Longitudinal Teacher Education and Workforce Study (ltews) Final Report

4.2 Teacher Education Programs and Graduates’ Decisions to Teach

This section discusses the nature of teacher education programs and the influence of the program structures and approaches on graduates’ career advancement in the teaching profession.

Box 8 lists the main findings of Section 4.2.

Box 8. Main Findings: Teacher education programs and graduates’ decisions to teach Teacher education programs and graduates’ decisions about teaching employment The percentage of graduates employed as teachers increased during the first year after graduation and then stabilized across all three teacher education program types – bachelor, masters and graduate diploma. Those respondents with a bachelor degree showed a slightly higher (but not significant) percentage of employment towards the end of the first year than did graduates with a masters degree or graduate diploma Employment outside teaching rose significantly in the first year after graduation. In particular, the data show that graduates with masters degrees taking employment outside teaching almost doubled over this period (from 32 to 61 per cent). This may be related to the demographic characteristics of early career teachers with graduate teacher education degrees. They tend to be more mature, often career changers, and likely therefore to have personal commitments which require them to have stable employment and limit their capacity to relocate for a teaching position. The analysis of free text responses shows that such graduates often plan to return to teaching. In free text responses, graduates not teaching identified factors in deciding not to seek teaching employment as job availability, further education and family circumstances. Other factors included relative salaries in teaching and other careers, other labour market opportunities, and varying relative non-pecuniary conditions of work. Effective structures, approaches and content for preparation for employment Irrespective of program type, more than half of the graduates identified reflective practice (64 per cent), quality teaching (53 per cent) and literacy (51 per cent) as key distinguishing features of their teacher education programs (i.e. features that set them apart from other programs). Social relationships, teaching culturally, linguistically and socio-economically diverse learners, school linkages, team teaching and discipline expertise were identified by less than a third of graduates. Teacher education providers identified a similar order of distinguishing features of their programs. More than three-quarters of graduates with a teaching position agreed that the knowledge gained from the university-based component of their teacher education program was important. However, they were more likely to agree that the knowledge gained was important (for example, 79 per cent at the end of the first year) than to agree that the teacher education units helped prepare them for their current teaching context (65 per cent). (continued on the next page)

Box 8. (continued) At the end of the first year after graduation, there was a significant difference between graduates with masters and graduate diploma degrees, with graduate diploma respondents less likely to agree that the knowledge gained through university-based units was important and prepared them for their current teaching context. There was no link between the campus location of the teacher education program and agreement that knowledge gained through university-based units was important and helped prepare them for their current teaching context. But respondents who completed their program in a part time basis as well as those with an early childhood education degree, were more likely to agree. Principals identified classroom management, pedagogy and catering for diverse learners as key challenges faced by newly employed graduate teachers. Principals identified poor teaching skills and classroom management as well as lack of school support and induction, lack of interpersonal/communication skills, and inadequate teacher preparation as contributing to a difficult transition for graduates into teaching. Influence of the teacher education programs on graduates’ career retention and advancement Generally, graduates who disagreed that their education program prepared them in the professional standards 'Know students and how they learn' and 'Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning' had a higher retention rate than those who agreed their program prepared them in this area (95 per cent compared to 92 per cent). Graduates who agreed that their teacher education program prepared them in the standard ‘Know the content and how to teach’ had a higher retention rate than those who disagreed they were prepared in this area (92 per cent compared to 89 per cent). Graduates who disagreed that their education program prepared them to 'Know students and how they learn' had a higher percentage with leadership positions than those who agreed (31 per cent compared to 14 per cent). 19 per cent of those who disagreed they were prepared to 'Know the content and how to teach it' were in leadership positions and 12 per cent of those who agreed were in a leadership position. The only area where those in agreement with being prepared had a higher percentage in leadership positions than those who disagreed they were prepared was in 'Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning'.

4.2.1 Teacher education programs and graduates’ decisions about teaching employment

This subsection investigates the relationship between initial teacher education and teaching employment. Generally, the percentage of graduates employed as teachers increased during the first year after graduation and then stabilised. Figure 21 shows a cross-tabulation of program types that beginning teachers graduated from, and their employment in schools. Those respondents with a bachelor’s degree had a slightly higher (but not significant) percentage employed in Rounds 2 and 3 than did graduates with a masters or graduate diploma qualification.

