Mature age professionals: Factors influencing their decision to make a career change into teaching
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Thomas, Sue
Sim, Cheryl
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
License
Abstract
This paper presents the early findings from a study that addresses the topic of mature age professionals making a career change into the secondary teaching profession by undertaking a postgraduate coursework initial teacher education program. The paper specifically addresses the factors that affect the decision for mature age professionals to make such a change. Education systems worldwide are encouraging mature age professionals to make a career change into secondary teaching to fill teacher shortages in specialist subject areas. However, the literature shows there has been little recent research about this aspect of mature age career changers. The study on which this paper is based utilised a qualitative, narrative inquiry approach to explore the stories of mature age professionals who were making a career change into teaching. The paper focuses on the resonances across the stories of 17 mature age professionals as they outline the factors that influenced their decision to make a career change into teaching. The findings of this study would be of interest to educational policy makers and academic administrators responsible for the recruitment of mature age professionals into secondary teaching.
Journal Title
Issues in Educational Research
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
27
Issue
2
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
DOI
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© The Author(s) 2017. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Education
Specialist studies in education not elsewhere classified