Among high school seniors, (1) most of those who aspired to teach were White females; (2) teacher aspirants were less concerned with earning good incomes than those who chose other professions; (3) job security was not an important motivation for entering teaching; and (4) teacher aspirants were intellectually less able than their classmates.…

Students of Chinese and Punjabi-Sikh ancestry are underrepresented in teacher education programs in British Columbia. Interviews with 34 college students from these ethnic groups found that career choice was influenced most strongly by parental expectations, and was also affected by cultural sex role attitudes, English language proficiency, and…

Policy implications of studies of teachers' responses to features of work redesign are discussed as they relate to career choice decisions, the teacher labor market, and teacher supply in specific areas. The focus is on high-quality teachers, since the aim of work redesign is to attract and retain the best. (SLD)

The essay examines what an interest in teaching might comprise if the teacher believes it to be a vocation, arguing that the concept of vocation embodies both a public and a personal dimension and describes work with a social value and enduring personal meaning. (SM)

Describes efforts of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the Center for Career Development in Early Care and Education, the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition, and the Child Care Employee Project to help make work in the early childhood field a feasible career. Provides addresses and phone numbers for…

Describes three typical routes by which people become early childhood professionals: the traditional, parental, and serendipitous routes. Discusses the conceptual model of the career lattice, which the National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development plans to promote. (LB)

Presents a profile of teacher education students, focusing on students' demographic characteristics, their reasons for entering teaching, their attitudes toward teaching as a profession, and commitment to teaching as a lifelong career. Implications for reform are considered. (Author/GLR)

This article will explore how symbolic and institutional violence shaped students' understandings of themselves within the educational context, and will argue that the creation of critical educational spaces can enable students and teachers to explore and transgress the internal and external influences and violence that shape the learning…

This study examines the justifications given by serving teachers of secondary mathematics for their decisions to become teachers. Forty-five teachers, from two regions of England, were interviewed about their professional life histories with one element of the semi-structured schedule including an invitation to colleagues to discuss their motives…

This study was conducted to test the validity of previously developed theories as to why individuals select teaching as a career and to determine whether the orientation of preservice and inservice teachers differs regarding reasons for choosing the teaching profession. A 58-item instrument, "Orientations for Teaching Survey," was designed, with…

A preliminary study was conducted to examine indicators which tend to reflect relationships between personality traits and professional choice among elementary education students enrolled in the teacher education program in Eastern Kentucky University. Education students in elementary education (N=122) completed the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.…

This document identifies characteristics and patterns of characteristics of those who have leisure as a mid-life option. A comparison was made between individuals electing to pursue leisure and those electing to enter teaching at this life stage. Results of structured interviews, statistical results, and an analysis of a life satisfaction scale…

This study describes the changes in demographic characteristics of beginning teachers who entered the profession between 1956-57 and 1976. Existing literature on beginning teachers is examined to construct an image of the changes that have occurred among those choosing teaching careers. National and statewide samples are reviewed; however,…

Twenty-six tenured faculty members of schools of education were interviewed in an effort to ascertain their perceptions of the circumstances that led to their becoming teacher educators. A clear and direct continuity of development from classroom teacher to university-based teacher educator was noted. Interviewees identified advantages of a career…

This booklet provides information for teachers who are considering a career in a private or independent school. Descriptions are given of the functions and philosophies underlying private education. Features which distinguish independent schools in the areas of governance, finances, curriculum, and student and faculty selection are discussed. A…