Designing a Model for Career Path Adaptability of Teachers: A Qualitative Study

Applying grounded theory (GT) as a systematic methodology, this study was to present a model for the career path adaptability (CPA) of teachers. The statistical population consisted of the experts and teachers affiliated to the Department of Education (DoE) in Iran, in the 2018-19 academic year calendar, and the samples (n=17) were selected based on snowball sampling, as a purposeful method. For this purpose, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used as the data collection tool, and the data were then analyzed via content analysis with coding. In this line, the central phenomenon, accompanied by the main categories and subcategories, was extracted. To code the given data, 198 codes were initially identified, and 41 subcategories were subsequently formed. To validate the interviews, triangulation, member checking, and peer review were further practiced. Besides, the test-retest and inter-rater reliability techniques were exploited for the reliability purposes. In accordance with the GT outcomes, CPA as the central phenomenon was realized with respect to causal conditions, viz., organizational, career-related, personal conditions, through the strategies of career advancement, learning and training, human resources (HR) attraction/selection/recruitment, and motivation, by taking account of effective underlying conditions, namely, HR development requirements, motivational conditions, organizational culture, and leadership style. However, this phenomenon, not protected from economic, political, organizational, and personal contexts, as the intervening factors, had induced a number of outcomes, e.g., a descending trend in leaving one’s job, increased job satisfaction, higher levels of organizational commitment, delegation of authority, and cost reduction for the DOE and teachers. Ultimately, the study results gave rise to designing a CPA model for teachers, containing a central phenomenon, along with causal conditions, underlying conditions, intervening factors, strategies, and outcomes.