Figure . Graduates with teaching positions – by teacher education program type

Note: 1. Response numbers as follows: Round 1 Masters = 166, Bachelor = 602, Grad. Dip. = 538; Round 2 Masters = 340, Bachelor = 1,220, Grad. Dip. = 915; Round 3 Masters = 297, Bachelor = 927, Grad. Dip. = 748.
As discussed in sub-section 3.2.3, a number of the graduate teachers continued to seek teaching employment in a school during the LTEWS data collection timeframe. Figure 22 shows the percentage of graduates who did not have a teaching position and who were seeking teaching, by their program type. Over the 12-month data collection period, the percentage seeking teaching employment fell – from 84 per cent of unemployed graduates in Round 1, to 68 per cent in Round 2 and down to 62 per cent in Round 3. The decrease in the number of unemployed graduate teachers seeking teaching employment is more pronounced in the 10 months post-graduation (Round 2) as teaching employment for this group of graduates fell by 10–15 per cent across all three program types and then stabilised.

The results show that there is no significant difference between the three program types in the percentage of unemployed graduates seeking a teaching position, although the bachelor group is slightly higher than the other two groups in Round 2 (71 per cent) and slightly lower in Round 3 (60 per cent). The reduction of graduates seeking employment reflects two trends; getting a teaching job in a school sector or getting a job in other sectors of education, including further and higher education sectors, and other industries, as discussed in Section 3.2.3.

Figure . Graduates without teaching positions who are seeking teaching employment – by teacher education program type
Note: 1. Response numbers as follows: Round 1 Masters = 41, Bachelor = 148, Grad. Dip. = 177; Round 2 Masters = 57, Bachelor = 162, Grad. Dip. = 150; Round 3 Masters = 41, Bachelor = 113, Grad. Dip. = 168
The group of respondents who did not have a position as a teacher in a school were asked if they had employment outside of teaching. This was the same group of graduate respondents who answered the question regarding whether they were seeking teacher employment, as shown in Figure 22 above. The percentage of this group in other employment in each round is:

• 
  Round 1 – 52.7 per cent
  
• 
  Round 2 – 63.3 per cent
  
• 
  Round 3 – 38.9 per cent
  

Employment outside teaching rose significantly⁶ between Rounds 1 and 2. Round 3 shows a fall in employment levels outside teaching⁷. When employment outside teaching is looked at by the type of program completed (see Figure 23), Round 1 shows that graduates with a masters qualification were less likely to have employment outside teaching than graduates from the other two types of programs (masters, 32 per cent, graduate diploma 49 per cent, and bachelor 64 per cent). In Round 2, the percentage of employment outside of teaching is similar across the three program types.
Figure . Graduates without teaching positions who have employment outside teaching – by teacher education program type
Note: 1. Response numbers as follows: Round 1 Masters = 41, Bachelor = 148, Grad. Dip. = 177; Round 2 Masters = 57, Bachelor = 161, Grad. Dip. = 148; Round 3 Masters = 129, Bachelor = 391, Grad. Dip. = 442.

2. Round 3 is not comparable with previous rounds as the response rate to this question was low (54 per cent).

Graduates’ main area of their teacher education program was then cross-tabulated with having a teaching position in a school, and is shown in Figure 24 below. The figure shows that those respondents in the area of early childhood had a slightly higher (but not significant) percentage employed in teaching in Rounds 2 and 3 than did graduates from other program areas.

This pattern of teacher employment demonstrates the dynamics of opportunities available to graduate teachers. The highest take up of opportunities for employment relative to the cohort size and over the 3 Rounds, seemed to occur in the early childhood sector. It appears that in all other sectors some increase in take up of job opportunities occurred between Round 1 and Round 2 and then flattened by Round 3.

Figure . Graduates with teaching positions – by main area of teacher education program
Note: 1. Response numbers as follows: Round 1 Early Childhood = 51, EC/Prim = 83, Primary = 479, Prim/Sec = 109, Secondary = 575; Round 2 Early Childhood = 97, EC/Prim = 152, Primary = 925, Prim/Sec = 238, Secondary = 1,074; Round 3 Early Childhood = 67, EC/Prim = 130, Primary = 743, Prim/Sec = 184, Secondary = 884.

