The teaching job in America was designed as a temporary position, for men before the headed to college or for women before they got married. As it transitioned into being a career, it never really developed the features of having a career trajectory. It's one of the only careers in America where the responsibilities that you have on day one are not so different from the responsibilities that you will have the day before you retire. A few teachers become department heads or move into administration, but for the most part teachers either leave the profession or keep the same role.
Back in the 70s, this was still the case in Singapore, but over the past 30 years, Singapore has worked to develop three separate professional tracks for teachers. For a long time, teachers have had the option of pursuing a leadership track, where teachers move from teacher, to department or level head, to vice principal and then principal. The two new tracks that have been developed are the Specialist track and the Master Teacher track. The specialists move from the classroom into the national curriculum department, becoming masters of content and skills and responsible for developing curriculum and pedagogical initiatives. The Master Teacher track allows teachers to progress from Junior Teachers, to Senior Teachers to Lead Teachers to Master Teachers. Senior and Lead Teacher remain within schools and have mentoring responsibilities for junior faculty. Senior and Lead teachers are also called on by school leaders to help lead curricular and pedagogical initiatives within schools. Master Teachers move from schools to the Academy of Singapore Teachers, where they take responsibility for the development of subject faculty (history teachers) and for coaching and supporting Senior and Lead Teachers.
There are folks in the United States who are interested in researching and helping to implement these possibilities, like Kitty Boles at Harvard. What would it look like if every school's principal had been one of the most highly respected teachers in the school? What would it look like if state departments of education were staffed by extremely successful teachers who viewed their promotion to the department of ed as vindication of a successful career in teaching? What if a young teacher who entered the profession today knew that they had three different possible pathways to pursue in the future?
Erp. My host has just brought me mango pudding. Time for a break!