Second-career teachers in mathematics education

Discourses on motivations to enter the teaching profession

Abstract

This paper investigates the motivations of second-career teacher trainees in Austria and Sweden who have entered the teaching profession through Alternative Certification Programs to address teacher shortages, particularly in the subject of mathematics. In the results, six discourses on motivations to become a mathematics teacher are construed by the researchers, based on interviews with two second-career teacher students from different countries: 1)Breaking the self-perception barrier – a longtime aspiration to become a teacher, 2)  Finding purpose – leaving previous profession for something more meaningful, 3) Impactful experiences with one’s educators, 4) Mathematics is stable, when everything else changes, 5) A desire to share the beauty of mathematics, and 6) Being perceived as a successful mathematics student. These findings underscore the multifaceted and contextually contingent nature of second-career teachers’ career transitions. By illuminating these motivational discourses, the study contributes to a nuanced understanding of the factors driving second-career teachers’ engagement with mathematics teaching.