It Has Always Been My Dream

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'It has always been my dream': exploring pre-service teachers' motivationsfor choosing to teachJackie Manuela; John Hughesaa University of Sydney, Australia

To cite this Article Manuel, Jackie and Hughes, John(2006) ''It has always been my dream': exploring pre-service teachers'motivations for choosing to teach', Teacher Development, 10: 1, 5 24To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/13664530600587311URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530600587311

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Teacher DevelopmentVol. 10, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 524

ISSN 1366-4530 (print)/ISSN 1747-5120 (online)/06/01000520 2006 Teacher Development DOI: 10.1080/13664530600587311

It has always been my dream: exploring pre-service teachers motivations for choosing to teachJackie Manuel* and John HughesUniversity of Sydney, AustraliaTaylor and Francis LtdRTDE_A_158714.sgm10.1080/13664530600587311Teacher Development1366-4530 (print)/1747-5120 (online)Original Article2006Taylor & Francis101000000March [email protected]

This article reports on an investigation into the motivations of a cohort of pre-service teachereducation students, undertaking a five-year, full-time combined undergraduate and initial teachereducation degree program at the University of Sydney, Australia. Participants completed an exten-sive questionnaire which sought to gather data on the characteristics of the cohort; the factors thatinfluenced their decision to undertake a teaching degree; their educational and work backgrounds;their perceptions of teaching, teachers and students; their expectations of teaching as a career; andtheir professional goals. The study found that a majority of participants made the decision to teachbased on reasons that reflect personal aspirations to work with young people to make a differencein their lives; to maintain a meaningful engagement with the subject area they were drawn to; andto attain personal fulfilment and meaning. The study found that more than two-thirds of the sampleintended teaching for at least 10 years after being appointed. The article explores the implicationsof the findings for early career teacher satisfaction, teacher retention and early career teacher attrition.

Introduction

A striking feature in both the government and non-government sectors across the countryare strategies to promote teaching as a career and assist teacher recruitmentAttractingpeople to the profession is not believed to be the problem it was five years ago, due to activeintervention by jurisdictions. (Skilbeck & Connell, 2003, pp. 30, 32).

In response to a range of teacher recruitment campaigns across Australia in recentyears there has been a wave of interest in teaching as a career for school leavers,graduates and so-called career-changers. Recruitment initiatives in the States andterritories have included appealing media campaigns and marketing drives, finan-cial incentives by way of scholarships and, in New South Wales, for example, theestablishment of the teach.NSW web site and a dedicated recruitment shopfront

*Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.Email: [email protected]

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and telephone advice-line that saw more than 19,000 inquiries in its first year ofoperation (2002). Of these inquiries, there were twice as many females as males;7000 were from people contemplating changing careers to teach; and 1800 werefrom overseas trained teachers seeking employment advice (Kennedy, 2003). Atthe same time, Australian universities have witnessed a growing demand for placesin teacher education courses with a rise in university entry scores for those courses.Despite these pleasing trends, reports in Australia, and internationally, indicatethat teacher recruitment continues to demand active policy intervention in manycountries, particularly when it comes to certain curriculum areas and staffing of so-called hard-to-staff schools (Cochran-Smith, 2004).

An equally pressing and arguably more complex issue is the increasing rate of earlycareer teacher attrition that research now points to as the critical factor in the teacherdemand and supply equation (see Gold, 1996; Goddard & Foster, 2001; McGaw,2002; OECD, 2002a; OECD, 2002b; Hunt & Carroll, 2003; Skilbeck & Connell,2003; Smithers & Robinson, 2003; Manuel, 2003b; Ingersoll, 2004; Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development, 2005). The phenomenon of large-scaleearly career teacher attrition has serious implications for the future of the teachingprofession; not merely in terms of supplying well-equipped teachers for every class-room, but also in terms of building the cultural and intellectual capital of the profes-sion. There is also the danger of de-professionalisation through the recruitment offast-tracked, accelerated or underqualified entrants. Such is the gravity of apparentwastage in the early career phase that the Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development (2005) recently completed a major, international study of teacherretention and attrition to in part identify and address the significant challenges to thequality of education brought about by high rates of teacher turnover.

The present study

In the light of this broader context of teacher recruitment, retention and attrition, thepresent study investigated the motivations of a cohort of pre-service teacher educa-tion students, undertaking a five-year, full-time combined undergraduate and initialteacher education (ITE) degree program at the University of Sydney, Australia. Thecohort consisted of 79 participants specialising in secondary school teaching, acrossa range of curriculum areas. The investigation sought to gather data on the character-istics of the cohort: their educational and work backgrounds; the factors that influ-enced their decision to teach; their perceptions of teaching, teachers and students;their plans for employment upon graduation; their expectations of teaching as acareer; and their professional goals. The research also sought to disseminate thevoices and views of some of these potential next generation of teachers to the widerprofession, policy-makers, employers and teacher educators.

