In-depth Analysis of How Prospective Social Studies Teachers Make Sense of Their Career Choice Decisions

Abstract

AbstractPeople choose teaching as a career for intrinsic, altruistic, extrinsic, materialistic, and stereotypical reasons. It is also argued that extrinsic, material, and stereotypical reasons divert people's career preferences away from their real interest or talent. Hence the effectiveness of educating teachers depends upon exploring pre-service teachers' rationale for choosing teaching as a career, and using this perspective to shape the teacher education process. This qualitative case study was conducted to investigate holistically how pre-service teachers in the field of social studies make sense of their choice of career. The participants were 12 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a teacher education program for social studies at a major university in western Turkey for the 2010-2011 academic year. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using the content analysis technique. The findings revealed that five related themes took place along the pre-service social studies teachers' journey to the teaching profession: disturbances, role models, getaway, status, and transformation. These themes give idiosyncratic explanations as to why pre-service teachers often depend on extrinsic and altruistic reasons. The participants' experiences also disclosed that these steps, or themes, must be understood in relationship to each other. These experiences might also make important instruments for a constructivist teacher education in the field of social studies.Key WordsCareer Choice, Interview, Social Studies, Teacher Education, Teaching Profession.The teaching profession, in many countries around the world, is often viewed as a secure harbor for those who wish to make a career choice. The choosing of this profession comes about for a number of reasons. For instance, during destabilizing economic crises, the income of the teaching profession remains relatively reasonable almost all of the time. Research studies (e.g., Behymer & Cockriel, 1988; Cermik, Do?an, & ?ahin, 2010; Kniveton, 2004; Maree, Hislop-Esterhuizen, Swanepoel, & van der Linde, 2009) point out that people's career choice often depends on financial reasons and therefore economic pressures usually divert career choices away from their genuine interests or talents. This obviously results in a shortage of motivated and high quality applicants coming into the education program as a career, and as Yong (1995) stated, with a meager commitment to the chosen profession for the long term. From the career choice perspective, however, the teaching profession is among the most vulnerable to extrinsic and material factors.Extrinsic and Material ReasonsFindings of the previous research consistently point out that extrinsic factors play an important role in the career preferences of those who choose the teaching profession (Azman, 2013; Bastick, 2000; Boz & Boz, 2008; Cermik et al., 2010; Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou, 1997, 1998; Saban, 2003; Yong, 1995). Extrinsic reasons cover aspects of the job which are not inherent in the work itself (Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000, p. 117). Studies disclose that multiple extrinsic factors play a role in choosing teaching as a career. Among these are pleasing salaries (Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou, 1997), a desire to have a steady income (Saban, 2003), swift employment after graduation (Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou, 1998; Saban, 2003), long summer vacations (Kyriacou, Hultgren, & Stephens, 1999), job security (Johnston, McKeown, & McEwen, 1999), the possibility of having extra time for family and kids (Watt & Richardson, 2007), the prestige of the teaching profession in society (Bastick, 2000), and the encouragement from other people such as parents, teachers, relatives, or friends (Rodzevi?i?t?, 2008; Sinclair, 2008). There are several other extrinsic reasons, such as being in high school orienting a person towards the teaching profession (Boz & Boz, 2008), having good teachers as positive role models (Cermik, Do? …