Why Enter Teaching in the Republic of Ireland?

• In Event: Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice): International Perspectives

Abstract

Objectives & Framework: This paper reports and discusses secondary student teachers’ reasons for choosing a career in teaching, their perceptions of the teaching career and their assessments of secondary education in the Republic of Ireland. Cultural influences are examined and implications for Irish teacher education (ITE) at policy and programme level discussed.

Methods & Data: Results were gained from a multi-institutional cross-sectional online questionnaire. 44% of the 781 National University of Ireland PGDE entrants (representing 70% of all secondary teacher graduates in Ireland) participated in the survey in August 2006. Results from a qualitative pilot study confirmed the suitability of the FIT-Choice model in the Irish context and supported the development of a number of additional context-specific items.

Results: Intrinsic factors (M=5.7) and perceived teaching ability (M=5.6) achieved highest ratings on 7-point scales, followed by prior teaching and learning experience (M=5.5) and the opportunity to make a social contribution (M=5.4). Extrinsic reasons received much lower mean scores (M=3.4 overall). Respondents generally felt that teaching was a career that is higher in task demand (M=5.5) than in task return (M=4.3). Student behaviour proved to be the highest rated concern among entrants (M=5.6). Mean scores for social influence (2.6) and social dissuasion factors (3.5) indicated that ITE entrants had not received much encouragement from others. In a context where teaching positions are sparse, more than one-quarter of all respondents (27.5%) were worried about securing a teaching position after qualifying. The product-oriented examination system received greatest attention in respondents’ assessment of Irish secondary education (featuring in 16% of qualitative responses). At the same time, the proportion of students who considered social justice and/or diversity issues before entering initial teacher education was very small (3%).

Significance: The realization of motivating aspirations needs to be considered an important goal for policy-makers and educators since it has been linked to teachers’ long-term commitment to the profession as well as to their health. The results of this study show that Irish government policies need to enhance teachers’ opportunities to intellectually and creatively engage with their expert subjects and to perform socially relevant tasks. Entering teachers’ pragmatic concerns regarding the availability of long-term and/or secure teaching posts need to be addressed, and measures taken to improve public opinion of secondary teaching as a career. ITE programmes need to address tensions between student teachers’ aspirations and the realities they face in their day-to-day teaching more explicitly and productively, to support student teachers develop a healthy balance between their intrinsic and altruistic motivations and the pragmatic demands of the teaching profession, and to allow them to achieve satisfying levels of individual success and personal fulfillment. ITE providers furthermore need to consider what instructional strategies might be most effective to extend the focus of entrants’ critical assessments of school education to include an appreciation of a range of sociological perspectives including concepts of disadvantage and inclusive education.

Author

• Manuela Heinz, National University of Ireland - Galway, Ireland