The next generation of teachers: an investigation of second-level student teachers' backgrounds in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses the demographic, educational and career backgrounds of second-level student teachers in the Republic of Ireland. Its findings confirm that student teachers from the lower social classes are underrepresented, and that there is little variety in terms of Postgraduate Diploma in Education students' second-level educational experiences. At the same time, the diversification of student teachers' experiences in terms of their personal and professional lives is illustrated. The student teacher profile presented in this study will inform discussions and planning of teacher education policy and pedagogy, especially as regards the recruitment and selection of student teachers from diverse backgrounds who are supported in their development as critical and reflective practitioners and who enact teaching that benefits all learners.

Why choose teaching? An international review of empirical studies exploring student teachers’ career motivations and levels of commitment to teaching

“…As discussed by Brookhart & Freeman (1992), it is obvious from these statistics, that certain student populations are overrepresented which poses difficulties regarding the generalizability of findings. Many of the more recent cross-institutional studies conducted more recently in Turkey (Aksu et al 2010), the UK (See, 2004;Reid & Caudwell, 1997;Thornton et al, 2002), the Republic of Ireland (Clarke, 2009;Heinz, 2013aHeinz, , 2013bHeinz, , 2013cDrudy et al, 2005), Northern Ireland (Moran et al, 2001), Australia (Richardson & Watt, 2006;Watt & Richardson, 2008b) and China (Su et al, 2001) offer a more complete picture of the profiles and motivations of the student populations entering teacher education in these countries.…”

“…Similarly, teacher career motivation research could make an important contribution to policy initiatives aimed at diversifying teaching bodies which, in many Western countries, have been reported to remain homogenously white, predominantly female and of the majority social and ethnic groupings in contrast to increasingly diverse student populations (Heinz, 2011(Heinz, & 2013cHeinz & Keane, 2014a, 2014bKeane & Heinz, under review;Moran, et al, 2001;Zumwalt & Craig, 2008). In order to attract more individuals from currently underrepresented groups to teacher education we need to know more about the career motivations of potential and actual initial teacher education applicants from different socio-demographic…”

“…Mathematics and Foreign Languages in Ireland (Heinz, 2008(Heinz, , 2011) more analyses of the (similar or different) motivational profiles of individuals applying for and entering teacher education programmes by subject areas could inform policy initiatives focusing on subjectspecific teacher recruitment and retention.…”

“…Where teaching motivations cannot be realised it is likely that professional satisfaction and fulfilment will deteriorate and that teachers will experience burnout or leave the profession (Heinz, 2011 . Programmes need to be structured carefully so that instructional demands are graduated and possibly tailored to individual circumstances.…”

“…career motivations and perspectives as complex (Heinz, 2011,2013a, Mtika & Gates, 2011, Wong, Tang & Cheng, 2014 and recognise that highly normative debates often surrounding (student) teacher's job motivations need to be extended by pragmatic views on motivations and/or ordinary needs which future teachers actually have (and which are widely acceptable in society with regard to other professions) (König & Rothland, 2012).…”