In response to teacher supply and demand in Australia, Dinham recentlycommented that:

The surge in popularity of teaching might seem strange at a time when teacher status islow and teacher unions and employers are at loggerheads over salaries and conditions.

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Pre-service teachers motivations for choosing to teach 7

While recent reports such as those by Vinson and Dinham and Scott have painted a pictureof teachers and schools under pressure as they attempt to address the unreasonableexpectations society has placed upon them, theres also a wave of altruism influencingyoung and not-so-young new teachers to take on the challenges of the profession.(Dinham, 2004, p. 2)

This is an intriguing phenomenon, given that teaching is a profession that demandshighly attuned interpersonal capacities coupled with profound levels of personalcommitment to the common weal (Ralston Saul, 1992) in a sociopolitical contextthat often appears at worst to demonise, and at best to undervalue or misrepresent,the social justice dimensions of teachers work. Added to this, the profession faces aseemingly relentless ideological campaign from some sections of the media andconservative politics that has been manifested in a growing push to undermineteacher professionalism; impose standardised testing and use the results of this tojustify the withdrawal of support from public education; and codify the curriculumaccording to narrowly conceived views of education, teaching, learning and knowl-edge. Set against this, a teachers work is undertaken with relatively modest materialrecompense, with intrinsic rewards that are often elusive or intangible and may notbe enough to sustain some teachers over an extended period of time.

What then, are the forces motivating these young and not-so-young people tochoose to teach, and do their expectations of teaching shed some light on the reasonswhy so many will, according to the statistics, walk away from the profession withinthe first years of their career? As Snyder et al. contended in their study of pre-serviceteachers in the 1990s:

This question is not only interesting in its own right, it is also an important indicator ofhow someone will succeed in their chosen professionteachers who feel that teaching istheir calling (a natural inclination and ability to teach that is recognised by others) aremore likely to succeed than others. (Snyder et al., 1995, p. 7)

To date, the links between motivations to teach, expectations of teaching, andsatisfaction and success as a teacher have not been thoroughly explored within anAustralian context of early career teacher turnover.

Participants and method

During the first semester of 2003, prior to undertaking curriculum methodology andcraft knowledge units of study, and prior to block practical experiences, a group ofpre-service teachers were invited to complete a questionnaire with a series of open-ended and multiple-choice questions designed to gather a range of data aboutmotivations and expectations. In 2003, the 79 participants in the present study wereundergraduate pre-service teacher education students in the third year of a five-yeardegree. The total cohort for the year, comprising all pre-service teachers in Year 3 ofthis particular program, was 98. The return rate of the questionnaire responses wastherefore 80%. The Year 3 cohort was selected since they had been exposed to somegeneral units of study in Education in Years 1 and 2 of the degree, and Year 3 marksthe key point at which students who choose to remain in the combined degree have

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made a clear commitment to continue with teacher education studies. In Years 1 and2 students have the opportunity to transfer from the combined degree into a non-teaching stream or another degree. We also considered that surveying the Year 3cohort, immediately prior to their intensive immersion in curriculum method unitsand practical experience, would enable us to gain insights into the embodied experi-ence and knowledge (Arnold, 2005) that they carry with them into pre-servicecourses.

This particular degree program combines cognate discipline studies, concentratedin Years 1, 2 and partially in 3, with teacher education studies (Bachelor of Arts/Bach-elor of Education; Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Education), concentrated in Years3, 4 and 5. The majority of students gained entry into the degree through regularuniversity admissions procedures, requiring that they had reached a minimum entryscore based on their final post-compulsory examination. The entry score for theSecondary Combined Degree program at Sydney University has remained steady atbetween 85 and 89 (out of a possible 100) between 2000 and 2005. Interestingly,90% of this entire cohort of Year 3 pre-service teachers had gained a matriculationresult of 90 or higher, placing them in the top 10% of school leavers in New SouthWales, indicating that teaching as a career choice appears to be attracting high-calibreentrants if the matriculation results are considered to be a worthwhile measure ofachievement.

In this sample of 79 pre-service teachers, 78% were female, with 22% male.According to the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training (2003),the ratio of female to male teachers in Australia aged between 21 and 30 years isaround 3:1. The ratio of female to male pre-service teachers in the current researchsample was higher than this national figure. Sixty-five per cent of the sample was agedbetween 20 and 21 years at the time of the study. In other words, the majority ofparticipants were directly school leavers, with the remaining 35% constituted by later-entry candidates who had either deferred study for one or more years to work or totravel (18%); candidates who enrolled as mature-entry students (9%); and those whohad come to teaching after one or more other careers or other pathways of study(8%). According to a report by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment,Training and Youth Affairs (2002), the average national figure for pre-service teach-ers who have come to teaching after one or more careers is 22%. Mature-entry andcareer-changers were underrepresented in this cohort, with the overwhelming major-ity of participants being recent school leavers. Mature-entry and career-changers tendto undertake end-on, graduate-entry teacher education programs, since most alreadyhold an undergraduate degree.

