From Isolation to Interaction: A Social Network Perspective on Older Teachers’ Position in School Organizations and Age-Related HR Practices

Abstract

Since workforce is greying, increasing pressure has been put on many sectors, including the public sector, to raise legal retirement age. Nevertheless, older workers, and specifically teachers, usually retire much earlier. In the organizational and educational literature, most studies regarding later career have been applying a deficit perspective: reporting on senior teachers’ challenges and difficulties. Only a limited amount of studies considers senior teachers’ potentials, learning, and further career development. In this present article, we approach late-career teachers from a non-deficit perspective. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of senior teachers at work, by analyzing HR practices that target them. Inspired by a strengths use perspective, we focus on end-of-career teachers’ knowledge and expertise exchange and their position within the school’s network. In particular, we conducted a comparative mixed-methods case study (interviews, social network analysis) in 2 secondary schools with a sample of 10 end-of-career teachers, 4 younger teachers, and 2 principals. The results illustrate that older teachers hold central positions in their workplace and have, in accordance with the socio-emotional selectivity theory, limited but strong bounds with colleagues. Moreover, school principals in both schools seem to benefit from older teachers’ organizational knowledge by involving them in decision-making processes. Nevertheless, results show that the principals in the 2 schools mainly apply remedial measures to deal with changes due to aging. This paper ends with some implications for school principals: Applying a non-deficit developmental approach is key for sustainable HR management in schools across the lifespan.