpretations [65]. As a result, the revised career ladder made sure to delete one of those roles, when reviewers better understood the
context [61]. This same reason was behind the continuous reforms in the teaching career ladders in Lithuania [62], arriving nally at a
ladder with clear responsibilities related to specic career steps.
According to the literature, effective career ladders go hand in hand with professional development and growth opportunities for
teachers [53]. In fact, a career ladder describes roles and responsibilities, and professional development should offer growth oppor-
tunities accordingly. In other words, teachers should be provided with the training opportunities that would allow them to climb the
ladder, otherwise it would be inadequate. A typical example relates to teachers of the Ecuador, who were not offered online training on
their new curricula, which was a condition for moving up a step through the Ecuadorian career ladder [63]. This was a key reason for
its failure.
Equally inefcient are the cases where professional development are made abundant for teachers, but do not serve them in
developing the set skills needed to climb their career ladder. A typical example comes from the Mexican education landscape, where
teachers are offered a wide spectrum of training opportunities, however, almost none of them were meant to help teachers climb their
career ladders [64].
Another lesson learnt from global experience relates to salaries, which need to: (a) reect the level of effort required from teachers
at each step; (b) show signicant salary difference per grade on the career ladder continuum; and (c) show a balanced progression
across its steps [53]. For example, South African teachers tend to refrain from applying to the next career step because they thought
that the responsibilities attributed to the role did not correlate correspondingly with the salary increase [65]. Likewise, teachers of the
Ecuador abstained from applying to the subsequent career steps, because the pay difference was negligible [63]. In addition, the salary
increase per career steps should not go too fast, nor too slow. A too fast salary increase across the career ladder, as is the case of
Ethiopia, makes teachers get demoralized because of the lack of further advancement by the age of 40 [53]. A too slow rate of salary
increase is also frustrating to teachers, as it makes them have to wait for long periods to upgrade, as is the case of the career ladders of
Lithuania and Peru [53].
Finally, the literature suggests that a unidirectional career path is frustrating to teachers, as it makes them believe that they will be
stuck in their positions until retirement [66]. While they may love working with students as classroom teachers, it is possible that some
teachers still have a desire to branch out from what they know, and expand based on their expertise [67]. That might equate to
transitioning to a new role entirely or simply enhancing their duties while remaining in the classroom with their students. Such op-
portunities should be made available to teachers by adopting a multi-directional career ladder which allow them to continually
advance in their career beyond the traditional few leadership roles, well known in all schools, such as serving as a head of department,
subject leader or school leaders [68].
N. Ghamrawi and A. Abu-Tineh
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2.5. The study context
This study was conducted in the State of Qatar. Qatar has acknowledged the importance of delving into a knowledge economy and
underwent a large-scale, standard-base education reform known as ‘Education for a New Era [69], in response to low student
achievement on international assessments, and to revamp its outdated rigid educational system [70].
This initiative has led to the adoption of a charter school model called ‘Independent Schools, based on a recommendation from
RAND Corporation, which provided comprehensive consultation for the Qatari government in order to achieve the desired initiative
[71]. This school model survived the period 2005 till 2016, where the decision was taken to revert back to the old model, thus
abolishing the independent school model [72].
Many reasons are attributed to the failure of this initiative including: (a) the rush to get results (Romanowski, 2013); (b) the
unpreparedness of both teachers and students to shifting learning and instruction from Arabic to English [73]; (c) the ambiguity of the
adopted standards [74]; and (d) the resistance of parents and the society to a model they considered to be imported from a Western
context and did not t the context [75].
Currently, the interest in the teaching career in Qatar is relatively low, and the nationals are the least interested in teaching [76].
Not only this, nationals who manage to join teaching, tend to exit the career at various stages of their teaching experience [77]. This is
further worsened by the fact that the State of Qatar lacks a teaching career ladder [69,78,79]. Teachers who participated in Ref. [79]
expressed the need for such a ladder, fearing that their efforts are not appreciated, both in and out of the school.
