The teacher profession is perceived as a demanding career path, accompanied by high workload, stress, emotional tension, unattractive social status, and so on. The aspiration of beginning teachers for personal satisfaction and self-realization activates professional satisfaction, which influences career development. The restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the activities of educational institutions. Digital technology has become an integral part of everyday life, which has changed the specifics of teacher work and increased the volume of work in a short period of time.

The aim of the research is to reveal the factors of professional satisfaction and career development of beginning teachers.

The research question is which factors of professional satisfaction influence the career development of Lithuanian beginning teachers..

Teachers’ Professional Career.Policy changes and stress at work are challenges that teachers face when planning their careers (Schaefer, 2013). The professional career research has provided insights into the factors that contribute to high-quality and effective professional development for teachers, which improves teaching and student achievement (Pianta et al., 2008; Desimone, 2009; Downer et al., 2009; Hill et al., 2013;, 2015; Cordingley et al., 2015; Brown & Weber, 2016; Abessolo, Rossier & Hirschi, 2017). Research suggests that career development is seen as a “whole-life” endeavour, necessarily encompassing the myriad facets of a person’s life that may impact on their career (Litano & Major, 2016). Differences in the expectations of professional life and the realities of a teacher's work cause professional frustration.

Teachers’ Professional satisfaction is a positive emotional state that is determined by the attitude towards the work done (Arnold, 2005); the totality of positive personal attitudes to work (Seta, 2000); a evaluative attitude towards one’s work or a particular work situation (Weiss, 2002). Professional satisfaction contributes to teacher well-being because satisfied teachers are less sensitive to stress and burnout (Toropova, Myrberg & Johansson, 2020) and develop teachers’ emotional skills to manage social relationships in the classroom and to foster the proper atmosphere along with students’ academic achievement (Wanless et al., 2015, Rodriguez, Condom-Bosch, Ruiz & Oliver, 2020). Professional satisfaction are the beginning teachers’ sense of success on the job. This is influenced by factors: the nature of work; salary; advancement opportunities; management; work groups and work conditions (Aziri, 2011). Professional satisfaction leads to higher motivation, dedication to work, lower beginning teachers turnover and contributes to their career development.

Analysis of scientific literature was selected for the theoretical explanation of the research problem as well as a quantitative research method was selected for the empirical research. The indicators on the questionnaire scales provided an opportunity to determine the links between Lithuanian beginning teachers' professional satisfaction and career development. This report discusses two scales consisting of 23 statements. This report discusses two scales consisting of 23 statements. Respondents had the opportunity to rate the intensity of their attitudes and opinions on a Likert scale (where 1 means „strongly disagree“ and 5 means „strongly agree“). Statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 23) for Windows. Data are generalized, synthesised and displayed graphically (Vogt, 2005). Organisation of the survey. The survey was conducted in 2020. November - 2021 in April. The beginning teachers from 60 Lithuanian municipalities agreed to participate in the survey. The survey included 1,902 respondents, 728 of whom are beginning teachers, of which 72% were women and 28% men. Method of filling in the questionnaire: online - on the freely available online survey portal www.apklausa.lt.

The main results. The career development of beginning Lithuanian teachers is influenced by active participation in school life, evaluation of school leaders, socio-psychological climate at school, comfort and provision of the workplace, emotional involvement in school affairs and the quality of communication. The direction of the professional path is reinforced by professional development and growth, the opportunity to work with children and young people, the changes taking place in the school and the fact that the teaching profession provides exceptional satisfaction. Professional satisfaction have a significant impact on teacher' career development. This study aims to broaden the understanding of the factors of teacher providence satisfaction, as well as to understand the role of the work environment in creating a positive teaching and learning environment at school and in promoting the career development of teachers.

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