Social Labs, a data collection method that gives participants a voice whilst supporting their mid-career transition to teaching

Description

The teaching profession is facing chronic staffing shortages across Australian states. Current political discussion is focussed on findings solutions to this urgent problem and attracting mid-career professionals into a teaching degree is one of several pragmatic responses. However, once in, how do we retain mid-career professionals in their degree given the often-complex demands on their time and resources? And how can we set up beginning teachers to stay in the profession beyond the first five years of in-service? At Macquarie University, we want to (i) find out more about this group of professionals who are transitioning to teaching mid-career and (ii) set up a self-sustaining support structure for them as they navigate the first five years of teaching. Hence, we are using social labs as both a data collection method and as an ongoing support mechanism for our mid-career pre-service teachers.

Period	Jul 2023
Held at	Australian Teacher Education Association , Australia
Degree of Recognition	National