Session Information
Contribution
Although several studies have confirmed the importance of teaching commitment for (beginning) teachers' retention in the profession (e.g., Weiss, 1999), research on the factors that enhance teacher education graduates' teaching commitment is scarce. Grounded in the Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making (Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1996) and inspired by the model of Chapman (1984), this study identifies the predictors that distinguish teacher education graduates with a low level versus high level of teaching commitment. Building on the model of Chapman (1984), four categories of predictors were distinguished: (1) personal characteristics (gender, personality); (2) initial motivation for teaching, (3) teacher education (type of teacher training, final diploma grade, preparedness for teaching, faculty and mentor support), and (4) integration into teaching (teacher efficacy and professional orientation).A survey was conducted among 1085 graduates from teacher training for lower and higher secondary education in Flanders (Belgium). Initially, teacher education graduates' teaching commitment was examined in order to identify graduates with a low versus high level of teaching commitment. Next, using Chi-square and t-tests, statistical differences were tested between low and high levels of graduates' teaching commitment in relation to the predictor variables.Lastly, discriminant analysis was conducted to explain group membership from a set of the statistically significant predictors. Results of Chi-square and t-tests indicated that type of teacher training, the personality factor 'consientiousness', initial motivation for teaching, preparedness for teaching, mentor support, faculty support, professional orientation, and teacher efficacy showed differences (at 1% level) between low and high levels of teaching commitment. The subsequent discriminant analysis provided an Eigenvalue of 1.043 with a canonical correlation of 0.714 and a Wilks's lambda of 0.489 (Chi-square = 74.652; df = 7; p < 0.0001), indicating a good discriminating power. The results imply that graduates with a low level of teaching commitment can be reliably distinguished from graduates with a high level of commitment by type of teacher training, their consientiousness, initial motivation for teaching, views of their teacher education (in terms of preparation for teaching, mentor support and faculty support), and teacher efficacy. Since professional orientation does not significantly contribute to the discrimination model, this variable was excluded from the final model. The present research adds another block to the edifice of knowledge on teacher retention by investigating it from another angle, that which delineates the attributes of teacher education graduates with low and high levels of teaching commitment. As such, the findings of this research have important implications for teacher education since the results confirm the importance of teacher education for graduates' teaching commitment. Graduates who felt better prepared for teaching and perceived more adequate and intensive support from their faculty at the training institute as well as from their mentors during practical experiences in schools, expressed a higher level of teaching commitment. And this, in turn can affect their intent to enter and remain in the teaching profession.Acknowledgement: This study is part of a doctoral thesis under supervision of Antonia Aelterman and Peter Vlerick.Chapman, D.W. (1984). Teacher retention: The test of a model. American Educational Research Journal, 21, 645-648. Mitchell, L.K. & Krumboltz, J.D. (1996). Krumboltz's theory of career choice and counseling. In D. Brown & L. Brooks (Eds.), Career choice and development (pp. 233-280). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Weiss, E.M. (1999) Perceived workplace conditions and first-year teachers' morale, career choice commitment and planned retention: a secondary analysis, Teaching and Teacher Education, 15(8), 861-879. European journal
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