The distribution of pre-service teachers across curriculum areas has been repre-sented as follows. In this ITE program, the majority of pre-service teachers undertakestudy of at least two secondary curriculum methodology areas. Percentages of singleand combined method areas are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

The sample cohort was heavily humanities based, with a majority of students takingeither History or English or both as their curriculum methodology subjects. Histori-cally, the proportion of students entering humanities-based curriculum areas within

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the Secondary Combined Degrees at the University of Sydney has been significantlygreater by around 6:1 than the proportion of those entering the science and mathe-matics curriculum areas. The relative numbers across the curriculum areas haveremained reasonably steady over the past five years. The ratios of students entering

Table 1. Distribution of pre-service teachers (single method)

Teaching Area (Single) Tally Percentage

History 42 53.2%English 37 46.8%TESOL (EFL)* 18 22.8%Geography 11 14.0%Languages 11 14.0%Mathematics 10 12.6%Science 10 12.6%Economics 8 10.2%Drama 3 3.8%Visual Arts 2 2.5%Religion 2 2.5%Invalid 4 5.1%Total 158 200%

* Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (English as a Foreign Language)

Table 2. Distribution of pre-service teachers (combined method)

Teaching Areas (Combinations) Tally Percentage

English and History 25 31.6%TESOL (EFL) and Languages 10 12.7%Mathematics and/or Science 10 12.7%History and Geography 7 8.8%History and Economics 6 7.6%English and TESOL (EFL) 6 7.6%English and Geography 3 3.8%History and TESOL (EFL) 2 2.5%English and Economics 2 2.5%English and Drama 1 1.3%History and Drama 1 1.3%Geography and Religion 1 1.3%Visual Arts and Languages 1 1.3%Visual Arts and History 1 1.3%Drama and Religion 1 1.3%Invalid 2 1.3%Total 79 100.0%

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10 J. Manuel

humanities-based streams and science/mathematics-based streams at Sydney Univer-sity reflect a national trend in other Australian universities, with shortages noted inscience, mathematics and technology enrolments in most Australian ITE programs(Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2002).

The findings: questionnaire responses

1. What factors influenced your decision to become a teacher?

This initial question invited participants to identify one or more factors influencingtheir decision to undertake a teacher education course. The responses are given inTable 3 below.

Three interdependent factors predominate here: intrinsic motivations bound upwith a sense of the inner life, the self and the quest for fulfilment and purpose; a desireto sustain an engagement with their chosen subject(s); and the opportunity to workwith young people as part of the broader social project of education. Many studieshave explored the appeal of teaching for potential teacher education students, pre-service teachers at the commencement, during and at the completion of their formalpreparation, and practising teachers (see Snyder et al., 1995; Reid & Caudwell, 1997;Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000; Spear et al., 2000; Wadsworth, 2001; Hammond, 2002;Kyriacou et al., 2003; Manuel, 2003a; Priyadharshini & Robinson-Pant, 2003; Ewing& Manuel, 2005). Consistently, these studies have reported intrinsic and altruisticreasons (Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000) as the principal motivations for the prospective

Table 3. Factors influencing the decision to teach

Factor Tally Percentage

Personal fulfilment 56 70.9%Enjoyment of subject 55 69.6%Working with young people 52 65.8%Lifestyle 27 34.2%Working conditions 15 19.0%Professional status 6 7.6%Salary 2 2.5%Power 1 1.3%Other:Help others/make a difference 4 5.1%Influence of own teacher/s 3 3.8%Family role models 3 3.8%Holidays 2 2.5%Intrinsic desire 1 1.3%Enjoyed school 1 1.3%Employment 1 1.3%Use education elsewhere 1 1.3%Good if you have children 1 1.3%

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teacher. Lorties (1975) landmark study of teachers conducted in the 1970s identifiedthe interpersonal nature of teaching and the opportunity to maintain an engagementwith the academic cognate disciplines, as fundamental reasons for choosing to teach.

In one sense, these findings are not surprising. Parker J. Palmer argued that teach-ing is, at its core, about identity, integrity and seeking connectedness; the call to teachemerges from the inwardness of the self, or the heart, where intellect, emotion andspirit converge (Palmer, 1998, p. 5). The perennial, enduring appeal of teaching istherefore interpreted by some to be deeply anchored in aspects of the subjective innerlandscape of the individual and his or her search for meaning through ideas, relation-ships and hopewhich, taken together, are, arguably, fundamental to effective teach-ing and learning. Educational systems or schools can be considered as the cruciblewithin which travellers in the world of knowledgepupils and teachers alikeseekmeaning and significance for their joint stories (Carneiro, 2003, p. 14). Despitedifferences in time, place, and cultural and social conditions, and the postmodernisttendency to eschew continuities and grand narratives (Eagleton, 2003), this research,placed alongside that gathered over the past three or more decades, provides someweight to the notion of teaching as a calling as a core motivation to teach; thoseentering the teaching profession often do so because of humanistic reasons predicatedon the assumption that educating to learn and learning to educate are intertwinedjourneys (Carneiro, 2003, p. 17).