Moreover, in Qatar, nancial and non-nancial incentives are different depending on whether an employee is national or non-
national, and this applies to teachers consequently [79]. However, both national and non-national teachers are required to earn
professional licenses concerning the job title of the teacher with no nancial incentives [80]. The only available career promotion for a
teacher is to become a section coordinator, a deputy head of academics, a principal, and then an educational mentor at the Ministry of
Education and Higher Education [79]. However, these are very limited opportunities, and are based on years of experience only, rather
than a combination of achievement and years of experience.
Furthermore, teachers used to receive other sorts of incentives that could be classied as monetary, including gifts and vouchers,
which were decided upon by individual school leadership [79]. This was part of what the current educational system inherited from
the independent school model; however, recently MoEHE required all schools to seek its approval on such incentives. As for
non-nancial recognition, the MoEHE ‘does not have any criteria with some exceptions, where teachers are acknowledged, but they
are infrequent[79, p.19]. For example, a teacher with outstanding performance would be transferred to ‘another level schoolor a
‘better-performing school, but there is no clear system for these happenings [79].
Currently, the teaching profession in Qatar is viewed as being low ranking, and teachers do not obtain the desired social status [81,
82]. Teachers workload is quite heavy necessitating them to work extensively beyond school hours [79,83]. Demands from the
MoEHE are on continuously on the rise, with huge emphasis put on standardization of lesson plans and other teaching functions [79,
83,84,85]. A key feature of this educational landscape is that it lacks teachersvoice, as all policies are top-down and very hierarchical
[83].
The current educational system inherited a set of teaching standards that were revised recently and are known by ‘Qatar National
Professional Standards for Teachers (QNPST) [86]. This study aimed at developing a career ladder steps/stages by teachers for
teachers within the Public school system, particularly for Qatari Nationals, as non-nationals follow different scheme and pay scale.
While this ladder addresses the Qatari context, it is very useful for any other researchers or countries interested in career ladders, since
it is built by teachers for themselves.
Table 1
Focus group interview questions.
Area Question(s)
Career Satisfaction Self-Introduction What are the tasks assigned to you since entering the profession?
Career Choice satisfaction & the
corresponding contributing factors
How satised are you with your choice of teaching profession? Why?
o What are the factors that make you want to continue in the teaching
profession?
o What are the factors that make you unwilling to continue in the teaching
profession?
Perspectives on Potential
Career Ladder
The value of the career ladder for
teachers
To what extent do you think that the existence of a career progression ladder for teachers
is a supportive factor and enhances teacherscareer satisfaction?
Elements of the career ladder of teachers o If you were in the educational policy-making position, what elements would
you consider integral to build a career ladder for teachers? (Example: years of
experience, achievements, professional license, school competitions, etc ).
o How do you see the elements that you mentioned tting together to create a
potential career ladder for Qatari national teachers?
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3. Methodology
3.1. Research method & design
This study was based on the interpretive paradigm, exploring participants viewpoints, beliefs and feelings pertaining to the
research topic [87,88]. Qualitative approach was used to explore teachersviews regarding the constituent elements of a career ladder
for teachers, along the progression of those elements. In fact, exploratory research is recommended when researchers are interested in
generating initial ideas about an issue, topic, or occurrence [89]. This study is exploratory, using focus group interviews with teachers,
in order to better understand what would make a Qatari national teacher remain in the career and stay motivated. It was guided by the
following research questions:
1 To what degree are Qatari national teachers satised with their choice of teaching as a career?
2 What are the potential stages and roles Qatari national teachers envision for themselves to stay motivated in their career?
Focus group interviews utilized an interview guide consisting of ve questions, and are presented in Table 1.
3.2. Selection criteria
This study aimed at developing a career ladder for Qatari national teachers. As stated earlier, non-Qatari nationals follow a different
pay scale than nationals, and the wages of the latter are considered among the highest in the world [84]. According to Ref. [76] ‘the
difference in the wages of Qatari nationals and non-national teachers is signicant but retrieving the precise information is difcult(p.
5). Besides, not all positions within the school system are open to non-nationals. For example, the position of a school principal and
his/her vice are limited to Qatari nationals. Thus, it would be necessary to develop two career ladders rather than one, in order to
account for the two categories of teachers.
