Enduring in an “Impossible” Occupation

Abstract

Very little is known about the role of person-level qualities, or personality, in the teacher labor market. This study explores the role of perfectionism in teacher occupational commitment and retention. One hundred eighteen graduates of a competitive teacher preparation program with widely varying levels of total years commitment to the job completed a measure of three dimensions of perfectionism— standards (holding oneself to high standards), order (valuing neatness, tidiness, and being disciplined), and discrepancy (perceiving a gap between ambitions and abilities)—and gave information about their personal backgrounds and work histories. Results suggest that none of the dimensions of perfectionism predict teacher commitment in the sample as a whole, but that the order dimension significantly predicts long-term commitment to struggling urban versus affluent suburban schools. These results imply that long-term urban teachers may be adept at overlooking difficult and sometimes chaotic circumstances to sustain themselves in the occupation.