Teacher education graduates’ choice (not) to enter the teaching profession: does teacher education matter?

In an era of recurring teacher shortages, Flanders struggles with a considerable proportion of teacher education graduates who do not enter the teaching profession. This study identifies the predictors of teacher education graduates’ choice on job entry (teaching profession or not). A prospective research design with two data collection phases is adopted. Student teachers (subsequently graduates) (N = 217) of integrated teacher training for secondary education were surveyed shortly before as well as shortly after graduation. Results of chi-squared and t-tests indicate that gender, initial motivation for teaching, mentor support, teacher education preparation, teacher efficacy, learner-oriented beliefs, performance in teacher education, and employment opportunities show differences (at 1% level) between graduates who entered and those who did not enter the teaching profession. Results of the subsequent logistic regression validate the importance of teacher education (i.e. mentor support) – beside initial motivation and labour market factors – to explain graduates’ decision on job entry.