ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the ‘problem’ of contract employment in teaching, within beginning teaching in particular, as the difficulty of retaining beginning teachers continues to prevail in practice, the literature and the media. The problem is explored through a practice approach as a way of grasping the conditions of human action and social order (Reckwitz 2002). Through an investigation of twelve beginning teachers’ experiences of contractual employment conditions an understanding of symbolic structures of knowledge, such as the transmission of tacit knowledge, was sought. The investigation revealed how systems such as contract employment can enable and constrain individuals to interpret the world according to certain forms, and to behave in corresponding ways, impacting on their commitment to remain in the teaching profession.