Teacher shortages challenge educational systems around the globe (García & Weiss, 2020; Wiggan et al., 2021). According to the OECD (2021), more than one third of European teachers today are over 50 years old, whereas the percentage of teachers aged under 30 is about 10%. The report warns that when older teachers retire, there will not be enough teachers to replace them. Teacher shortages are particularly severe in upper secondary schools and in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects (Wiggan et al., 2021).

Choosing teaching as a career is a continuous process, since at each point in time people can decide whether to become teachers, persevere, leave the profession or resume teaching. Watt and her colleagues (Fray & Gore, 2018; Watt et al., 2012) suggested a theoretical model consisting of eight types of considerations that affect people’s decision concerning their teaching career: 1. Socio-cultural factors, including teachers’ status. 2. Significant experiences as teachers or learners. 3. The perceived effort and skills that teaching requires. 4. Self-evaluation of the ability to be “good” teachers. 5. Internal motivation: the extent to which teaching is viewed as interesting, emotionally rewarding, etc. 6. Utilitarian motivation: mainly wages and social mobility. 7. Altruistic motivation: willingness to contribute to young people and society at large. 8. Occupational alternatives.

The main reasons proposed for teachers shortages are low social status and wages and difficult working conditions, when compared to other professions. This is particularly true for STEM teachers who are offered high status and lucrative alternatives in other sections of the workplace (Barber & Mourshed, 2007; Ingersoll & Collins, 2018; Wiggan et al., 2021). Teacher education programmes were also implicated for providing inadequate preparation that results in high attrition rates during the first five years of teaching (Ingersoll et al., 2014).

Retraining career changers as teachers is one of the most prevalent courses of action taken to address teacher shortages. The increasing tendency for employees to change their profession throughout their working lives (Barclay et al., 2011) provides opportunities to recruit career changers to teaching. Difficulties experienced in previous occupations, disillusionment and exhaustion may “push” career changers towards teaching and operate synergistically with the “pulling” considerations mentioned above (Chambers, 2002).    

Teacher retraining programmes are very diverse. In some programmes, students start teaching from the first day and receive payment for their work, whereas in others, students need to spend two years studying before their work is remunerated. The amount, as well as the quality, of supervision provided to students also vary. Other differences concern study schedules, teaching formats, help in school placement and financial benefits such as scholarships and loan forgiveness plans (Zahner et al., 2019). In view of this diversity, it is no wonder that research aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of retraining programmes, as compared with that of traditional teacher education programmes was inconclusive (Cochran-Smith & Villegas, 2015; Zahner et al., 2019).

In an attempt to find the “golden path” between too general and too specific objects of study (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2015), this study evaluated annual retraining programmes for former high-tech employees who plan to teach STEM subjects in Israeli high schools (named “From high-tech to teaching”). We utilized the perspectives of three categories of stakeholders: programme leaders in higher education institutions, alumni, and school principals who recruited alumni as teachers. The research question was: Which aspects of the retraining programmes and induction into schools enhanced (or hindered) beginning retrained teachers’ satisfaction and intentions to persevere? 

Participants: The study included 46 participants: 1. Eighteen programme leaders (10 females and 8 males) from all 12 institutes that offer “From high-tech to teaching” programmes. 2. Twenty-two alumni (8 females and 14 males) of nine institutions. The disciplines they learned to teach were maths (15), physics (3), biology (2) chemistry (1) and interdisciplinary science and technology studies for junior high schools (1). 3. Six school principals (2 females and 4 males) who recruited “From high-tech to teaching” alumni. Tools: Semi-structured interview protocols were used. Programme leaders were asked how students were recruited, students’ motives to become teachers, how they structured the re-training programme, the reasons that led them to create it the way they did, and about the main challenges that they, their students and alumni have to address. Alumni were asked why they chose to teach, how the re-training programme contributed to their teaching practices, what their experiences as beginning teachers were, how satisfied they were with their work and what their future plans were. Finally, school principals were asked about the strengths and the weaknesses of the programmes’ alumni. Procedure: The authors are researchers at an Institute that hosts an administrative unit supporting the “From high-tech to teaching” programmes. We received a list of potential interviewees from the unit, and asked them for their consent to be interviewed, assuring them that their identity would remain confidential. There are no authority relationships between the authors and the interviewees, since the teachers and principals are employed by school authorities, and programme leaders are employed by their higher education institutions. Thirty-nine participants were individually interviewed, whereas seven programme leaders participated in two group interviews. The interviews lasted for 45 – 90 minutes. They were audio-recorded, transcribed, and sent back to the interviewees for revisions. Data analysis: We used the Braun and Clarke (2021) Thematic Analysis method to analyze the interviews. This method is particularly suitable for the interpretation of interviewees’ experiences and views, and it requires the integration of inductive analysis and interpretation together with theoretical background. The analysis results in themes that are not categories, but rather organizing sentences that illuminate central aspects of the studied phenomena.

Theme 1: The retraining programmes are characterized by tensions between a desired state of affairs and practical constraints. Programme leaders wish to introduce students to a great variety of teaching methods, but this contradicts with wanting to reduce study hours to enable students to work. Exposing students as a group to examples of best practice reduces the opportunities that each student has for personal guidance and gaining practical teaching experience, and is incompatible with current teaching conditions at schools. Theme 2: Teacher preparation should focus on educational knowledge and practice. Principals and alumni complained that the alumni had not been trained to deal with educational issues such as adolescents’ social and emotional needs. Alumni said they did not have enough opportunities to teach entire classes, and that their practical experience was not analyzed with their teacher educators to make connections between practical and theoretical issues. Theme 3: There were significant gaps between alumni expectations and work realities. Alumni expected to teach high-achieving upper high school classes. However, they were often placed in low-achieving unmotivated junior high school classes. Schools expected alumni to act according to school norms and know how to manage classroom behavior and interact with parents, whereas alumni complained about a lack of information and insufficient support. In addition, bureaucratic indifference and inefficiency also severely affected alumni's salaries. Theme 4: Alumni who had opportunities to utilize their unique knowledge and skills in their schools were highly satisfied and planned to persevere. Such alumni were able to introduce innovative curricula and teaching methods or improve their school and colleagues’ work methods. Conclusions: As students, retrained STEM teachers need to acquire extensive educational knowledge and receive high quality practical experience. During their induction they need adequate support and opportunities to develop a sense of autonomy and competence in their work.

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