Moreover, the category of teachers addressed in this study includes those leaving the profession after completing their ‘survival
periodas described by Ref. [38]. They were the ones who managed the transition from university to teaching, and have completed a
minimum of ve years of teaching experience.
Consequently, the selection criteria required participants to: (a) be Qatari nationals, (b) teaching in a public school, (c) bear a
teaching experience of 5 years or more, and (d) be currently teaching during the academic year where the study was conducted.
3.3. Participants
This study used six focus group interviews involving 35 teachers from six public schools in Qatar. It is worth mentioning that
schools in Qatar separates males and females students according to sex. Moreover, male teachers take over teaching males, and female
teachers take over the teaching of female students, in public schools.
The initial intent was to recruit ve teachers from each of three boysonly schools, and three girlsonly schools (a total of 15 male
teachers and 15 female teachers). However, one boysonly school t the criteria of selection, and was selected. This in itself shows the
scarcity of male Qatari national teachers, as assured by Ref. [90].
Initially, all public schools were emailed, inviting them to express interest in the study, after presenting the study, its objectives,
selection criteria, how data will be used, as well as providing assurances for the anonymity of both schools and participants. Schools
were also informed that the selection was to be made on a ‘rst come, rst servedbasis. It was very easy to select the three females
only schools, contrary to male schools where only one of the responding schools t the selection criteria. As such, the decision was
Table 2
Background characteristics of the teachers involved in the study.
Characteristic Number
Gender
Male 3
Female 22
Age (Years)
2535 14
3645 8
Above 45 3
Education
Bachelor Degree in Education 21
Master Degree in Education 4
Experience (Years)
510 19
More than 10 6
Position in School
Classroom Teacher 17
Subject Coordinator 8
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made to include ve female schools versus one male school.
The background characteristics of the teachers involved in the study are presented in Table 2.
3.4. Participant consent
As part of the requirements set by the MoEHE in Qatar, the researchers gained a written approval from the ministry to carry out the
study in public schools. Following this, researchers applied for the university internal review board for ethical clearance, which is
mandatory prior to any data collection. Both letters from the ministry and the university board, alongside the consent form were
emailed to schools inviting them to participate in the study. Responding schools were asked to nominate 35 teachers using the se-
lection criteria for the study shared with them. Each nominated teacher was contacted by email, requesting her/his personal signed
consent form.
3.5. Data collection and analysis
The focus group interviews were conducted using Microsoft Teams. At the beginning of the focus group interview, the purpose of
the study was explained, and participants were informed that they might wish not to respond to certain questions. Besides, they were
also told that they could withdraw, at any time during the study. Moreover, focus group interviews were conducted in Arabic, and
audio-recorded upon participants approval. All participants accepted audio-recording the meeting via Ms Teams (closed cameras).
Focus group interviews lasted between 30 and 45 min depending on the number of participants in the group. Groups consisting of three
participants took less time on the average, than groups comprised of ve participants.
Upon the conclusion of data collection, interviews were transcribed. NVivo 12 Pro was utilized to support in qualitative data
analysis. First, ‘codingor creating categories for sections of data in the dataset was accomplished. Nvivo gives the name ‘nodesfor
‘codes, and it allows for two types of nodes: thematic and case. Through the classication tools of this software, it was possible to
create categories of data coming from multiple cases, based on their attributes and value data, leading to mapping thematic data to case
data. Then, relationships amongst data were explored using the mapping tools offered by the software, which include templates and
visual representations. This supported the organization of data, allowing researchers to analyze it, drawing conclusions, and verifying
themes. Quotes relevant to the themes were selected, in order to provide an accurate account of participantsperspectives.
4. Findings
For ethical considerations, participants are identied using two letters and a number. The letters represents the code given to the
school, and the number is what identies this participant for researchers. For example, AT4 indicates an input from a teacher in school
A, identied with the number 4.
