Being a second career teacher on the Troops to Teachers initial teacher education programme in England
: A longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis

  • Audrey Wood

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

In 2012 the UK Troops to Teachers (TtT) initial teacher education programme was introduced by the UK government as part of plans to solve the joint problems of diminishing teacher recruitment and retention, and to provide ex-service personnel with new career options. Using a Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (LIPA) methodology, this study explores the experiences of five participants during their participation in the Troops to Teachers course and into their Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) year. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews at three time-points in order to facilitate a deep description and offer a nuanced account of participants’ experiences.

Findings illustrate the important role that the school community and mentors play in supporting the developing teacher, and the particular challenges second-career teachers (SCTs) face in returning to novice status from the position of expert. There was nothing to suggest that a military background had prepared participants to cope with the teachers’ workload any better than other SCTs or traditional entry trainee teachers. Further, the military mind-set and ‘can-do’ attitude was more relevant to their developing teacher identity than the initial government conception of the course, which suggested ex-military personnel would have transferable skills that would lead to good behaviour management in class. In fact, the opposite was true, and participants reported difficulties with behaviour management to a greater or lesser extent. Significantly, good relationships with pupils and the psychic rewards of teaching were found to be central to enabling the participants to remain in the profession when faced with other challenges.

The work contributes to our understanding of the experiences of career-changers into teaching and illuminates the wider issues faced by SCTs, and as a result could influence future practice in recruitment and retention. It also makes a contribution to methodological debates around the use of using IPA in a longitudinal design to aid understanding of how experience evolves over time and to obtain a rich account of participants’ experiences, which is supported by the compelling narrative data obtained.
Date of Award7 Feb 2024
Original languageEnglish
SupervisorGlynn Jones (Main Supervisor) & Helen Jones (Main Supervisor)

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