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Career change teachers: Pragmatic choice or a vocation postponed?
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Career change teachers: Pragmatic choice or a vocation postponed?

M.M. Laming and M. Horne
Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, Vol.19(3), pp.326-343
2013
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2012.754163
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Abstract

For the last decade, international bodies have warned of a teacher shortage and sought to find ways of attracting more applicants to the profession. This article reports on a pilot study undertaken at one Australian university which asked why some applicants to preservice teaching courses had given up existing careers in order to become teachers. It then asked if their career change had been successful. Using open-ended questions and interviews, this paper recorded the view of 35 teachers who had been in teaching for 2–5 years. The findings suggest that reasons for selecting teaching as a second career are more complex and nuanced than existing research suggests, combining pragmatic, deeply personal and spiritual elements. It also found a significant connection between career change teachers’ satisfaction with their new occupation and the status of their occupation, indicating that further study of career change teachers’ experiences and personal beliefs is warranted.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#4 Quality Education

Source: InCites

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38 Record Views
25 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Citation topics
6 Social Sciences
6.11 Education & Educational Research
6.11.190 Teacher Education
Web Of Science research areas
Education & Educational Research
ESI research areas
Social Sciences, general
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