4.1. Teacherscareer satisfaction
4.1.1. Exhibited roles
All teachers except one, explained that they held teaching positions since their start in the career, with no leadership roles outside
the boundaries of their classrooms. Half of the teachers explained that they were promoted to the position of a subject coordinator.
Other than being a classroom teacher or a subject coordinator, there were no other roles played by teachers in relation to years of
experience, achievements and expertise.
‘It is either you are a teacher or a coordinator, depending on years of experience. Becoming a vice principal or a principal are too
limited possibilities(BT4).
‘I have been teaching the exact same grade level since 8 years, and I am not sure whether I will be promoted to any other role in
the school any soon(FT1).
This conrms the atness of the teaching career in Qatar, whereby most teachers start off as teachers, yet continue to carry out the
same role across their years within the career. As the higher positions in the hierarchy are limited in number compared to the number
of teachers, then only few will have the opportunity to advance in the career. Even the potential advancement is limited to taking over
traditional leadership roles.
4.1.2. Career choice satisfaction
Only three out of the twenty-ve participants expressed that they did not regret joining the career. Interestingly the three were
females, bearing the roles of coordinators. All the rest thought that, if they go back in time, they would denitely choose a different
career.
‘I wish I could go back in time to college to choose a different job(AT1).
‘I am not satised with my career. I am neither appreciated in school, nor outside it. So, I denitely wish I chose something else
(CT2).
‘I am completing now a Master Degree in order to change career. I do not think I can continue with the current career(ET3).
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The reasons for being unsatised with the teaching career included the: (a) low status of the job, (b) lack of appreciation by the
school leadership, (c) very demanding role, (d) limited opportunities for innovation and creativity, and (e) atness of the career.
First of all, the majority of participants (20 teachers) thought that teaching was a low status career as perceived by the society.
‘We [teachers] are viewed to be carrying out a very easy role as we stay the day long with kids(BT1).
‘Parents treat us as nannies or servants and tend to give us orders, and this never happens in other jobs(DT2).
‘Studentsattitudes towards their teachers mirror that of their parents. Imagine one student showed me how much money he
had, to indicate his lack of interest in the gifts I was distributing to the class to reinforce positive behavior(FT2).
‘I think that even the media is harsh on us [the teachers] so you nd newspaper articles, TV interviews putting a lot of blame on
us as teachers(AT5).
As the above teachers quotes reect, teachers thought that the teaching career was low status and attributed that to several
reasons; including how parents and students treated them, how media portrayed them, and the insignicant role the society thought
they were fullling.
On the other hand, teachers believed that school leadership itself did not appreciate them the way they should be.
‘I think school principals view the role we are carrying very lightly. They fail to express the authentic appreciation that matches
the level of effort we put with our students (BT1).
‘I think we as teachers are treated as students in schools, or even less (ET1).
Moreover, teachers though that the workload was exhausting and overwhelming. They had to work hours outside school hours,
which impacted negatively on their social lives.
‘ I think I lost connection with friends because of my career. I do not have time to meet them and enjoy my social life(AT2).
‘We do carry loads that I believe are equivalent to two jobs (BT3).
Moreover, the highly bureaucratic educational system seemed to be playing an additional role in lowering teachers career
satisfaction. In fact, when everything is dictated to teachers, they tend to lack the initiative and the tendency to innovate.
‘I feel like a robot who has to fulll orders in each aspect of my role(FT3).
‘ I do not feel I have an area where I can take decisions. We were told we are queens of our classes by the principal, so I took the
decision to allow students to drink water without permission anytime they felt thirsty. I was demonized by the principal in front
of all other teachers because of this simple decision I tried to make (ET2).
Never the less, the atness of the career was considered as a key reason for being dissatised with the career.
‘ As we mentioned earlier to you, we started as teachers and we will probably retire as teachers or maximum as coordinators.
There are very limited opportunities for advancement and growth (CT3).
On the other hand, teachers thoughts on factors that kept them in the career were more cultural, as within the Qatari culture, the
job of a teacher is attributed to women. In fact, through teaching, a woman can accompany her kids to and back from school.
