Career transitions are often studied from the perspective of changing from one career to the next. Missing from this definition, however, is that transitions can take place within a career. In the case of teacher education and academia, these transitions are often seen as well laid out with an accepted view of 'success' and those taking an…

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…

Teachers worldwide are rethinking their commitment to the profession and their traditional roles in schools and classroom teaching, evidenced by significant global rates of teacher attrition and subsequent teacher shortages. Research aimed at deepening our understanding of teachers' decisions to leave the profession has primarily reported on…

We use a novel linkage of school district administrative data to Internal Revenue Service records to study educators' post-exit career outcomes. The majority of leavers remain in education and mean earnings are slightly below pre-exit earnings even 8 years later. However, these average changes conceal wide variation in outcomes. Roughly 20% of…

This article uses different career development theories as lenses to analyse the cases of four young adults who struggle to build sustainable careers and, vice versa, explores the contribution of each theory to understanding career agency as it does or does not manifest within the cases. A key element of this study is incorporating Vygotsky's…

In 2022, the author made the decision to transition from a career as a data analyst to pursue training to become a school psychologist. Leaving a stable career not only required careful consideration of academic readiness, but also financial, emotional, and professional adjustments. Despite these obstacles, the journey has been transformative,…

This reflection provides a new perspective on the transition from public sector practitioner to academic faculty in order to illustrate how the VUCA and VUCA Prime frameworks may be used by academic developers to support faculty in transitions. First, the VUCA framework is used to describe the context and characteristics of the transition…

The Chinese international education landscape is dominated by nontraditional international schools that are affected by many issues, such as commercialisation, weak leadership, pedagogical challenges, faculty divides, and high turnover. Although teacher mobility in international schools has received much scholarly attention, the Chinese context…

Student performance data is increasingly used to monitor and evaluate teachers. This study examines whether the turnover intentions -- if teachers would change schools given the chance -- of teachers in socioeconomically disadvantaged classrooms are moderated by teacher appraisal practices based on student academic performance data at the school…

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…

Various trends, including increasing career transitions and job automation, are creating complexities for interventions that support children's and adolescents' career aspirations. To gain insights and identify gaps in how children's and adolescents' career aspirations are supported under changing career conditions, we conducted a systemic review…

In the context of an ongoing national conversation about teacher shortages, we build on prior literature on the efficacy of teacher certification pathways by comparing entry and exit patterns based on age at the time of certification. All trainees who complete a state certification process have invested substantial time and resources into entering…

The workforce challenges facing the child care and early education (CCEE) sector are well-known, but effectively addressing these challenges requires a better understanding of the issues. The Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) project aims to increase knowledge and understanding about the CCEE workforce by…

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…

In large aspects of contemporary career discourse, the importance of the "agile career" is asserted, although the speed of change has not been explicitly considered in relation to this concept. The political dimensions of the agile career via the lens of "speed" are explored in this theoretical paper. Particular attention is…