Early stage tutor exit is not uncommon in FETin Ireland. The 2019 Evaluation of the National Youthreach Programmes found that almost half of Coordinators reported staff turnover as constituting a difficulty 'to a great extent'. (p. 89) Recruitment and retention was identified as a major challenge going forward. Future FET 2020 - 2024 recognises the need for the development of staffing structures and the evolution of the role of teacher and instructor.

The study took place in an FET centre where twenty-two tutors deliver four post-compulsory education programmes to approximately three hundred jobseekers, early-school leavers and learners who wish to upskill. Many FET tutors had vocational careers before joining FET. This study identified emergent issues and themes during an FET tutor’s induction period that offered some reasons for early exit decisions, and shed light on the value of multi-disciplinary perspectives/contributions to programme design and delivery.

Aim:  To study expert vocational practitioners’ experiences of learning/identity transfer experienced during their transition to teaching in FET. 

Objectives:

• Share the voices and experiences of individuals who made decisions to become FET tutors, learning from them what led to their decision.
• Understand how vocational expertise and ways of thinking and practising influence FET tutors’ perceptions of teaching the knowledge, skills, practices and conventions of their specialist area.
• Develop a framework to support professional development in the transition from a vocational career into one as an FET tutor.
• Contribute to knowledge on the personal, professional and situational dimensions of an evolving FET tutor identity as critically reflective practitioners.

Theoretical frameworks:

Huberman’s (1993) model of teachers’ careers and career development describes experiences of entry into teaching as “easy beginnings or, in contrast, of painful ones” (1993 p. 244). This model and subsequent conceptual frameworks (Day et al, 2006; Day & Gu 2010) have particular relevance for tutors who join FET with an accumulation of workplace experience and vocational expertise, yet find they are in fact beginner teachers.  The importance of and interrelation of notions of identify, concept, emotion and agency has been established.

Identity self-states draw on a motivational self-systems framework that incorporates ‘possible’ and ‘ideal’ selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) and self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). ‘Possible selves’ have a simultaneous impact on how one engages and expresses oneself in behaviours that promote connections to work, others, and job role performance (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Behijard et al 2004; Rodgers & Scott, 2008; Hamman, Gosselin, Romano and Bunuan, 2010).

Transformative learning emphasises the critical role experience and reflection play on existing assumptions about the world in order to arrive at a new worldview (Graham Cagney, 2019). Role engagement may prompt a changed perspective as individuals identify and challenge underlying assumptions, prompting changed perspectives leading to new roles and actions (Mezirow, 1991). These processes may also lead to a change in habits of mind (Cranton, 2006, Boylan, Coldwell, Maxwell & Jordan, 2018; Graham Cagney, 2019) building a bridge of critical consciousness (Bourdieu, 1997) leading to new worldviews and new perspectives and identity.

The ‘inner’ teaching-learning environment (Hounsell & Entwistle, 2003) highlights four important components that have a significant influence on the quality of learning achieved. Additionally, the concept of disciplinary ways of teaching and practising (WTPs), include teachers’ beliefs, conceptions of teaching and reflective practice (Hounsell, 2005).  Together with the advantages and challenges of a cross-vocational transfer of expert knowledge, WTPs draw on a sophisticated network of higher-level factors that influence a high-quality teaching-learning environment.

This qualitative study adopted an interpretivist approach that allowed deeply personal stories and the meanings constructed from them to be told and then analysed for meaning. The study received full research ethical approval from the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at Waterford Institute of Technology. Purposive sampling was used; and all participants had alternative vocational backgrounds. The fieldwork took place in April which is the busiest time of year in the FETC as QQI portfolios are being prepared for verification and authentication. Many tutors were unavailable due to their heavy workload in this regard. Seven participants agreed to take part in the study, five female and two male FET tutors. Ages ranged between thirty-five to sixty-five years and all had backgrounds in vocational areas other than teaching. Four tutors taught with Youthreach (YR) which provides education and training for early school leavers under the age of 21 years and one participant also taught in Community Education. One tutor worked with Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) that targets unemployed people over the age of 21 and the Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) programme; another tutors in Adult Basic Education (ABE) which is focused on literacy and numeracy, and one participant taught in ABE in the past but now fulfils the role of Adult Literacy Organiser (ALO). The programmes delivered by the tutors lead mainly to Government sponsored (https://www.qqi.ie) major or minor awards at levels one to five in addition to a very small number of non-accredited programmes. Semi-structured interviews averaged from 29 – 62 minutes, and due to COVID restrictions were conducted via Zoom (with participant permission). This approach to interviewing allowed for a pre-set focus, but also enabled flexibility for further discussion and the opportunity for the interviewer to seek clarification. Following transcription of the interviews, each participant was invited to a member checking process and offered further comments and suggestions to the researcher. Consistent with qualitative methodology, the data was collated and then analysed with respect to the research questions using a constant comparative method to manually code and construct categories or themes that captured the recurring patterns (Saldana, 2016; Williams, 2020). No pre-defined codes were used. Smaller patterns and themes were then dismissed, and the remaining were examined for inter-relationships within and between, resulting in the emergence of three primary themes, each with sub-themes: (1) motivation; (2) FET teaching-learning environment; and (3) transition.

Motivation: Reasons for joining FET were varied, all were drawn to teaching and helping people to learn. All were beginner teachers; none received formal instruction or training on entry however there were some instances of peer support from colleagues. It is evident from the data that “painful beginnings” (Huberman 1993, p. 34) were experienced for the majority. FET Teaching and Learning Environment (‘inner’ TLE) Participants were disappointed with the over-emphasis on formal assessment/accreditation, at the cost of student personal learning and development of soft skills. Components of the ‘inner’ TLE were all important aspects of the student learning and the tutor teaching experiences. Previous vocational embedded ways of teaching and practicing carried through to the FET tutors practice and strongly influenced their relationships with their students. The influence of the emotional context of teaching was identified. Participants spoke about the degree to which their students struggle with social situations as well as learning, psychological, and emotional difficulties. Transitions Challenging incidents and change included the realisation of the nature and extent of difficulties experienced by students; teaching practice coming under question and shock at how incidents of unprofessionalism and aggressive behaviour were managed. These altered tutors’ perspectives about the disposition of several FET students, expectations of management, and personal tutoring capabilities. Findings from this research study suggest that perspective transformation occurred for all seven participants. No clear exchanges of professional identity and status between a prior vocational role and a current tutor role were experienced among relatively new tutors. Those who were in FET longer strongly identified as tutors or teachers. Apart from naming their professional status and the QQI programmes they deliver, participants spoke about the wider context of their practice, i.e., what they see themselves doing in FET. This ‘task’ focus linked more strongly to their feared identity self-state.

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