Second-career teachers entering schools: experiences of colleagues

To address the teacher shortage, employees from other professions are being recruited to transition into teaching, the second-career teachers (SCTs). Although SCTs are needed to address teacher shortage, not all schools are equally enthusiastic about hiring these teachers. Using the lens of Activity Theory, we studied the contributions and challenges that are experienced by colleagues when SCTs enter schools. Semi-open questionnaires (n = 53) and interviews (n = 26) were conducted. Colleagues perceived a substantive (e.g. their knowledge), cultural (e.g. their eagerness) and organisational (alleviating teacher shortages) contribution from SCTs to the school as a learning environment for secondary school students (Activity System 1). However, they also identified challenges (e.g. dealing with SCTs' seniority) for the school as a learning environment for student teachers (Activity System 2) and tensions between these activity systems (e.g. using SCTs' previous experiences or not). These findings reveal potential reasons for the ambivalent reception of SCTs in schools and provide guidelines to better support these teachers during their training.