Differentiation of Career Development Orientations among Chinese Information Technology Teachers: A Grounded Theory Study

With the growing emphasis on information technology education, the role of Information Technology (IT) teachers has become increasingly important. However, compared with countries where the career development of IT teachers is well-established, Chinese IT teachers exhibit a more diverse range of career development orientations—reflecting the complex realities of their marginal institutional status. This study employs a grounded theory methodology to investigate IT teachers at a university in China, aiming to analyze the key factors influencing the differentiation of their career development orientations and to construct a theoretical model explaining this differentiation. The findings reveal that under the combined influence of two core factors—1) whether personality/initiative is proactive or passive, and 2) whether work motivation is intrinsically or extrinsically driven—four distinct career development orientations emerge: teaching-oriented, position-oriented, life-oriented with teaching as a secondary focus, and passive coping & dual-track striving.