A case of career transitioning: From trade to teacher

"This study investigated the lived experiences of a group of tradespersons who completed a teacher education program and career transitioned into secondary school teaching. Although specific trade entry pathways into initial secondary teacher education programs have been delivered by Australian Universities since the late 1990s, there has been limited research and data on graduates’ achievements as teachers and the roles they currently play within secondary schools. The 16 participants in this study were graduates from an Australian University, five to ten years post-graduation with dual qualifications to teach Technology and Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs in Secondary schools. The study identified the key motivations that impacted on their decision to become a technology teacher in secondary schools and the significant junctures throughout their transition that influenced the creation of their teacher identity. Descriptive, interpretative case study method was used for the study. Data were collected from the university’s archival student records. The primary source of evidence was interview. Thematic analysis was used to construct discursive interpretations of the meanings of participants’ career transitions. Through such analyses, trades to teacher discourses focussed on notions of identity and borderland discourse. The study found that career transition from trade to teacher is characterised by three borderland discourses: cracking the codes, street cred and fusing school and the real world. The significance of the findings is that these borderland discourses work in harmony throughout the experiences of career transition to create a hybrid technology teacher identity. This hybridity captures participants’ identities and experiences as they fused the worlds of trade and school through an initial teacher education program. The development of a strong personal pedagogy was an outcome of traversing the borderlands between a tradesperson and teacher. The findings have implications for the design and delivery of trade entry initial teacher education programs, and for the recruitment and retention of such teachers by employing authorities within the context of secondary schooling."--Abstract.