In the last years teacher shortage in Switzerland has led to the creation of different programs for second career teachers. The participation in these programs is based either on preliminary academic qualifications or on assessments.  The second-career teachers are considered to be an important element of the pedagogical workforce not only because of their alleviating effect on teacher shortages but also because of the variety of competencies they bring into education. The induction of second career teachers is facilitated by complementary study programs focused on pedagogical knowledge and working skills.

However, the career change is not limited to the acquisition of knowledge and skills but extends to the challenge of constructing a new professional identity (Williams, 2013). In this regard second career teachers have to deal with a gap between expectations of professional fulfilment and the realities of classrooms, the limited opportunities for the transfer of formerly developed skills and the difficulties of being a mature adult and a professional novice at the same time (Tigchelaar, Brouwer & Vermunt, 2010).

The present study investigates characteristics of second-career teachers such as motivation, teaching beliefs, self-regulatory abilities, and job satisfaction since these are crucial factors for their professional success (e.g. Baeten, Meeus, Hargreaves, 2014). The research is based on a model of professional competence which distinguishes four components (Bromme, 2001; Kunter et al., 2013; Shulman, 2004; Tigchelaar, Vermunt & Bouwer, 2014; Woolfolk Hoy, Davis & Pape,2006):

(a)    Specific content and procedural knowledge

(b)   Professional values, beliefs, and goals

(c)    Motivational orientations

(d)   Professional self-regulation skills.

With regard to this four-dimensional model the study addresses the following research questions:

-          What is the professional background of second-career teachers? What are their intentions to choose teaching as a second career?

-          What are teaching beliefs and self-regulatory abilities of second-career teachers?

-          What are characteristic differences between second-career teachers and “first-career teachers” regarding teaching beliefs and self-regulatory abilities.

Baeten, M., Meeus, W. & Hargreaves, S. (2014).Student Teachers Entering an Alternative Teacher Education Program: A Study into Their Motivation, Teaching Beliefs and Self-efficacy. The Journal of Didactics, Vol 5 (1&2).1-16. Bromme, R. (2001). Teacher expertise. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (eds.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (Vol. 23, pp. 15459–15465). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier. Kunter, M., Klusmann, U., Baumert, J., Richter, D., Voss, T., Hachfeld, A. (2013). Professional competence of teachers: Effects on instructional quality and student development. Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 105(3), Aug 2013, 805-820. Shulman, L. S. (2004). The Wisdom of Practice: Essays on Teaching, Learning, and Learning to Teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Tigchelaar, A., N. Brouwer, J. D. Vermunt (2010).Tailor-Made: Towards a Pedagogy for Educating Second - Career Teachers. Educational Research Review 5, 164- 183. Tigchelaar, A., J. D. Vermunt & N. Brouwer (2014). Patterns of development in second-career teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 41, July 2014, 111-120. Williams, J. (2013). Constructing new professional identities. Career changers in teacher education. Rotterdam: SensePublishers. Woolfolk Hoy, A., Davis, H., & Pape, S. (2006). Teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and thinking. In P. A. Alexander & P. H. Winne (eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 715–737). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.