‘I am initially a computer engineer, but went for a teaching diploma when I married because my husband and I thought that
teaching is better for me to be able to cater better for my children (ET4).
4.2. Perspectives on Potential Career Ladder
4.2.1. The value of the career ladder for teachers
All teachers thought that a career ladder would potentially provide a solution to many of the issues confronting them; believing that
it would keep them challenged. As such, it was described as a tool that would set clear expectations, encourage discourse around
performance, and encourage retention of teachers.
In more details, a career ladder was thought to secure clear expectations to teachers in terms of advancement and promotion. It
would provide teachers with an ongoing mechanism to develop their competencies, leading to the mastery of their roles.
‘I believe a ladder would make it clear to us [teachers] how to navigate through the career and plan on how to move from one
step to another(DT).
Moreover, a career ladder was believed to encourage discourse around performance, creating a performance-based culture amongst
teachers. This was believed to help focus professional development around a robust structure.
‘A career ladder would make us all speak the language of performance, achievement and attainment(CT4).
‘A career ladder would make professional development well structured and more aligned with our needs(AT5).
Parallel to this, a career ladder was viewed as means for keeping good teachers and enrolling new ones, because it professionalized
N. Ghamrawi and A. Abu-Tineh
Heliyon 9 (2023) e15037
8
the career, giving teachers an improved social status of their job titles, and making them feel equal to employees in other professions.
‘I think a ladder for my career can make me reconsider my decision to leave the career as it would ll in much of what is missing
(DT4).
‘It [The career ladder] can make me feel like my medical sister or my telecom brother that I can advance and grow (BT5).
4.2.2. Elements of the career ladder of teachers
Teachers considered a myriad of elements to be taken into account when building a ladder for advancement across their career.
Among those elements were (a) educational background and credentials, (b) continuous involvement in professional development, (c)
classroom performance, (d) achievements rather than years of experience, (e) continuity, (f) objectivity, and (g) being multi-
directional.
In fact, teachers thought that teachers holding a masters degree in education or higher should be promoted more quickly than those
with bachelor degrees only.
‘I believe that teachers who hold a Masters Degree should be automatically promoted into subject coordinator role(CT1).
Moreover, teachers thought that teachers who worked hard on growing professionally, should be also rewarded.
‘A teacher who attends on her own three or seven or ten workshops a school year should be appreciated by the career ladder
(DT3).
Furthermore, teachers thought that teachers classroom performance should top the elements for advancement via the career
ladder. They believed that the core of teachers role is facilitating instruction, that is conducive to student learning.
‘Teaching is all about fostering student learning and those who can teach well should be promoted rst(AT3).
‘I think when a teacher proves excellence in her repertoire of teaching practice, she/he should be promoted(FT1).
Additionally, and as per teachers perspective, achievement was thought to be essential element of the proposed career ladder.
They thought there were nothing more demotivating than a pay scale with titles that are based on teachersyears of experience.
‘I think counting number of years to move teachers is very demotivating. Some of us [teachers] do huge achievements but we are
not appreciated. For example, some of us support low attaining students signicantly, but no one sees that or value it. Other win
huge national and international competitions, but are rewarded very shallowly. Some of us help other teachers or student
teachers coming from universities, and no one sees that (BT5).
Fig. 1. A Potential Career Ladder for Teachers using Teacher Data (Multi-dimensional).
N. Ghamrawi and A. Abu-Tineh
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9
According to all participants, teachers needed to feel that there is something awaiting them on their career path, rewarding their
hard work, innovation, and risk-taking; and leading to improved student learning. As such, they strongly recommended that the
advancement opportunities be available starting day one in the career and extending to years close to retirement.
‘ I think a key feature of a good career ladder for teachers is keeping them busy across it so that they feel that the greater the
effort they put, the more appreciation they will receive (FT2).
Moreover, participants thought that the career ladder needed to be objective. They explained that it should be based on national
professional qualication standards and is centered on measurable achievements.
‘A good ladder offers teachers an ongoing professional development based on our national qualications standards, recognition
of achievements, an appreciation of devotion to teaching, and serves as catalyst for improved social status through better
compensation for their skills sets and contributions(ET3).
