Workforce
A mid-career switch
A look at the motivations of career-change teachers and the challenges they face .
Babak Dadvand interviewed by Emilie Lauer
Between 2019 and 2021 the Victorian and Federal Governments focused on recruiting career-change teachers to help schools facing high staff turnover and teacher shortages .
A recent report from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education studied 17 career-change teachers in the process of obtaining their teacher qualifications in Victoria , with an emphasis on understanding their motivations and challenges throughout their career switch .
According to co-author of the study and senior lecturer in the School of Education at La Trobe University Babak Dadvand , career-change teachers are driven by a sense of purpose and the desire to make a difference in students ’ lives .
“ Career change teachers come from different and various backgrounds , meaning they bring work experience , labour knowledge and practical skills to the classroom ,” Dadvand said .
Education Review spoke with Dadvand about the motivations of career-change teachers , the challenges they face during their career transition and their potential impact on the current teacher shortage crisis .
ER : What do we know about career change teachers and their motivations ? BD : We know that career change teachers have always been part of the teaching workforce , both in Australia and internationally . In fact , it is estimated that about one in three teachers in schools have changed careers to become teachers .
In terms of motivation , we know from research that a lot of career change teachers are driven by a strong sense of purpose , a commitment to care and to make a difference in the lives of children and young people . Other individual factors have to do with work life balance and family commitments .
There are also external factors , for example relating to the economic cycle and to the labour market .
We know that during times of economic downturn teaching becomes more appealing for a lot of people in other professions because there is this perception of stability and security .
Did we get more people switching careers due to COVID ? I would say anecdotally , yes . I have been involved in working with career change teachers in initial teacher education programs and I could see the last couple of years that we ’ ve had a lot of people from other fields and professions putting their hand up and joining the teaching profession .
Part of the problem with workforce planning in Australia is that we don ’ t really collect consistent national data about our teaching workforce . But anecdotally , we have had people who were impacted by COVID and lost their jobs , or had time to think about their future career and decided to become teachers .
They come from all walks of life and from all different professions . We have people from industry , from the corporate sector , with backgrounds in higher education , even people who used to be lecturers in universities and their jobs were made redundant because of the border closures . It ’ s a very diverse and dynamic group .
What are the pathways to change career and become a teacher ? There is of course the standard pathway into teaching , which usually ranges between two to four years of study with opportunities for school placement , but another option which is perhaps more appealing to a lot of career change teachers is what is commonly known as alternative pathways .
There are different programs classified as alternative pathways . What they have in common usually is that they offer a salary upon admission , into initial teacher education with some work arrangement that might involve working in schools on a part-time basis or working as a paraprofessional , once they start their initial teacher education , before they
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