FIT-Choice Project: Factors Influencing Teaching Choice

The 'FIT-Choice' project is our large-scale longitudinal program of research which investigates motivations for selecting teaching as a career, teaching self-efficacy and experiences of beginning teachers.

Our research addresses problems of recruitment and retention in the current climate of teacher shortages. It establishes profiles of motivations for career choice at teaching degree entry, traces changes in perceived competencies and professional commitment from degree exit through to early professional experiences, and identifies factors and contextual processes conducive to or inhibitory of retention.

This agenda is interdisciplinary, involves complementary methods, multiple cohorts across two nations, within a strong longitudinal design. The scale of our project takes it beyond the provinces of previous smaller-scale studies.

We thank these groups for their financial support:

• Australian Research Council Discovery Large Grant 2014-2016;
• Australian Research Council Discovery Large Grant 2009-2012;
• Australian Research Council Discovery Large Grant 2006-2009;
• Monash University Small Grant Scheme 2006 & Faculty of Education Research Grant 2003;
• University of Western Sydney, School of Education Teaching Quality Grant 2003;
• University of Sydney, Faculty of Education, Cognition & Motivation Research Grant 2003;
• University of Michigan & Eastern Michigan University