In addition, a career ladder should be multi-directional. They proposed that the aspired advancements should allow teachers to
serve inside and outside classrooms, work not only with students; but also with other teachers from the same or different schools, with
parents, and with the MoEHE and its afliated bodies.
‘Our role should not be limited to classrooms. The ladder should allow us to expand our roles to provide support to other
teachers through the MoEHE(CT5).
‘We can function with parents and provide guidance on how to support their children (AT4).
‘Teachers can be providers for professional development inside the school or outside it for teachers form other schools in the
area(DT1).
4.3. Synthesizing a data-driven career ladder (multi-dimensional)
Based on the elements provided by participant teachers in this study, the researchers developed a potential teacher career ladder
that accounts for all the data collected from them, and which aligns with the reviewed literature. This career ladder is presented in
Fig. 1.
The synthesized teacher career ladder (Fig. 1) is one of many that can be generated using the data collected from teachers.
However, the key feature is that it fullls nearly all the recommendations, and suggestions collected and analyzed, and is relatively
compliant with the revised literature. First, the ladder is multi-directional allowing for both horizontal and vertical advancements.
New teachers can advance through an induction program (which senior teachers can lead on) into classroom teachers, who through
performance evaluation can be promoted into senior teachers. At this level, teachers may choose to advance either, horizontally and/or
vertically based on their performance, strength and interest.
Vertically, teachers may advance using the known formal middle leadership positions (master teacher, subject leader, head of
department), arriving into senior leadership positions (vice principal and principal). Likewise, teachers can advance horizontally by
serving as teacher leaders, choosing to specialize as a mentor, coach, PD specialist, curriculum specialist, assessment specialist, par-
entsmentor, community liaison, or learning resources specialist. These roles allow teachers to work beyond their classrooms, affecting
other classrooms, grade levels, teams, and potentially other schools.
Nonetheless, it is imperative for the successful implementation of such a career ladder or similar ladders to be based on the national
professional qualications for teachers, and to be supported by an overarching professional development provision, and a performance
evaluation scheme. Finally, the pay scale needs to be adjusted accordingly, to cite in teachersefforts based on the role played.
5. Discussion
This study aimed at synthesizing a career ladder for Qatari national teachers through their own lenses. Participant teachers
involved in the study have presumably completed the ‘survival periodsince they all bear more than 5 years of teaching experience, as
per [38]. Despite that, most of them were not satised with the career, and even regretted joining it in the rst place. They attributed
this to the fact that they have been carrying the exact same sole, since they started teaching. This nding align with that of [48], as well
as [38]; who reported that teachers who nd themselves carrying the same role endlessly, tend to drop out from the career. Teachers
were keen to mention that their career was a at one, inhibiting them from any advancement [21,42,47]. They believed that the tasks
attributed to the role were seemingly heavy [38].
In addition, this study showed that teachers thought that teaching was a low status career, a nding that comes similar to many
studies cited in the literature [82,83]. This feeling was worsened, given that those teachers also thought that they were neither
appreciated inside school [79], nor outside it [81]. Moreover, teachers thought that the bureaucratic educational system, which
dictated to them the tiniest details, left them with no room for innovation and creativity [48].
On the other hand, participants believed that a career ladder would be of great value in supporting them overcome teacher
demoralization, which often increases their attrition [4,28,52,53]. They suggested key elements to be endorsed by the desired ladder.
First, they thought that it should account for the educational background and credentials of teachers [51]. They thought this would be
a sign of appreciation for teachers who pursue higher degrees, and encourage them to advance and grow professionally.
Speaking of professional growth, participants suggested that the career ladder should support continuous involvement in
N. Ghamrawi and A. Abu-Tineh
Heliyon 9 (2023) e15037
10
professional development [38]. This is a key strength of the Ecuadorian career ladder, as manifested by the [53]. Moreover, partic-
ipants thought it should be based on teachersperformance in the classroom [61], dictated by teacher achievements, rather than a list
of titles with pay scale centered on years of experience. Furthermore, through participantslenses, an effective career ladder should be
a continuum, allowing teachers to continuously grow and advance since day one in the career, and towards their retirement. This
comes in line with the critiques given to the Ethiopian teacher career ladder [53,60].
