Changes, Changes! Challenges perceived by early career and later career teachers and administrators

Teachers and principals often describe their work in terms of having low levels of control, too many external and unrealistic expectations, and insufficient support from their superordinates. Reports from several Australian studies focus on competing tensions in teachersÂ' and principalsÂ' roles, provide a more nuanced account of teachersÂ' and principalsÂ' perceptions/experiences than is provided in much of the literature and challenge some of the major foci found in the US literature which tends to report about beginning teachers who commence their careers in secure class-based positions. These papers point to the need for school leaders, system leaders and policy-makers to review how they work with beginning teachers, teachers throughout their careers, principals and systems.