Figure . Graduates without teaching positions seeking teaching employment – by main area of teacher education program

Note: 1. Response numbers as follows: Round 1 Early Childhood = 14, EC/Prim = 23, Primary = 140, Prim/Sec = 32, Secondary = 155; Round 2 Early Childhood = 12, EC/Prim = 28, Primary = 121, Prim/Sec = 29, Secondary = 181; Round 3 Early Childhood = 5, EC/Prim = 21, Primary = 108, Prim/Sec = 27, Secondary = 165.
Figure 25 shows the group of graduates who were seeking a teaching position in a school, disaggregated by the main area of their teacher education program.

In Rounds 1 and 2, there was a lower percentage of unemployed graduates with qualifications in early childhood than in the other four areas, seeking a teaching position, but in Round 3, the early childhood respondents had a higher percentage seeking teaching work. The percentage of early childhood/primary and primary area graduates seeking work consistently decreased across the three rounds, whereas secondary graduate percentages decreased from Round 1 to Round 2 then remained the same for Round 3. The group of respondents who did not have a position as a teacher in a school was asked if they had employment outside of teaching. This is the same group of graduate respondents who answered the question regarding whether they were seeking teacher employment, as shown in the Figure above.⁸

When employment outside of teaching is looked at by the main area of program completed, Round 1 shows that graduates from early childhood and middle school programs were more likely to have employment outside a school than graduates from the other three types of programs (early childhood, 64 per cent and primary/secondary 66 per cent, with early childhood/primary 52 per cent, primary 54 per cent, and secondary 47 per cent). In Round 2, the percentages show a different employment pattern across the area of teaching: early childhood/primary have the highest level of employment outside teaching, with 79 per cent, then primary (69 per cent), primary/secondary (61 per cent), secondary (58 per cent), and early childhood (50 per cent).

Figure . Graduates without teaching positions who have employment outside teaching – by main area of teacher education program

Note: 1. Response numbers as follows: Round 1 Early Childhood = 14, EC/Prim = 23, Primary = 140, Prim/Sec = 32, Secondary = 155; Round 2 Early Childhood = 12, EC/Prim = 28, Primary = 121, Prim/Sec = 29, Secondary = 181; Round 3 Early Childhood = 2, EC/Prim = 8, Primary = 55, Prim/Sec = 13, Secondary = 94.

2. Round 3 is not comparable with previous rounds as the response rate to this question was low (54 per cent).

The data show the changing opportunities for employment in terms of both the teaching profession and other occupations. In such circumstances, graduate teachers considered a wider range of occupational as well as non-occupational factors. The analysis of survey free text responses showed that the main factors in deciding not to seek teaching employment were job availability, further education and family circumstances. Other factors included relative salaries in teaching and other careers, other labour market opportunities, and varying relative non-pecuniary conditions of work.

Previous research on the topic of graduating teachers’ decision-making has identified several factors that can act as enticements into teaching. Higher salaries received by teacher have consistently been identified as increasing the likelihood of seeking teaching employment, or reducing the likelihood of teachers exiting the profession. The estimated impact of salaries on the supply of labour is frequently large, with the exception of a study by Frijters, Shields & Wheatley Price (2004) which found a lower impact. Other frequently observed results include that pecuniary effects are larger for men than for women. In addition, results generally show that teachers with higher-level qualifications, or living in areas with higher average non-teaching salaries, are more likely to leave their teaching jobs. A limited number of studies have also considered the quality of teachers, with the general finding being that higher salaries paid to teachers raises teaching quality, e.g. as measured by the teachers’ impact on learning outcomes or test scores (Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 1999; Stinebrickner, 2001).

It should be noted, however, that non-pecuniary factors such as workload, job stress and the public perception of the profession, as well as individual preferences, are also likely to play an important role in the decision to enter teaching. For example, the study conducted by Smithers and Robinson (2003) found that potential teachers perceived such conditions adversely. Salhberg (2011) argues that teaching in Finland is one of the most respected professions. As a result, school teaching is the most sought-after career. Although the status of teachers can be attributed to the cultural characteristics of society, the examination of high-performing jurisdictions suggests that trust and respect can be, in large measure, the result of the implementation of specific policies and practices.

In LTEWS, the patterns of seeking employment by main areas of teacher education do not show a relationship between the area of teacher education program and a decision whether or not to seek teaching employment. The fluctuation of data seems to reflect the state of the labour market. In considering whether or not to teach, graduates take into account pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors, including workload, job stress, public perception of the profession, further studies, family circumstances, as well as individual preferences.