Intractable shortages of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers have prompted international policy efforts to recruit career changers to the profession. This research determines the significant influences on career changers' decisions to pursue or pass on STEM teaching careers. Surveys completed by 91 career changers…

Ongoing shortages of quality teachers has prompted policy interest into career changers as potential solutions. Although Initial Teacher Education (ITE) comprises one-third career changers, little is known about this group. This paper presents a scoping review of career changers' motivations/decisions to choose teaching as a career. Themes from…

Career change teachers (CCTs) are heralded in international education policies as key to addressing teacher shortages and increasing quality and diversity in the profession. Using a qualitative approach inspired by Ball's discursive facet of policy enactment, interview responses from 23 Australian teacher educators were examined. The aim was to…

This study explored factors that encouraged female teachers to become principals in Catholic composite and secondary schools in Western Australia. Composite schools include both primary and secondary students. The study used a constructivist paradigm, specifically that of interpretivism and employed a symbolic interactionist perspective to explore…

Current teacher attrition in Australia and globally has created an untenable situation for many schools, teachers and the profession. This paper reports on research that examined the critical issue of teacher attrition from the perspective of former classroom teachers and school leaders. Although there is extensive national and global research…

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…

Research Findings: To explore distinct professional-wellbeing subgroups and variations in turnover intentions, we examined the factor structure of the Early Childhood Professional Wellbeing Questionnaire (McMullen et al., 2020), which was completed online by 368 Australian early childhood educators. Based on educators' scores on the Belonging and…

Teacher shortages are a global problem. One solution to this problem, offered in Australian policy, is the notion of the career change teacher (CCT). This study analyses the responses from 23 teacher educators who were asked what they themselves thought might enable and/or constrain this cohort entering teaching as well as those they saw for the…

Mid-career men and women professionals describe their pervasive sense of 'lateness' retraining in law. Against industry patterns of lawyers wishing to leave the profession, these individuals had chosen to assert or reassert a desire to become lawyers partway through existing careers. What cultural narratives mediate the process of making this…

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…

Recruiting and retaining vocational education and training (VET) educators is an increasing challenge in countries across the world. So understanding their transition and retention is vital to the development of a sustainable workforce. This paper draws on interviews with senior administrators of Australian training providers and survey data from…

University graduates have invested significant time, money, and effort into completing their studies, with many discovering that their chosen discipline is not what they were expecting, nor the right fit for their individual values or goals. Transition between disciplines is particularly common in the helping professions, but little is known about…

A gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) exists. Fewer females enter academia or advance to senior level positions in academia than the number of females who earn advanced degrees. There are many reasons for this, but common themes include disproportionate responsibilities for childcare and imposter syndrome. For…

Career change student teachers enter teacher education programmes with different needs, capabilities and aspirations from those of their school-leaver counterparts. These differences come into stark contrast during professional experience, when student teachers spend extensive periods in schools as part of their teacher education programme. This…

Interdisciplinary education is gaining prominence in higher education, but little is known about the experiences and professional development needs of interdisciplinary educators. Through the lenses of self-reflection, peer review, and the educational literature, this paper uses a narrative enquiry approach to explore the lived experiences of two…