Analysing increasingly complex career landscapes: from teaching assistant (TA) to teacher in England

This paper presents a contemporary theoretical framework through which to examine career routes of mature teaching assistants (TAs) in schools, following 6-7 years of part-time study in higher education (HE) in England. Applying an adaptation of ‘Careership’ (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997) framework in analysis of data collected through a life course methodology, early data indicates a significant financial and emotional commitment, and recognises social, temporal and structural influences that effect return on their investment. I explore preliminary data from the first participants focussing on what occurs in the intermediary space between forces of individual and structural contexts of their career routes and a framework through which to analyse these stories.