Turnover of early childhood education (ECE) professionals negatively impacts program costs, staff morale, and relationships with children. We determined whether the presence of work as a calling was associated with less intention to leave the ECE field. From an online survey administered to 265 ECE professionals in Pennsylvania, a calling score…

STEM education, which consists of the initials of the words Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is an educational approach that blends theoretical knowledge with engineering skills. The STEM education approach is implemented in the USA from preschool to senior high school through engineering design and interdisciplinary studies…

This qualitative descriptive study was designed to answer the following questions: How do infant/toddler teachers (ITTs) enter the infant/toddler workforce? What motivates teachers to work in the infant/toddler workforce? What recruitment strategies are identified by experienced ITTs? What retention strategies are identified by experienced ITTs?…

The aim of this paper is to analyse teacher shortage in Croatia and ways in which educational policy reacts to teacher shortage in early childhood education and primary education. This paper presents descriptive study of current national shortage situation and a content analysis of national education policy documents. The data analyses reveal a…

In this study I investigated the relationship between sense of calling and efficacy among South Korean early childhood teachers, and whether this relationship was mediated by teacher collegiality. A total of 228 South Korean early childhood teachers completed 3 questionnaires regarding calling, teacher efficacy, and teacher collegiality. The…

STEM education, which consists of the initials of the words Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is an educational approach that blends theoretical knowledge with engineering skills. The STEM education approach is implemented in the USA from preschool to senior high school through engineering design and interdisciplinary studies…

Encouraging pre-service teachers to perceive early childhood teaching as an inherently attractive career option remains an issue in the early childhood profession in Australia. Following a Research by Design methodology with iterative modifications, this paper uses a professional identity theoretical lens to analyse survey and interview data from…

This narrative study examines Asian (American) educators' motivations to become teachers. Adopting tenets of the Asian Critical Theory, findings suggest that participants attribute their initial interests in teaching to their inequitable schooling experiences characterized by Asian (American) marginalization and misrepresentation. They are thus…

The importance of embedding employability skills in English Higher Education has received increased attention since the introduction of tuition fees and employers claiming that graduates lack the necessary skills for the workforce. This paper considers how these employability skills align with students' aspirations, when there is uncertainty…

This study examines the effects of Motivational Enhancement Training on male preservice preschool teachers' motivation and vocational-outcome expectations, using a randomized pretest-posttest control group design. Of the 34 participants, 17 formed the experimental group and the other 17, the control group. A Personal Information Form, Adult…

Introduction: Given the global concern for attracting more and better candidates to teaching careers, we must have instruments to help us identify these potential candidates. In Chile, there needs to be more evidence of the motivational and perceptual factors that influence the choice of studies in Education. The aim is to study the psychometric…

Adopting an integrative grounded theory approach, this study aimed to uncover parents' perceptions of instrumentality regarding early childhood education within the scope of their children's academic skills, social-emotional development, and occupational aspirations. A total of 32 parents, each with at least one child enrolled in a preschool for…

Drawing on official data, this article looks at the phenomenon of teacher shortage in Portugal and its implications for teacher education. It includes a quantitative analysis of needs of the system to renew the teaching workforce alongside aspects of mass teacher retirement and a decline in teaching candidates. Issues such as negative media…

There is a critical, nation-wide teacher shortage. Exacerbating this shortage is declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs that serve as a pipeline to the profession. To help address this shortage, school districts and teacher preparation programs across the country are implementing a variety of strategies to recruit high school…

The workforce in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is highly gender-segregated with a majority of women. Gender-sensitive professionalization is regarded a way to recruit more men, but there is a call for more empirical research into perspectives that combines bodily aspects of gender, professionalization and men`s career choices. Applying…