The Socialization of Professionals Into Bureaucracies: The Beginning Teacher in the School

The principal focus of this study involved the changes in bureaucratic and professional orientations of beginning teachers as they encountered the formal organization of the public school during their first year of professional teaching experience. The basic assumptions underlying the research were that teachers will relate in a positive fashion to both the norms of the bureaucracy and the norms of the profession during their initial encounter with the school in a professional capacity and that they will assume a “mixed type” dual role orientation. Data were collected from prospective teachers during their student teaching experiences and again, near the conclusion of their first year of full‐time professional employment. Responses to the Bureaucartic Orientation Scale and the Professional Orientation Scale suggests that experience in the school organization for beginning teachers is related to increased bureaucratic orientation and decreased professional orientation.