Dawes, AJ; Wheeldon, R; (2020) Why I became a chemistry teacher: identifying turning points in chemistry teacher narratives of their trajectories into teaching. Research in Science and Technological Education , 40 (4) 454 -477. 10.1080/02635143.2020.1816951.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Currently there are international concerns over teacher recruitment and attrition rates, especially in mathematics and the physical sciences. Much has been written about the recruitment of student teachers and the reasons people give for going into teaching, but little on the broader context of these people’s lives and the complex influences on their career decisions. PURPOSE: The narrative approach used in this study is a complement to larger scale quantitative studies into teacher recruitment as it seeks to consider the wider picture of a person’s life and, through a defended participant perspective, expose influences that may not have been obvious to the participants themselves. Sample: Eight current UK chemistry teachers. SAMPLE: Eight current UK chemistry teachers. DESIGN AND METHODS: Stories of becoming teachers are told through interviews and these narratives examined to consider the key influences upon their becoming chemistry teachers. Two analytic lenses were used: inductive thematic analysis and deductive analysis considering psychoanalytical defences. These lenses were used to both exemplify and challenge each other, providing triangulation of interpretation to determine participants’ trajectories into chemistry teaching. RESULTS: Family background and interest in, and utility of, studying chemistry were found to influence career life decisions. Some participants experienced moments where their career trajectory changed towards teaching whereas others followed a smooth path towards this end. For two, changes in their relationship with chemistry resulted in a teaching career. Particularly influential appears to be prior teaching experience which led to changes of trajectory for half of the participants in this study. CONCLUSION: The chemistry teachers’ relationship with the subject discipline and prior teaching experience were important in them entering the profession, whilst the influence of their own teachers is more nuanced than wider larger scale quantitative studies suggest. Findings suggest that increasing the opportunity for classroom experience for undergraduates may improve teacher recruitment.

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