Likewise, participant teachers suggested that the ladder should be objective, based on national qualications standards [38], and
centered on achievement [57]. They also stressed the importance of being multi-directional, allowing horizontal and vertical ad-
vancements, an element that characterized the success of New Yorks career ladder [53,55].
Finally, the multi-dimensional career path arrived at through this study might seem challenging for ministries of education. This is
because it requires reconsidering the traditional unidirectional career path already in place. It even requires a new mindset, one that
believes in the power of motivation in the career life of teachers, its impact on their commitment, and to student learning. Thus,
accepting the challenge to venture into a multi-dimensional career path remains a function of the awareness of the policymakers to the
critical added-value such a model offers to the overall educational system.
6. Conclusion
The study explored the degree Qatari national teachers were satised with their choice of teaching as a career, and the potential
stages and roles they envisioned for themselves to stay motivated in their career. This study suggests that teachers were not satised
with their choice of teaching as a career, and they linked it to the atness of the career. The study highlights the importance of the
existence of well-balanced multi-directional ladder for combating the atness of the teaching career, based on teachersperspective.
Interestingly, the elements suggested for such a career are potentially possible in any school and do not require outstanding budgets to
cater for them. All that teachers are looking for is breaking the monotony of their roles, allowing them to display their acquired
competencies across their career, and expanding their benet beyond their classrooms. It can be argued that teachers are looking
forward to shared forms of leadership in schools, sanctioning them with the opportunities to lead from the bottom, middle or top. This
was the greatest focus for teachers involved in the study, who gave little attention to the pay itself, in a country where teaching wages
for nationals is considered among the highest on an international scale.
Finally, a well-dened teacher career ladder seems to be conducive for creating purpose, and ownership for teachers over the
career, encouraging conversations around performance and achievement. It also supports an objective scheme for promotions, basing
them on teachersboth interests and strengths. It is like doing a lot for teachers, yet with little investments and efforts.
6.1. Limitations of the study
This case study was carried out within the educational context of Qatar. It may be argued that being a case study, this study would
not contribute to the literature of professionalizing teaching. Contrary to this, the literature of case studies by prominent researchers
such as Robert Yin, Sharan Merriam, and Robert Stake suggest that the case study methodology may be used to generate theories [91].
A single case study may be powerful enough to contest a widely held view, as per [92]. In fact, the story illustrated through this case
study could be applicable in other contexts as well, as it addressed expanding the horizon of teacherscareer paths in a K-12 context.
There might be many policy-makers, or educational practitioners, and teacher activists who are interested in exploring a
multi-dimensional career path for their contexts; and the career path model arrived at could be very helpful for them in their
endeavors.
Declarations
Informed consent
All participants in this study were informed of the purpose of the study and how data will be used. They were assured that their
identities would remain anonymous across the study.
Ethical clearance
The manuscript received ethical approval of Qatar University Institutional Review Board (QU-IRB). The approval number is QU-
IRB 1753-EA/22.
Author contribution statement
Norma Ghamrawi, EdD; Abdullah Abu-Tineh, PhD: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analyzed
and interpreted the data; Contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools or data; Wrote the paper.
Funding statement
This study was made possible by NPRP grant # 13S-0209-200319 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar
N. Ghamrawi and A. Abu-Tineh
Heliyon 9 (2023) e15037
11
Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. Open Access funding provided by the Qatar
National Library.
Data availability statement
The data that has been used is condential.
Declaration of interests statement
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
No additional information is available for this paper.
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N. Ghamrawi and A. Abu-Tineh
... In the literature, the predominant focus of leadership research has been on the identification of effective individuals or methodologies for leadership. A list of highly noted concepts include transformational leadership (Bass, 1985), ethical leadership (Brown et al., 2005), servant leadership (Ghamrawi & Al-Jammal, 2014), authentic leadership (Walumbwa et al., 2008), charismatic leadership (Meslec et al., 2020), collaborative leadership (Bianchi et al., 2021), and distributed leadership (Ghamrawi & Abu-Tineh, 2023;Harris et al., 2022). These concepts are often used to underscore positive leader behavior and its consequential impacts within the literature. ...
