The Job Market

Abstract

Chapter five, ‘The Job Market’, maps out the challenges teachers faced in seeking work. They had to navigate a curious mix of paternalistic favouritism and bureaucratic meritocracy, procedural transparency and opaqueness, conservative and more radical ideas about gender on the part of hiring authorities. Most of all, teachers had to make big choices early in their careers: did they want to make personal sacrifices and endure a seemingly endless series of moves to try to secure a well-paying and prestigious position in a large urban school, or did they want to put down roots in a community, even if it meant settling for a less-than-desirable position? Did they want to stay in Britain or venture out to the empire, where they had a much greater chance of securing a well-paying job at a relatively young age? Teachers forged new understandings of what constituted fair and just hiring practices and desirable careers paths as they confronted, discussed, and protested the dilemmas they faced on the job market.