These reasons have social justice dimensions, tacit in statements made by partic-ipants such as making a difference to childrens lives and helping others; and thesefactors may well be implicit in the predominant responses of personal fulfilment andworking with young people. Again, these results accord with the internationalresearch literature on teacher motivations that has been published over the past threedecades and noted throughout this article. Indeed, in the late 1980s, a study by Howeyand Zimpher in the United States reported that education majors who were choosingto teach were less concerned about material reward and job security than other collegestudents (Howey & Zimpher, 1989), even though they articulated an awareness of thepotentially negative aspects of the profession such as difficult working conditions, poorstatus and student discipline. Similar studies in the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates have reiterated these findings, reporting that the majority of students enteringa teaching degree do so for professionally sound rather than negative reasons (Reid& Caudwell, 1997, p. 47) and that working with young people, the desire to make adifference to childrens lives and society more broadly, a desire to maintain engage-ment with a subject area and an expectation of high levels of job satisfaction figureprominently as motivations to choose to teach (see Huberman, 1989; Reid &Caudwell, 1997; Boser, 2000; Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000; Spear et al., 2000;Hammond, 2002; Hunt & Carroll, 2003).

Salary did not figure in this research as a significant reason for choosing to teach.Other studies similarly indicate that salary is not an overriding factor in the initialdecision to teach, but may well be an important factor for choosing not to undertakea teaching degree, or not to teach once qualified. Further, it may be the impetus forsome to choose to resign from teaching after a period of time.

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The expectancy-value theory of motivation proposed in the work of Wigfield andEccles (2000), and originally based on examining motivation and choice in relationto participating in school subjects, is another lens through which to consider studentteachers choices. The expectancy-value framework explores the links between thechoice of career and the individuals expectations of achievement and success; beliefsin ability; and the subjective value of the career. Thinking you can teach, being toldthat you can teach and early positive experiences in teacher education and teachingare seen as powerful motivational forces in deciding to teach (Ewing & Manuel,2005, p. 11) and sustaining that decision.

2. Was teaching your first career preference? Why/Why not?

We were interested in understanding more about the relationship between gender,age and motivations to teach, particularly in the light of arguments about the chang-ing career expectations of the so-called Generation Y. This generation consists ofthose born in the 1980s and is characterised variously as a generation of people whowill apparently change jobs regularly, seek new challenges and fast promotions, andexpect high levels of job satisfaction. Some research has argued that the nature ofwork has changed so dramatically that people entering the workforce now expect tochange careers several times in their working lives. The questions about teaching as afirst career preference, and expectations of the length of time to be spent teaching,were included as a means of gauging the extent to which this cohort perceived teach-ing as a short-term or drop-in, drop-out career, or whether the responses reflectedthe enduring motivations to teach that have since been identified in this research andother studies discussed above. The responses given in Table 4 provide data on thenumbers of pre-service teachers, by gender, who chose to teach as a first career pref-erence, and those who did not. Table 5 provides data on career choice by age. InTable 6, the reasons participants gave for choosing teaching as a first career prefer-ence or not are given according to tally.

Interestingly, 57% of pre-service teachers chose teaching as a first career prefer-ence, with a significant minority43%choosing teaching as a second or later careerpreference. This latter statistic may well be an indicator for retention patterns whenit comes to completing the ITE, taking up a teaching appointment upon graduationand remaining in the profession. In terms of gender, the important point to note is

Table 4. Teaching as a first career preference by gender

Female Male Total

By Gender Tally % Tally % Tally %

Yes 38 59.4% 7 46.7% 45 57.0%No 26 40.6% 8 53.3% 34 43.0%Total 64 100.0% 15 100.0% 79 100.0%

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that the percentage of males who chose teaching as a second or later career preferenceis greater than the percentage who chose teaching as a first career preference, with thelatter group constituted by a majority of 1921 year-olds, and the former group madeup of participants aged 22 years or older. When it comes to age, a larger proportionof female school leavers (1921 years) chose teaching as a first career preference, overolder females, and males in both age brackets.

Qualitative responses were also gathered from participants in order to ascertain thereasons underlying their choice. These reasons are given in Table 6.

If we consider the reasons why participants chose to teach as a first career preference,there is strong resonance with the responses given to other questions in this question-naire about motivations and factors influencing the decision to teach. The desire toteach is driven by intrasubjective factors: comments such as to fulfil a dream figureprominently here, as do intersubjective forces such as the influence of family and inspi-rational teachers. For those who did not rate teaching as a first choice, there is adefault factor evident, with a number of participants electing to enter an ITE programbecause they did not gain entry into their preferred course. These participants enteredITE as a second-best career. Almost as many participants6%entered teaching

Table 5. Teaching as a first career preference by age

By age1921Tally

1921%

22+Tally

22+%

TotalTally

Total%

Yes 35 64.8% 14 56.0% 49 57.0%No 19 35.2% 11 44.0% 30 43.0%Total 54 100.0% 25 100.0% 79 100.0%

Table 6. Was teaching your first career choice? Why/why not?

