The Attractors of Teaching Biology: a Perspective from a Turkish Context

Abstract

Because the teaching occupation plays a crucial role in a country's development, policymakers and teacher recruitment units all around the world strive to understand how to attract individuals to this profession. However, research regarding the attractors of teaching has been conducted almost entirely in developed countries and has not focused on particular subject areas to be taught. In addition, only limited lists of attractors have been used. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study was to examine what attractors influence people who choose teaching biology as a career, and what about the Turkish culture has caused people to make this career choice. The sample consisted of 37 freshman biology student teachers (31 female, 6 male). The questionnaire included open-ended questions that were used to determine the student teachers' ideas about their career decisions. According to the results of this qualitative study, enjoy working with children or adolescents, enjoy biology and lightworkload were attractors that were mostly reported by student biology teachers. In addition, competitive job market, national examination system, family customs, and religious beliefs in Turkey were determinants of some attractors. Teaching Career Trends around the WorldAlthough teaching seems to be a profession considered essential for a country's well being, many countries around the world are experiencing difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers (Watt & Richardson, 2007). Policymakers and educators have therefore made a genuine effort to direct people to teaching occupations, especially in developed countries. Despite these attempts, however, the shortage of teachers gradually increases.The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) survey of schools seeks to make an international comparison of how different countries overcome the shortage of teachers. Accordingly, countries choose different ways to fill teaching vacancies. Danish school authorities, for example, prefer to have teachers work overtime, while educators in Australia report a preference for high pupil/class ratios (Fine, 2005). In some parts of the US, it has been essential to shorten the school year due to the small number of teachers (Fine, 2005). In Turkey, many teachers have been employed in two or three schools to meet the need for teachers. On the other hand, students in Nigeria have to become teachers if they desire to proceed in their own education at a Nigerian University (Eijeh, 2005). Another problem is that some teachers change their careers in the early years of working. In the US and the UK, for example, one in five teachers leave the profession within three years of entry. Despite a lack of reliable evidence, researchers estimate that about a third of teachers in Australia leave the occupation within five years of graduation (Watt & Richardson, 2007). Even though 'career changers' are not common in developing countries, unexpected decreases in the number of teachers seem to increase daily in developed countries, wh...

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