Second-career Teachers Research Articles

An exploration of the role of creative industries experience in the pedagogical practice of second-career teachers

Internationally there is a growing emphasis on the role of the creative industries in future economies and on related career strategies for young people. There is no research however which explores how teachers with prior creative industries experience can have an impact on this. This study explored the accumulated capital, knowledge and skills, and educational philosophy of six second-career teachers, three with creative industries experience, as they underwent the transition from student to probationer teacher. It consisted of a small-scale, longitudinal, qualitative research design, analysed through a professional and cultural capital theory lens. The findings indicated that the students’ accumulated professional and cultural capital had limited value in the field of teaching with the exception of one who was able to draw on their digital knowledge. For those with existing capital in the form of knowledge and skills in the expressive arts, the participants perceived this to be considered of lower value within the field, with few opportunities to apply this to practice. The study highlights an issue with how prior experience and accumulated capital is valued within the field, which potentially also has an impact on the diversity of the teaching profession and of the curriculum that is delivered in practice.

From upper-level professional engineers to secondary engineering teachers: a study of pre-service second-career teachers in Australia and the United States

ABSTRACT Teachers with professional experience are important for improving students’ learning experiences and understanding of practical industry skills in engineering. This study explores why upper-level professional engineers decided to enter teaching with their Master of Arts in Teaching or Master of Teaching programmes and how pre-service teachers with decades of professional experience in engineering described and made sense of their career decisions to become secondary teachers. Sixteen participants shared their stories and their decisions. Among the motivations they reported, the relationship between industry and classroom knowledge in terms of preparation for university studies and encouragement from professional engineers to pursue engineering education influenced their decision. This study provides recommendations for potential second-career teachers and workforce management plans for school leaders and government agencies.

Rencontre entre l’enseignant de deuxième carrière et son établissement scolaire : un mariage sans idylle

<p>This contribution documents the professional integration of novice second-career teachers working in technical and vocational schools. We studied the experiences of this particular population of teachers through a qualitative study design with seven participants. The results highlight the harshness, difficulty, and complexity of this process. They experience institutional, organizational, and individual difficulties. In particular, the familiarization with the school as a new workplace is experienced as a complex process. The conclusions of the study provide insights on the consequences of the legal framework regulating access for second-career teachers to the teaching profession and the necessary training and support for these kinds of teachers.</p>

From upper-level professional engineers to secondary engineering teachers: a study of pre-service second-career teachers in Australia and the United States

ABSTRACT Teachers with professional experience are important for improving students’ learning experiences and understanding of practical industry skills in engineering. This study explores why upper-level professional engineers decided to enter teaching with their Master of Arts in Teaching or Master of Teaching programmes and how pre-service teachers with decades of professional experience in engineering described and made sense of their career decisions to become secondary teachers. Sixteen participants shared their stories and their decisions. Among the motivations they reported, the relationship between industry and classroom knowledge in terms of preparation for university studies and encouragement from professional engineers to pursue engineering education influenced their decision. This study provides recommendations for potential second-career teachers and workforce management plans for school leaders and government agencies.

Coping strategies used by second-career student teachers.

When second-career teachers (SCTs) learn to teach, they need to cope with the tension-evoking moments they encounter. Little is known about the coping strategies SCTs use to manage tensions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the coping strategies SCTs use during the first 1.5 years of teacher training. The SCTs' own perceptions about the usefulness, evolution and specificity of these coping strategies were also studied. Twenty-four SCTs in the alternative teacher training programme (ATTP) at the University of Amsterdam participated in this study. These SCTs aspired to become teachers of mathematics, physics, economics, computer science or chemistry. For each participant, written logbook fragments and interviews were analysed in Atlas-ti. The SCTs used in decreasing order: intrapersonal approaching (e.g., resolving problems autonomously), interpersonal approaching (e.g., consulting others) and intrapersonal avoiding strategies (e.g., ignoring an undesired situation). Interpersonal avoiding strategies were not mentioned at all. While the SCTs reported approaching strategies (inter- and intrapersonal) as being useful for their development, we also found disadvantages to intrapersonal approaching strategies and advantageous uses of avoiding strategies. The SCTs noted several inter- and intrapersonal approaching coping strategies that they considered typical for SCTs. Intrapersonal approaching coping strategies can be a risk because of the invisibility of these strategies. Interpersonal strategies should be stimulated because SCTs benefit from the social network in school. Avoiding strategies may serve a purpose for managing the complexity of the teaching profession.