YesFirst PreferenceReason Tally NoNot First PreferenceReason Tally

Dream/always wanted to be a teacher 14 Did not get into other option 6Family includes teacher/s and natural abilities

8 Changed mind after starting something else

5

Idolised teachers at school 7 Family pressure 3Liked it/interesting 7 Didnt know yet/no clear career path 2Like subjects 5 Have been working 2Important role in society 5 Achieved a high University

Admission Index/salary of other jobs2

Help others to learn/rewarding 4 Teachers are uncool 1Didnt know what else to do 3Working with youth 2Compatible with being a mother 1Total 56* Total 21*

* Some respondents gave more than one reason and some respondents did not give a reason.

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after trying another course that they had originally preferred, but had since opted outof in favour of teaching. A handful of participants embarked upon teaching becauseof family pressure, a lack of clarity about a career or with a poor perception of teachersin general, all of which are negative reasons upon which to base the decision to enterteaching, and may indeed be crucial variables in later patterns of retention and attrition.

3. If teaching was not your first career preference, or first career, what was?

For 43% of this sample, teaching was not a first career preference or first career.Table 7 provides data on the first preferences and first careers of this group, andTable 8 provides an overview of broad career groupings.

While it is difficult to generalise about the pathways into teaching for those whohave chosen it as a second or later career or career preference, it is interesting to notethe diversity of occupations identified here and the nature of those occupations: themajority are, like teaching, professions or careers that require relatively high levels ofcommitment, training and experience for success. A significant number are also occu-pations that rely on interpersonal, service, relational and creative qualities, all ofwhich are considered to be central to teaching. Around 20% of this group of partici-

Table 7. First career preferences and first careers

Career Female Male Other Tally

Administration/Business (B) 4 0 0 4Law (P) 2 0 1 3Music (C) 2 0 1 3Politics/Foreign Affairs (P) 3 0 0 3Army/Defence (PS) 1 1 0 2Medicine (H) 1 0 0 1Retail (B) 1 0 0 1Pharmacy (H) 1 0 0 1Human Resources (O) 1 0 0 1Journalism (O) 1 0 0 1Information Technology (O) 1 0 0 1Social Work (H) 1 0 0 1Parenthood (O) 1 0 0 1Archaeology (O) 1 0 0 1Physiotherapy (H) 1 0 0 1Swimming Teacher (B) 1 0 0 1Acting (C) 1 0 0 1Design (C) 0 0 1 1Engineering (O) 0 1 0 1Psychology (H) 0 1 0 1Police/Firefighting (PS) 0 1 0 1Invalid 2 1 0 3Total 26 5 3 34

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pants entered ITE from business-related backgrounds, suggesting the importance ofaltruistic motivations over extrinsic ones for this group.

4. Has there been (or is there) a significant mentor/teacher who influenced your decision to become a teacher?

A number of studies on motivations of prospective teachers have identified the role ofa significant other as a persuasive force in the decision to teach. Reid and Caudwell,for example, questioned a group of 453 Postgraduate Certificate in Educationstudents in the United Kingdom. Twenty-two per cent of the sample reported thatthey had been inspired by their former teacher(s) to pursue teaching as a career (Reid& Caudwell, 1997). We were keen to identify the extent to which the participants inthis study were swayed by their own embodied experience of teachers as personal rolemodels. The results are given in Table 9 below.

More than 73% of this sample agreed that there is, or has been, a significant teacheror mentor who influenced the decision to become a teacher. This is a powerful affir-mation of the generative capacity of the profession to act to good effect (Boomer &Torr, 1987) and once again underlines the intensely interpersonal and relationalnature of teaching: a strong majority of this sample was persuaded to become teachersbecause of a relationship with a current or previous role model. Reflecting on thecentral place of the mentor in the ancient and exacting exchange called education(Palmer, 1998, p. 10), Palmer believes that:

Table 8. Career groupings

Career Groupings Tally Percentage

Business related (B) 7 20.6%Politics and Law (P) 6 17.6%Creative Arts (C) 5 14.7%Health related (H) 5 14.7%Other (O) 5 14.7%Public Service (PS) 3 8.8%Invalid 3 8.8%Total 34 100.0%

Table 9. A significant teacher or mentor

By Gender Female Male Other Total

Yes 45 (72.6%) 9 (75%) 4 (80.0%) 58 (73.4%)No 12 (19.4) 1 (8.3%) 1 (20.0%) 14 (17.7%)Invalid 5 (8.1%) 2 (16.7%) 0 (0.0%) 7 (8.9%)Total 62 (100.0%) 12 (100.0%) 5 (100.0%) 79 (100.0%)

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The power of our mentors is not necessarily in the models of good teaching they gave us,models that may turn out to have little to do with who we are as teachers. Their power isin their capacity to awaken a truth within us, a truth we can reclaim years later by recallingtheir impact on our livesmentors and apprentices are partners in an ancient humandanceit is the dance of the spiralling generations, in which the old empower the youngwith their experience and the young empower the old with new life, reweaving the fabricof the human community as they touch and turn. (Palmer, 1998, pp. 21, 25)

