Abstract:

The growing demands of the teaching profession, the constant challenges posed by political decisions, educational reforms, other circumstances (such as the covid-19 pandemic, migration and increased diversity of students related to that, which requires special training, etc.), and relatively low remuneration have led to a decline in the popularity of the teaching profession globally in recent years. The recruitment and selection of potential future teachers, together with the issues of proper training and retention in the field, are under constant review in many countries. In this context, it is valuable to understand what subjective experiences of which young people have which encourages them to choose the teaching profession and ensure the determination to remain in their chosen career path.

Following the guidelines provided by K. Peoples (2021) on phenomenology research, and Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009) on conducting interpretive phenomenology research, the article analyzes the narratives of beginning teachers about the process of selecting the teacher profession path, which reveal the research participants' experiences, what led to their current professional choice. According to Jarvis, Holford, and Griffin (2003), experience can be described as knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, values, beliefs, or feelings, so all of these elements of experience revealed by study participants helped to make a meaning of this phenomena.

The memories of the research participants about the profession choosing process were provided in written reflective pieces of a diary. The story of each participant was read a few times, first preliminary, then the final meaning units were drawn from each story. Afterwards, those meanings were synthesized into situated narratives of each participant, then all situated unique narratives were synthesized into General Narratives, integrating all major themes of participants. The researchers identified their own preconceptions about the data and made attempts to suspend these by comparing their individual independent interpretations of written stories and discussing them. Participants of this research were an homogenous group, which has been granted an opportunity to tell their stories, to speak freely and reflectively.

The General Narratives, what emerged reveal the meaningful moments of the participants’ life, how they arrived at the choice of the teaching profession, for example, many times a decision to become a teacher is rooted in early childhood, when a person discovers positive feelings and experiences during activities similar to teaching, but it can appear in adulthood as well; the decision to become a teacher can be influenced by someone, who verbalizes the idea of a participant becoming a teacher or even can be made by someone, but not the participants themselves. The motive of feeling being self or becoming self while first teaching or in similar activities is also distinct.

References:
[1] Flowers, P., Larkin, M., & Smith, J. A. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. SAGE Publications.
[2] Peoples, K. (2021). How to write a phenomenological dissertation: A step-by-step guide. UK, London: Sage Publications, Inc.
Jarvis, P., Holford, J., & Griffin, C. (2003). The theory & practice of learning. Psychology Press.

Keywords:

Future teachers, professional identity, profession selection and decision, phenomenology, experience.