Noting that high achieving Indiana high school students can provide important insights into the educational system in the state, this study examined the opinions of recipients of Ameritchieve recognition, National Merit finalists, African-American students who were National Achievement finalists, and national Hispanic Scholar finalists, all from…

Intended primarily for senior graduate students seriously considering a job in academia, this book begins with a discussion of available jobs in academia and how to get one. Chapter 1, "Employment Opportunities in Academia," explores the American higher educational system and the pros and cons of choosing an academic career. Chapter 2, "Getting an…

Traditional remedies for attracting competent people to teaching will probably fail. Along with the usual recruitment of career teachers, the field should attempt to recruit undergraduates in the liberal arts and sciences whose long-term career goals are undecided, thus forming a domestic educational peace corps composed of short-term teachers.…

Reviews research showing declining interest in teaching profession. Survey reveals 45.8 percent of rural South Carolina high school students were to some extent interested in teaching. Examines related factors, including students' ability levels, grade and area-type preferences, amount of teacher influences, and perceptions of teacher salaries.…

Some indicators point to a potential shortage of school administrators. The principalship has grown more complex due to increased accountability and escalating social complexities. This qualitative study sought to understand why leadership-skilled women teachers choose to remain in the classroom rather than seek administrative positions. Despite…

This paper models the likelihood of individuals becoming teachers, to identify the key social and economic determinants of selecting teaching as a career in the UK. E-mail and focus group interviews were used to develop a questionnaire, for surveying a sample of 1845 students and professional trainees from four tertiary institutions in South-west…

This book analyzes a collection of 147 stories from more than 50 teachers about memorable moments in their teaching careers. Recurrent themes from these stories, depicting the interactive nature of teaching, the teaching-learning process, and the rewards of teaching, are categorized. Because the work of teachers is generally devalued and…

This book addresses the question of becoming a teacher from the perspective of the teacher's self and identity concerns. A common theme among all of the papers in the book is the importance of balancing the personal development of teachers with their professional development. There are eight papers in four parts. Part 1, "Selecting Teaching…

Part 1 of this book explores the challenges and rewards of teaching as an occupation. Issues discussed include: (1) the kind of people who choose teaching as a career; (2) the teacher job market; (3) teacher salaries--including career ladders and merit pay plans; (4) the quality of teacher education and the controversy over teacher testing; (5)…

Two recent studies imply that there is a negative selection process at work which systematically attracts and then holds in the teaching profession young people with modest verbal and quantitative abilities. The Vance & Schlecty study compared "recruits"--those who had: (1) majored in education; (2) taught school; or (3) obtained a certificate to…

As the number of teacher education majors has decreased nationally over the last ten years, the declining number of non-white teacher education students has been even more acute. Today barely 10 percent of the teaching force is non-white and that representation continues to decline annually. This policy paper reviews the current status of minority…

The Teacher Cadet Program (TCP) provides a course of study to encourage academically-able high school students to consider teaching as a career. Reported is an evaluation of the program's effectiveness based on data collected from a survey of college freshmen who were high school cadets, interviews with a sample of the surveyed college freshmen,…

This paper examines the expressed commitment to teaching of 17 "high ability" students who were recruited as high school seniors for careers in teaching. During the 2-year recruitment phase of their collegiate program, changing levels of expressed commitment to teaching as a career choice were evaluated at three points using a combination of…

A study examined the relationship of attitudes of vocational student teachers to their plans to teach. Also investigated during the study was an alternative method of scoring the Purdue Student-Teacher Opinionnaire. (The Purdue Student-Teacher Opinionnaire is a 60-item questionnaire that yields factor scores pertaining to the following areas:…

This paper introduces a new instrument for assessing teacher motivation and uses it to compare the motivations of male and female teacher trainees in Jamaica. The results are then contrasted with the gender specific motivations that researchers have found for teachers in other parts of the world. The instrument is a three factor model based on a…