A majority of pre-service teachers in this sample have carried with them an interna-lised assumption about teaching as a cycle of influence (Manuel, 2003a). The rela-tional, community-building and meaning-making nature of teaching is not only aboutforging connections between teachers and students, but also about empoweringconnections between the accomplished teacher and the new teacher. This vision ofteaching embodies deep-seated notions of legacy, inheritance and rites of passage thatpre-service teachers may indeed expect when they begin their career. Whether or notthis expectation is met may, in turn, have far-reaching consequences for the retentionof the new teacher if appropriate support structures and strategies are inadequate orabsent during the apprenticeship phase of the career. Research has clearly demon-strated that new teachers who do not experience adequate induction into the profes-sion are three times more likely to resign within the first three years of employmentcompared to those who do experience effective induction (Boser, 2000). Adequateinduction presumes a systematic, sustained and structured experience whereby thenewly appointed teacher has formal and informal mentors; regular opportunities forreflection and discussion; and planned professional development experiences that aremaintained beyond merely the first month, semester or year of appointment.

The nature and form of induction, however, also point to a paradox at the heart ofteaching that this new generation of teachers confronts. On the one hand, teaching isarguably driven by priorities such as the quest for human betterment; the task ofmaking sense of and interpreting experience; the need to understand the self andothers; and the desire to create meaning. Teachers are both the preservers of pastwisdom, history and memory, valuing the universal role of education in humanaffairs; yet they are also active agents for change, innovation and new ways of beingand knowing in an ever-changing and unstable world. Bullough contends that schoolsfunction on the basis of a modern culture that is fixed and resistant in its structuresand procedures, while the culture outside the school is post-modern, characterisedby change, diversity, complexity and insecurity (Bullough, 1997). For the newteacher, induction into such a school context raises a host of complex questions aboutexactly what they are being inducted into. For some, or many, teachers this clash ofthe two cultures may well lead to early career teacher drop-out.

5. What do you consider to be the attributes of an effective teacher? What quality, above all others, will you bring to the teaching profession?

Linked to the question of a significant other, and in seeking to understand more aboutstudent teachers perceptions of teaching, the questionnaire asked participants to

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identify what they consider to be the characteristics that distinguish effective teachers.We were interested to gain insights into what attributes of the good teacher thestudent teachers had embodied and assimilated into their world view. Participantswere then asked to identify one quality, above all others, that they would bring to theteaching profession. This question was also designed to gather insights about theextent to which these prospective teachers saw themselves as possessing the qualitiesof the effective teacher that they had identified in the previous question: to whatextent had these pre-service teachers already imagined the self as the effectiveteacher. These were open-ended questions and drew the following extensive list ofattributes and qualities, set out in Table 10 and Table 11, respectively.

Participants responded with a comprehensive list of the kinds of qualities andattributes that would align with international documents that set out what may becalled the touchstone characteristics of the effective teacher (see Brock, 2000). Theresponses to both of these questions suggest that participants perceptions of theeffective teacher are generated from an embodied concept of the teacher as a loving,knowledgeable, committed, engaging and giving person of integrity and creative flair.Importantly, the attributes of an effective teacher closely parallel the qualities thatparticipants thought they would bring with them into the teaching profession. The

Table 10. Attributes of an effective teacher

Attributes* Percentage

Communication/listening skills 30.4%Loving/caring/kind/supportive/genuine 30.4%Passionate/motivated 26.6%Interpersonal skills/relational skills/able to relate to young people 25.3%Knowledgeable and intelligent 21.5%Understanding/approachable 21.5%Fun/enthusiastic/sense of humour 21.5%Patient/calm 15.2%Respectful of others 12.7%Time management 11.4%Honest 7.6%Organised/prepared 7.6%Hard-working/dedicated/giving of self 6.3%Flexible/versatile 6.3%Creative/innovative 6.3%Good role model/set example 3.8%Aware of student needs 3.8%Assertive 2.6%Open-minded 2.6%Diplomatic/fair 2.6%Responsible 1.3%Dont know 1.3%

* A total of 203 attributes were identified by 78 respondents.

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responses are dominated by the relational, ethical, emotional, empathic and spiritualdimensions of teaching.

In 1996, the Report to UNESCO of the International Commission of Education for theTwenty-first Century, Learning: The Treasure Within, identified the four pillars of learn-ing: Learning to Be; Learning to Know; Learning to Do; and Learning to LiveTogether (Delores et al., 1996). These pillars are evident in the participantsresponses to the question of teacher attributes and qualities. What is valued here arethe humanistic aspects of teachers work, the personal and social development dimen-sions of education; the capacity for connecting, relating and building understandingthrough communication, caring and interacting with young people; and the role ofknowledge and understanding.