At School: Second Career English Teachers’ Socialisation Experiences

The article examines the second career teachers (SCTs) socialisation into school culture through three theoretical lenses: Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework of human development, to identify the different environments within school culture that play a role in SCTs perceptions of their socialisation, Lave and Wenger’s theory of Legitimate Peripheral Participation and Bridge’s Transition Model (Bridges, 1991; Bridges & Mitchell, 2000) to characterize the modes of transition teachers face. This is likely to guide school administrators to view SCTs as a unique group of teachers whose starting point is different from the other novice teachers, due to the knowledge capital they bring with them to the socialisation process. It is argued that school management need to be aware of the fragile ‘transition’ phase of the novice SCTs. For some teachers who lack the agency to take initiatives and act proactively, this might be a trying phase of sink or swim. In schools where the interpersonal relationships within the ecological culture of the school were supportive, teachers felt more confident to socialise, while in schools where teachers felt lonely and ‘forsaken to manage on their own’, their self-image was vulnerable. Schools should provide opportunities for the teachers to manage the transition effectively by creating a cooperative environment within the school and establishing organisational practices.

Motivation to Become a Vocational Teacher As a Second Career: A Mixed Method Study

AbstractWithin the school-based vocational education and training system, so-called hybrid teachers, i.e. who both work in a vocational school and a business, can add value to the quality of VET as well as can solve ageing and the threat of shortages among VET teachers. In this research, the motivation of becoming a VET teacher as a second career and its perception by participants were examined using a mixed-method explanatory sequential study design. In the first phase, 114 VET teachers from 33 VET institutions in Lithuania were surveyed using the Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT) Choice scale. In the second phase, five vocational teachers were interviewed. The qualitative results supported and complemented the results of quantitative research by emphasizing the importance of intrinsic motivation to teach and explained in-depth the components of antecedent socialisation and perceptions of teaching. The results were discussed considering similar studies on second-career teachers conducted in other countries.

Identity in ESL-CSL Career Transition: A Narrative Study of Three Second-Career Teachers

ABSTRACT Through a narrative study of three second-career teachers who started their professional lives as English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers and then became Chinese-as-a-second-language (CSL) teachers, we examine how the participants constructed their professional identities across their trans-professional experiences. In this study, we define trans-professional experience as the occupational change when one switches from teaching one subject area to another. This study details how the participants experienced the career transitions from teaching English to Chinese and how their trans-professional experience contributed to their professional growth. Findings from narrative interviews with the participants reveal that the teachers’ second-career identities were constructed through brokering, which involved meaning negotiation when they moved across boundaries of schools, subject areas, and pedagogical systems. This study sheds light on a broader context of career transition and trans-professional practice among second language teachers.

Entering, Staying, Shifting, Leaving, and Sometimes Returning: A Descriptive Analysis of the Career Trajectories of Two Cohorts of Alternatively Certified Mathematics Teachers

Background: By attracting high-achieving college graduates and professional career changers, selective alternative certification programs, such as the New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF), promise to address pressing teacher shortages while also improving outcomes in hard-to-staff schools. Purpose: Looking at the main patterns in their careers before, during, and after completing NYCTF, the study provides insights into the short- and long-term impacts of mathematics teachers who entered as first- and second-career teachers on NYC public schools and the people in them. Participants: The study tracked the career trajectories and decision-making of more than 600 NYCTF mathematics teachers over a 9-year period. Research design: The longitudinal analysis of the teachers’ career trajectories is illuminated by descriptive statistics and qualitative analyses of their responses to open-ended survey items. Results: The article provides a portrait of urban mathematics teachers’ career decision-making as it unfolds over time. It challenges conventional understandings by demonstrating the stochastic nature of teachers’ career decision-making and, as part of this, consequential amounts of involuntary and midyear turnover. It further shows that, although in many ways similar, the career trajectories of the career changers and recent college graduates differed in key regards. Recommendations: On their own, strategies designed to attract high-achieving recent graduates and professional career changers to teach core subjects like mathematics will not solve long-standing teacher turnover and shortage issues in in high-needs urban schools. Districts also should focus on retention strategies, including training and induction tailored to meet the different needs and career goals of first- and second-career teachers.

