The awareness of potential problem areas in relation to school
administration can help course completers avoid a work-related reality shock
after their entry into teaching. Pre-service teachers who form realistic
expectations with respect to their future workplace are less likely to suffer from
anxiety and frustration due to a discrepancy between initial beliefs and the
actual conditions at the school unit. The findings of the study suggest that
pre-service teachers who do not opt for EDU 412 can be expected to experience
a discrepancy effect to a greater extent than their counterparts who include the
course in their electives list. This has important implications for the career
development and future job satisfaction of non-completers. A major workplace
disappointment in the first few years of employment can introduce uncertainty
and anxiety in the lives of newly appointed teachers as they struggle to come to
terms with a reality they had not previously anticipated or expected. In fact, the
difficulties associated with the experience of initial dissonance or discrepancy
may have an impact that extends beyond the first years of employment. An
early incidence of dissonance may result in the adoption of a negative stance
throughout an individual’s career as he/she learns to expect similar
disappointments in the future. Even though this negative stance is not likely
to lead to high attrition levels in the case of Cyprus for reasons previously
explained in the paper, it may affect the subsequent morale, commitment and
job satisfaction of in-service teachers. It is thus important for educational
planners and policy makers to design and implement measures that can
influence teacher expectations of school organisational variables in an attempt
to avoid any major discrepancies between these expectations and the realities
of the workplace.