It is interesting to note the lack of emphasis in the participants responses on thetechnique or method of teaching, or qualities that could be associated with the howand what of teaching and learning. Instead, there is a clear emphasis on qualities thatemanate from the who of teachingthe self of the teacherwhich, once again,accords with the responses to earlier questions about motivations to teach.

6. Major expectations of teaching as a career

The bulk of respondents in this research fell into the age group defined as GenerationY so our research with the cohort of ITE students sought to understand more fullythe expectations of the group in terms of both personal fulfilment and predictedlength of employment as a teacher. We were keen to discover if this group had enteredITE with an image of teaching as a shorter-term or a longer-term career, or as a step-ping-stone for other related and non-related work.

We asked the participants to identify their major expectations of teaching as acareer and whether they saw themselves teaching in 10 years time. The responseswere as follows in Table 12 and Table 13.

Table 11. One quality you will bring to the teaching profession

Quality Groupings* Percentage

Love/care/service/help/understanding/respect/patience 27.8%Enthusiasm/motivation/inspiration/passion 15.2%Humour/fun/happiness 10.1%Commitment/willing to learn 7.8%Creativity/innovation/flexibility/proactive skills 6.5%Knowledge/life experience 5.1%Integrity/honesty 3.8%Other (good communicator, extra-curricular talents, being sensible, empowering students)

6.5%

Invalid 17.7%Total 100.0%

* Qualities have been grouped.

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An overwhelming majoritymore than 80%of this sample expected teaching tobe a challenging and rewarding career. A little more than half of the females andmales believed that teaching would be fulfilling. This figure closely relates to thepercentage that considers teaching as a longer-term career, suggesting that a longer-term career and fulfilment may be co-extensive factors.

Interestingly, in response to the next question, a majority of both female and maleparticipants predict that they will be teaching in 10 years time. This is an intriguingresult, given that 43% of the participants did not choose teaching as a first career orcareer preference. There is also a discrepancy between responses to this question andresponses to the preceding question about a long-term or short-term career. This maybe explained by varying interpretations of longer-term and short-term and also bythe percentage of other responses which were qualifying a yes/no answer.

Given the average age of the cohort, this result indicates that more than two-thirdsof the sample see themselves teaching at age 30. While such a questions is of coursehypotheticaland the percentage of participants whose responses included notsure, perhaps, maybe and depends attests to the difficulty of the question for

Table 12. Expectations of teaching as a career (respondents could identify more than one expectation)

ExpectationFemale

Tally/PercentageMale

Tally/PercentageOther

Tally/PercentageTotal

Tally/Percentage

Challenging and rewarding

53 (85.5%) 7 (58%) 4 (80.0%) 64 (81.0%)

Fulfilling 35 (56.5%) 7 (58%) 1 (20.0%) 43 (54.4%)Long-term career 26 (41.9%) 5 (41.7%) 3 (60.0%) 34 (43.0%)Short-term career 7 (11.3%) 2 (16.7%) 0 (0.0%) 9 (11.4%)Difficult 7 (11.3%) 0 (0.0%) 1 (20.0%) 8 (10.1%)Other* 5 (8.1%) 2 (16.7%) 0 (0.0%) 7 (8.9%)Total 133 23 9 165

* Other included travel, mission, constant change, leadership, be a good teacher.

Table 13. Can you see yourself teaching 10 years from now?

ExpectationFemale

Tally/PercentageMale

Tally/PercentageOther

Tally/PercentageTotal

Tally/Percentage

Yes# 43 (69.3%) 9 (75%) 3 (60%) 55 (69.6%)No 7 (11.3%) 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%) 7 (8.9%)Other* 12 (19.4%) 3 (25%) 2 (40.0%) 17 (21.5%)Total 62 (100.0%) 12 (100.0%) 5 (100.0%) 79 (100.0%)

# Yes included responses such as probably, hope so.* Other included responses such as dont know, not sure, maybe, depends, perhaps.

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somethe responses do suggest that the bulk of this sample do not consider teachingat this stage of their ITE program to be a short-term or drop-in, drop-out occupa-tion. Such a view resonates with the earlier, qualitative responses to motivations forteaching: an emphasis on intrinsic reasons for choosing to teach correlates with theidea of a sustained and extended personal commitment to the profession. The datafrom this sample tend to counter the argument that teaching is now increasinglyperceived as a short-term, revolving-door job. Importantly, this sample was in Year 3of a five-year, full-time specialist teaching degree which entails a substantial commit-ment of the self, through time, and material, intellectual, emotional and spiritualresources. It is worth speculating that for this cohort, completing five years of profes-sional preparation to work in that profession for a short period of time seems to be anenormous outlay for little return, although a number of graduates may take up posi-tions in related areas for which the teaching degree qualifies them.

