Who says we are not attracting the best and brightest? Teacher selection and the aspirations of Australian school students

• Published in: Australian educational researcher 2016-11, Vol.43 (5), p.527-549
• Main Authors: Gore, Jennifer, Barron, Rosie Joy, Holmes, Kathryn, Smith, Maxwell
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic aspiration; Aspiration; Australia; Beginning Teachers; Education; Educational Change; Educational policy; Educational Policy and Politics; Educational Psychology; Educational quality; Educational Researchers; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Government schools; Instructional Leadership; Logistic regression; Motivation; Multimethod techniques; Occupational Aspiration; Outcomes of Education; Preservice Teacher Education; Preservice Teachers; Primary secondary education; Professional development; Quality of education; Regression (Statistics); Student attitudes; Student characteristics; Student interests; Student motivation; Teacher Effectiveness; Teacher Recruitment; Teacher Selection; Teachers; Teaching (Occupation); Teaching and Teacher Education; Teaching profession
• ISSN: 0311-6999; 2210-5328
• DOI: 10.1007/s13384-016-0221-8

Internationally, the quality of teachers is a growing focus of educational reform, with new policies attempting to ensure that only the 'best and brightest' are selected for the teaching profession. This article tests the assumption underpinning these developments that prospective teachers lack the desired academic and personal qualities. Drawing on data on the career aspirations of 6492 Australian school students in Years 3-12, we investigated who, among these students, expressed interest in teaching and their reasons for doing so. Using logistic regression, we found that interest in teaching was widespread and prior academic achievement was not a significant predictor. Thematic analysis of reasons expressed for interest in teaching indicated that working with children and/or in specific subject areas, altruism, and perceptions of personal suitability for the job dominated student responses. These data provide a counter-narrative to the primacy, in policies for teacher recruitment and selection, of needing to attract 'better' students. We argue that policies for improving teacher quality should also capitalise on the widespread interest in teaching among school students. Without such a discursive broadening, we caution that current attempts to attract the 'best and brightest' risk undermining the very goals espoused. [Author abstract]