'I've decided to become a teacher': Influences on career change

The present study explored reasons behind graduates' decisions to pursue teaching as a career, in a 1-year pre-service teacher education program at an Australian university, located in Melbourne (N = 74). A survey collected data about respondents' reasons for choosing teaching as a career, with open-ended questions eliciting rich qualitative data to elaborate on rating-scale responses. Five factors relating to social status, career fit, prior considerations, financial reward and time for family were identified through factor analyses. Respondents' ratings were independent of previous level of qualification and having children or not, with little evidence for gender differences. Three distinct clusters of students showed that different combinations of reasons were relevant to each group's choice of teaching as a career, and these reasons were further illustrated and discussed in relation to qualitative data from open-ended survey questions. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.