... The examination of destructive leadership within the literature review often presents leadership qualities as a binary opposition, contrasting positive and negative aspects. While 'the bright side of leadership' is often associated with effective leadership practices, competency, and organizational effectiveness (Ghamrawi & Abu-Tineh, 2023), negative behaviors may be overshadowed (Li et al., 2024;Zhong et al., 2024). In fact, each leadership approach and style embodies both the bright and dark sides, encompassing the spectrum from the beneficial to the detrimental, the commendable to the questionable. ...
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... This dynamic process extends beyond individual classrooms, as it involves teachers exerting influence on their peers, school administrators, and other members of the educational ecosystem (Ghamrawi et al., 2023a(Ghamrawi et al., , 2023b(Ghamrawi et al., , 2023c(Ghamrawi et al., , 2023dNguyen et al., 2020;Wenner & Campbell, 2017). While teacher leadership has been recognized as key for teacher satisfaction (Ghamrawi & Abu-Tineh, 2023;Wiens et al., 2024), the overarching goal is to enhance student learning and achievement (Li & Liu, 2022;Shen et al., 2020). Teacher leadership involves intentional development efforts focused on three key areas: individual development, collaborative or team development, and organizational development (Ghamrawi et al., 2023a(Ghamrawi et al., , 2023b. ...
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This phenomenological investigation examined teacher leadership within the context of higher education among novice faculty members with a specialization in educational leadership. These newcomers received informal guidance and support from specific faculty members whom they identified as exemplifying teacher leadership. The core methodology involved in-depth interviews complemented by bridling journal entries, capturing the lived experiences and perceptions of the six participants from six Arab States. Data analysis employed a whole-part-whole approach. Findings suggest three manifestations or themes for teacher leadership, including social enculturation, expertise diffusion, and emotional fitness. The insights gleaned from this study provide a foundation for fostering discourse on teacher leadership development in higher education contexts.
... School leaders find themselves at the forefront of a complex and dynamic environment, where the demands and expectations placed upon them have reached unprecedented heights (Ghamrawi & Tamim, 2022;Chatzipanagiotou & Katsarou, 2023;Tamadoni et al., 2024). The efficacy of school leadership, therefore, hinges upon the continuous development and refinement of the skills, knowledge, and strategies needed to navigate these turbulent waters (Ghamrawi & Abu-Tineh, 2023, Ghamrawi et al., 2023a2024a, b, c, d, e;Lumban Gaol, 2023). ...
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This study explores the potential of virtual communities of practice (vCoPs) in fostering leadership growth that aligns with the diverse needs and challenges faced by school principals. The study employs a qualitative research design, and conducts semi-structured interviews with 16 school principals from K-12 schools belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Findings suggest that vCoPs offer a rich environment for school principals to engage in collaborative learning, knowledge sharing, and professional networking, all of which contribute to their differentiated leadership development. Findings suggest that vCoPs offer flexible personalized learning paths that can support instructional, digital, and distributed leadership development of school principals. This advancement is made possible by creating a supportive and secure environment that is fortified by resilience, group cohesion, and robust feedback mechanisms. Additionally, vCoPs contribute to leadership development by fostering collective efficacy, cultivating shared beliefs in driving positive change, and disseminating these principles throughout the educational leadership community via social influence.
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High teacher attrition rates are an international problem. This study explores what former teachers pinpoint as their main exit reasons from teaching. Interviews were conducted with twenty-one former teachers in Flanders (Belgium) about push and pull factors. Our findings show that teachers mainly relate their exit to characteristics of the profession. For novices, the characteristics of the profession resulting in attrition are job insecurity and an exceeding workload, while the decisive factor for experienced teachers is the professions' flat career structure. Moreover, the school context reinforces career doubts, especially for novices who experience issues with class management and feel demoralised.