Conclusion

It has always been my dream to teach (Pre-service teacher, 2002)

Participants in this study chose to embark on a journey to become a teacher for threefundamental reasons: the quest for personal fulfilment; the desire to work with youngpeople to make a difference in their lives; and the opportunity to continue a meaning-ful engagement with the subject of their choice. There is a strong melding here ofpersonal aspiration; spiritual endeavour; social mission; intellectual pursuit; thedesire for connectedness; and a belief in the power of ideas and relationships mani-fested in education to alter the conditions of their own and others lives for the better.For a group of participants with the average age of 21 years, such ideals, idealism,forward thinking and optimism is worth celebrating. It is also a reflection on the effec-tiveness of their own education experience, that so many identified the transformativepower of education and wished to become a part of that through teaching. RoslynArnold (2005) defines and elaborates these understandings in her notion of empathicintelligence:

As educators in classroomaround the world face their students day after daythere isthe potential for a transformative experience to occur. Such an experience will be longremembered and cherished because it affected an important development in the psychiclife of the student, and possibly the teacher. (Arnold, 2005, pp. 17, 18)

The desire to be agents of change emerged strongly in the responses, with a substan-tial majoritymore than 73% of the samplenoting that they were influenced intheir decision to teach by a significant teacher or mentor. Most expected teaching tobe a challenging and rewarding career, and almost 70% expected to be teaching in10 years from now.

The implications of this study for teacher satisfaction, teacher retention andteacher attrition are worth considering. Firstly, if teachers enter the profession tomaintain engagement with the subject area or areas of their choice, then it is a seriousconcern that a significant minority of secondary school teachers in New South Wales,

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and across Australia, are teaching out of their specialisation. Palmer (1998) arguesthat the subjects we teach are integral to who we are as teachers: teacher identity andthe sense of selfthe who of teachingis organically related to the what and howof teaching. Being disconnected from this essential component of identity as a teachermay well lead to levels of dissatisfaction and versions of disillusionment that promptearly career teachers to question their decision to teach.

Secondly, many Australian models of professional development and teacher induc-tion tend to emphasise the practical skills and the techniques of teaching, inductingnew teachers into the dominant culture and bureaucracy of the profession, with little,if any, attention given to the moral, spiritual, emotional, empathic and subjectivedimensions of the teachers life and work. The latter tend to remain invisible, or atleast undervalued in teacher support materials and programs. Yet, an overwhelmingmajority of participants in this study, and many other studies recorded in the researchliterature over the past three decades, chose to teach on the basis of intrinsic reasons,bound up in the personal, subjective desires and aspirations of the individual. Inconsidering teacher satisfaction and growing rates of early career teacher attrition, itmay be worth promoting ways in which teachers can be validated and supported innurturing, sharing and building upon these empathic intelligence (Arnold, 2005)dimensions of their work.

Importantly, many prospective teachers enter teaching with a sense of mission: totransform the lives of young people and open opportunities for growth through learn-ing and connecting. As robust as this altruistic vision seems to be at the ITE stage ofteacher development, it is susceptible to being whittled away under the weight ofunreasonable and unmanageable workloads in the initial phases of appointment;burgeoning administrative requirements; school culture and leadership that margin-alises rather than embraces new teachers voices; little choice for the new teacher inwhat school they are appointed to; deficit models of teaching and learning that mayprevail in some schools; and a lack of sustained professional support during the earlyyears. The implications of a poorly managed start to a teachers working life can bemonumental when it comes to the longer-term resilience and commitment of theindividual within the profession.

Effective support programs, such as, for instance, the New South Wales Departmentof Education and Trainings Teacher Mentor Program, have been demonstrablysuccessful in addressing some of these issues of new teacher support and induction,particularly in schools where there are high numbers of early career teachers. Thisprogram includes the appointment of dedicated teacher-mentors to 90 schools acrossthe State with significant patterns of new teacher appointments. (The total numberof new teacher appointments in New South Wales is approximately 2300 per year.)In 2005, the percentage of new teachers supported by this program increased fromaround 20% (during 20032004) to around 60%, with a budget allocation of AU$5.12million (New South Wales Department of Education and Training, 2005).

Along with such programs of new teacher support, we also require more qualitativelongitudinal studies which record the experience of teacherssuch as those in thecurrent researchthrough the early years of teaching to determine the links between

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expectations in ITE, experiences of teaching and decisions about career progress.Considering the intention of a significant majority of the participants in this study tobe teaching in 10 years time, such research is vital. The results of the present studysuggest that teaching is still a profession that is considered by many entering ITE asa longer-term vocation rather than a drop-in, drop-out or revolving-door job.

Finally, one of the experiences common to those called to teach is the influence ofa former or current teacher or mentor. Teaching and learning, at its core, is aboutrelationships and connectionsbetween teachers and students; accomplished teach-ers and new teachers; schools and communities; hopes and their realisation; andaspirations and their fulfilment. It is encumbant upon teacher educators, experi-enced teachers, the teaching profession more broadly, parents and employers notonly to understand the centrality of such relationships to new teachers motivationsand expectations, but also to create legitimate cultural and intellectual space, inpolicy and practice, for the voices and visions of these new teachers to flourish. In sodoing, new teachers may indeed be sustained over the longer term in their dream toteach.

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Documents

It Has Always Been My Dream