When Promotion Ladders Seem to End: the career concerns of secondary headteachers

This paper considers the career concerns experienced by some comprehensive school headteachers when promotion ladders in teaching in schools apparently come to an end. Using career history data from 20 headteachers, 10 men and 10 women, the age and gender differences in the experience of career concern are illustrated. The concept of career in sociological analysis is examined and the linking of actions and structures in the formation of career patterns is demonstrated. It is then argued that, in a time of rapid educational change, new positions will be created and the rules defining who gets particular positions might be altered. In this way, the career expectations of, and new career structures for, headteachers could be developed.