Pathways into teaching : participant expectations from the accelerated teacher education program

New South Wales (NSW) secondary schools, particularly those in rural NSW and Greater Western Sydney are increasingly facing a teacher shortage. One factor contributing to this teacher shortage is a decreasing retention rate for beginning teachers. The NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) in partnership with higher education institutions is interested in preparing teachers in ways that support their transition into the profession. To address this issue DET and key universities are working in partnership to explore possible new pathways into the teaching profession. One of these, the Accelerated Teacher Education Program, allows mature-age students who have substantial work experience in a related field to complete a teacher qualification in one of the following Key Learning Areas, either Science, Mathematics or Computing Studies. To facilitate students' transition into the profession, scholarships are provided. How these students experience the transition from their previous careers to teaching has implications for their future teaching careers. This paper overviews a current study exploring the experiences of 22 teachers who completed the Accelerated Teacher Education Program (ATEP) in 2002. This research evaluates the effectiveness of ATEP in relation to teacher preparedness for their first year of teaching experience. Specifically, the aim is to identify and examine those issues students deem to be important in their transition from their previous career to the teaching profession. The research indicates a number of issues that may have currency in policy debates over teacher supply including: teacher preparedness, notions of effectiveness and effective teaching, and teacher resilience. The findings will be mapped against background data of teaching, subject, age, gender, non-English speaking background (NESB) and workplace experience.