Second-career teachers’ workplace learning and learning at university

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine career-change student teachers’ practice-based learning in teacher training, with a special focus on the support they received. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a qualitative content analysis of 15 group interviews, including 58 career-change student teachers and focuses on their learning at university and the workplace. Findings This paper indicates that career-change student teachers’ learning is task-related and based on interactions. It benefits from the support provided by actors at the university and workplace. Their learning is highly self-regulated and built on skills from prior professional and life experience. However, behaviourist learning and trial-and-error learning strategies are more often mentioned than constructionist learning and goal-oriented learning. Practical implications The findings underline the fact that universities and schools can enhance career-change student teachers’ learning by providing professional support, helping them to form links between experience from their prior profession, as well as their knowledge acquired at the university and experience from the workplace. Originality/value Until now, few studies have addressed workplace learning in teacher education. The present study aims to address this lack. Moreover, the study shows how career-change student teachers deal with the challenge of bridging the gap between theoretical and practical knowledge acquired during practice-based teacher education.

Second-career teachers' workplace learning and learning at university

Second-career teachers' workplace learning and learning at university

Experienced Second-Career English Teachers: Perceptions towards Professional Change

Experienced Second-Career English Teachers: Perceptions towards Professional Change

Is Teaching Less Challenging for Career Switchers? First and Second Career Teachers' Appraisal of Professional Challenges and Their Intention to Leave Teaching.

Teacher attrition is a major problem in many countries. One possible and widely spread counter measure is to recruit persons from other occupational fields to become teachers. Although the existent literature suggests that second career teachers (SCT) have additional resources compared to first career teachers (FCT), empirical data are still scarce on whether SCT are able to transfer prior skills and knowledge into teaching, how this affects the way they deal with professional demands, as well as their intentions to stay in their new profession. On this basis, the present study explores whether FCT and SCT differ in how challenged they feel by typical professional demands associated with teaching, and in what way their challenge appraisals are relevant for the intention to leave the profession. A questionnaire survey was conducted with a sample of 297 teachers, comprising 193 FCT and 104 SCT. Both groups had had regular teacher training, resulting in a full teacher diploma. Professional demands associated with student learning and assessment were rated as most challenging, whereas classroom management, establishing a professional role and cooperation with colleagues were perceived as less challenging. A group difference was found in professional demands concerning student learning and assessment, where SCT felt less challenged than FCT. Also, SCT were more intent to stay in the teaching profession. Further analyses showed that both group differences are mainly attributable to the higher proportion of male teachers among SCT, as well as to their higher general self-efficacy beliefs. Both career background and the degree to which the teachers felt challenged in their job played a subordinate role for the intention to leave the teaching profession. The findings indicate that SCTs’ background as career switchers might be less important for coping with specific professional demands than the existent research literature implies. On the other hand, they indicate that SCT feel nearly as challenged when starting to teach as traditional teachers, and may have the same needs for good teacher induction.

First steps in a second career: characteristics of the transition to the teaching profession among novice teachers

ABSTRACT The main purpose of the present study was to illuminate the factors that enhance or inhibit job satisfaction among second-career teachers (SCTs) in their initial period at school. Data was gathered from questionnaires filled out by 80 novice SCTs and a comparable group of 82 First-Career Teachers (FCTs). Personal interviews were conducted with eight SCTs. The findings show that the most powerful predictor of high job satisfaction among SCTs is the availability of support whereas the most powerful predictor among FCTs is workload. The qualitative analysis suggests that experience acquired by SCTs before they start teaching provides a repertoire of helpful strategies, thus improving their ability to cope with stressful experiences. The findings support the trend to advocate teaching as a second career for experienced professionals.

Second-career teachers’ professional identity and imposter phenomenon: nexus and correlates

The aim of the present study was to determine the connection between the prominent aspects of the second-career teachers’ professional identity and their imposterism. In addition, in a sample of one hundred and ninety-one second-career teachers, the relationship with some other psychological variables that we thought could be correlates and significant determinants was examined. Statistical analyzes highlight two-component solution for the identity structure (cooperation and students need) and two-component solution for the structure of the imposter phenomenon (true and strategic imposters). No statistically significant prediction and correlation were found between the components of professional identity and the components of imposterism.

