ERIC Number: EJ1157472
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1047-6210
EISSN: N/A
Insights from Teacher Leavers: Push and Pull in Career Development
Rinke, Carol R.; Mawhinney, Lynnette
Teaching Education, v28 n4 p360-376 2017
This article examines the career pathways of US teacher leavers, individuals who have voluntarily left classroom teaching prior to retirement. Based on the perspective that teachers construct their own career pathways through an ongoing negotiation among intrinsic and extrinsic factors, this research captures the experiences of 24 teacher leavers from geographically diverse regions of the United States. Using life history interviews, this study inquires into individuals' experiences before, during, and after classroom teaching. Unexpectedly, only one of the 24 individuals initially intended to enter teaching. Data also indicate that teachers' career pathways were shaped by dynamics pushing and pulling their careers into and out of the classroom. These life history interviews suggest that teachers were pushed and pulled "into" teaching, pushed and pulled "out of" teaching, and pushed and pulled "around" their passions. The trajectories of these teacher leavers, who have now moved into fields as diverse as non-classroom education, medicine, government, and caregiving, suggest important theoretical and practical implications for understanding and shaping teachers' careers in today's workforce.
Descriptors: Teacher Persistence, Faculty Mobility, Labor Turnover, Career Development, Biographies, Interviews, Teaching Experience, Influences, Teaching (Occupation), Career Choice, Occupational Aspiration, Coding, Data Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A