"Foreclosing" a teaching career? An exploration of the career decisions of undergraduate pre-service teachers' through the lens of Identity Status Theory. (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Crowe, Fiona; McGarr, Oliver
• Is Part Of: Teaching and teacher education. Volume 115(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: Pre-service teachers -- Career choices -- Identity statuses; Teaching -- Periodicals; Teachers -- Training of -- Periodicals; Enseignement -- Périodiques; Enseignants -- Formation -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 371.10205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2022.103744
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0742-051X

Abstract

Abstract: This paper explores the career decisions of a cohort of 42 undergraduate, pre-service teachers in Ireland through the lens of Marcia's (1980) Identity Status Theory. The study employed semi-structured interviews to examine the cohort's level of commitment to and exploration of a teaching career as part of their career decision making. Discourse analysis of their interviews evidenced that most had a high commitment to teaching but low exploration of other careers before committing to teaching, suggesting a "foreclosed identity status". Possible explanations for this high degree of identity foreclosure are suggested and implications for initial teacher education are highlighted. Highlights: This study explored undergraduate pre-service secondary teachers' career choice using Marcia's (1980) Identity Status Theory. Analysis of semi-structured interview transcripts identified that most participants evidenced a deep commitment to teaching. However, the majority of participants evidenced little exploration of other careers before committing to teaching. This analysis suggests that most pre-service teachers in the study were in foreclosed identity status. The paper explores possible reasons for this identity foreclosure and discusses potential implications for ITE.