“It’s like starting all over again”. The struggles of second-career teachers to construct professional identities in Hong Kong schools

ABSTRACTEducational-policy makers worldwide are concerned with finding effective strategies to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. The recruitment of second-career teachers has been seen as one means of fulfilling this aim. Against a background of calls to better understand SCTs, this article reports the results of a qualitative study investigating the experiences of six second-career teachers in Hong Kong. Based on a theoretical framework of teacher-identity construction, discourse analysis was used to explore the participants’ perceptions of their professional development. In-depth interviews were conducted to gain detailed insights into how the teachers construct their identities-in-practice and identities-in-discourse within Hong Kong schools. The findings expose tensions between attempts the positioning of SCTs within dominant discourses as ‘traditional’ and ‘conventional’ teachers, for example, and the participants’ self-positioning in practice as ‘innovative’ and ‘risk-taking’ teachers. Ways in SCT agency, and hence identity construction, can be facilitated through the introduction of the innovative pedagogical practices which many SCTs seek to pursue in Hong Kong schools are considered.

Second career teachers: Job satisfaction, job stress, and the role of self-efficacy

This study investigates job satisfaction and stress in second career teachers (SCT) compared to first career teachers (FCT) and the role of self-efficacy in this context. Analyses are based on 297 teachers (35% SCT). SCT reported being highly satisfied and experiencing low levels of job stress. Moreover, t-tests revealed that SCT are more satisfied with their job than FCT. As the significant interaction self-efficacy and career path shows, self-efficacy has a higher impact on job stress in SCT than in FCT. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for the professional development of SCT.

Second-career science teachers’ classroom conceptions of science and engineering practices examined through the lens of their professional histories

ABSTRACTScience standards in the U.S. have shifted to emphasise science and engineering process skills (i.e. specific practices within inquiry) to a greater extent than previous standards’ emphases on broad representations of inquiry. This study examined the alignment between second-career science teachers’ personal histories with the latter and examined the extent to which they viewed that history as a factor in their teaching. Four, second-career science teachers with professional backgrounds in engineering, environmental, industrial, and research and development careers participated. Through the examination of participants’ methodological and contextual histories in science and engineering, little evidence of conflict with teaching was found. They generally exemplified the agency and motivation of a second-career teacher–scientist that has been found elsewhere [Gilbert, A. (2011). There and back again: Exploring teacher attrition and mobility with two transitioning science teachers. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 22(5), 393–415; Grier, J. M., & Johnston, C. C. (2009). An inquiry into the development of teacher identities in STEM career changers. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 20(1), 57–75]. The methodological and pedagogical perspectives of participants are explored and a discussion of the implications of findings for science teacher education are presented.

Training Second-Career Teachers: A Different Student Profile, A Different Training Approach?

Second-career teachers are career changers who leave their current jobs to become teachers. This study conducts a narrative literature review which explores the student profiles of these teachers, asking how they differ from school leavers entering teacher education. The literature review also explores the characteristics of training approaches that are most suitable for second-career teachers based on their general student profile. Results show that second-career teachers are older, have strong intrinsic motivation, possess a wide range of knowledge and skills, have a self-directed and application-oriented approach to learning and teaching, and appreciate peer support. They benefit from teacher education programs that are flexible and include a preparatory period, that transfer their expertise into the teaching profession, provide opportunities for self-directed learning and peer support, integrate coursework and field experience, offer a significant amount of field experience and provide intensive

Skilled trades to university student: luck or courage?

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine participants’ experiences as they transitioned from the skilled trade labor workforce to the school teaching profession. Their goal was to work in the secondary school system as certificated teachers.Design/methodology/approach– The study examined interview data from a 2014 to 2015 evaluation study of participants in the Career and Technology Studies Bridge to Teacher Certification Program in Alberta. Interview comments of 20 participants were analyzed.Findings– Participants earning a bachelor of education degree countered their skilled trade habitus with adjustment to the university habitus, with support provided though the program and strong networks among the students. Individuals demonstrated resiliency, persistence, and optimism. The findings may have significance more broadly for a re-examination of university policies and spaces for non-traditional students.Originality/value– The paper provides an insight into how a well-designed program provides opportunities for individuals to transition from the skilled trade workforce to university. Further, the paper contributes to the scholarly literature in the area of second-career teachers’ habitus, fields, and capitals.