Teaching as a second career choice : a study of industrial education students

The study explored the career change made by a population of 37 tradesmen enrolled in a teacher education program. A semi-structured interview schedule was constructed and face-to-face interviews were tape-recorded. The four areas of investigation included positive propositions put forward in the social learning principles of career decision making, facilitators and barriers to career change, the career histories and expectations of participants and their socio-demographic backgrounds. Responses tended to support propositions dealing with former instructional experiences and interactions with people, but gave little indication, that exposure to print or visual media had influenced the career change decision. The importance of having sufficient finances and personal support of participants' wives was stressed. Potential barriers most readily identified were lack of support or finances. There was little evidence of frequent career change in the work histories of participants. The most common pattern was a series of short term jobs followed by several years in one career path. Future career plans indicated an intent to remain in the teaching field. All the men were employed prior to entering the program. Socio-demographic information indicated that just over half of the participants were around 30 years of age and over two-thirds were married. Wives tended to be not only more highly educated (64%) but in higher status occupations (76%) than their husbands. Over 80% of the men had entered tertiary education prior to current involvement and five men had completed bachelor's degrees. By entering a trade, 57% of participants were in lower status jobs than their fathers. Their entry into teaching resulted in a rebound movement rather than direct upward inter-generational mobility.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat