Teachers' professional identities are the foundation of their practice. Previous scholarship has largely overlooked the extent to which the broader reform culture shapes teachers' professional identities. In this study, I draw on survey data from 950 teachers across four US states (California, New York, Florida, and Texas) to examine the extent to…

Teacher recruitment and retention in the United States has been deemed an issue across all disciplines and grade-levels. School-based agricultural education (SBAE) is no exception to this issue, where for decades a national shortage of qualified agriculture teachers has persisted. According to the 2021 Illinois Agricultural Education Annual…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher candidates' perceptions of their first experience teaching literacy. Using a case study design, this research spans two consecutive semesters and investigates 34 teacher candidates' reflections as they engaged in structured tutoring in a university-based literacy clinic. Qualitative analyses of…

There has been a sustained interest in student perceptions about STEM fields and their choice of careers over the past few decades. Research has shown that there is a decline in students pursuing STEM careers, and this has raised global concern. Despite these issues, no unistructural, broad, parsimonious and unambiguous quantitative instrument…

Teacher education programs at small liberal arts colleges and universities are among the most vulnerable to decreased enrollment, yet they are uniquely positioned to provide well-rounded future teachers and educational leaders for a democratic society. To inform recruitment efforts, this study examined students' perceptions of teaching careers and…

Teachers typically do not enter the profession with an inkling that they will become involved in recurring conflict. In fact, Collinson and Cook (2007) suggested that teachers often prefer working alone and in their own classroom, at least in part because they are often conflict-avoidant. Whereas schools were comparably conflict-free 30 years ago…

Americans' ratings of their community's public schools reached a new high dating back 48 years in this year's PDK Poll of Public Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, while fewer than ever express interest in having their child work as a public school teacher. Results of the 54th annual PDK poll tell a tale of conflicted views of public schools --…

Tennessee school instructional leaders experienced a teacher shortage and relied upon alternatively licensed second career teachers to fill vacant teaching positions, especially in math and science. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive study was to understand alternatively licensed math and science second career teachers' perceptions of…

This exploratory study investigated the factors that influence family science SoTL scholars' decisions regarding where to submit their FS-SoTL work for publication consideration, contributing to ISSOTL's Grand Challenge #5. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 12 SoTL-active family science faculty members. The results of the…

This study explored the phenomenon of teacher retention and sought to glean reasons why teachers remain in the teaching profession. Teacher turnover not only puts financial strain on school districts, but high levels of turnover also reduce levels of student achievement (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017; Fuller, 2023; Perrachione et al.,…

There has been extensive research on pre-service teachers' professional identity; however, there remains a gap on its examination prior to teaching practicum engagement. Considering its significance in succeeding and providing meaningful actual teaching experiences through a practicum program, the present study aimed to address the gap by…

This paper reports the findings on motivational factors influencing teaching as a career choice from a qualitative study carried out in Scotland. Ten students undertaking a PGDE (Professional Graduate Diploma in Education) programme at one Scottish university were interviewed. The results indicate that the choice of a teaching career derived from…

The professionalization of disciplines often leads to formalization of disciplinary training. As professionalization occurs, informal training roles are typically supplanted as the normative method of training but can continue to exist in parallel with formal methods. As in other fields, the ongoing professionalization of faculty development has…

We examine the state of the U.S. K-12 teaching profession over the last half century by compiling nationally representative time-series data on four interrelated constructs: professional prestige, interest among students, preparation for entry, and job satisfaction. We find a consistent and dynamic pattern across every measure: a rapid decline in…

This qualitative study examined a group of aspiring teachers who completed a pre-collegiate Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher program. The goals of the GYO program were to recruit and introduce high school students to the teaching profession and facilitate their transition to a teacher education program and eventually back to teaching in their…