The role of teachers’ professional biographies and development in shaping instructional strategies in out-of-field teaching

This qualitative study examines out-of-field teaching in Austria as a biographically embedded and institutionally structured domain of teacher professionalisation. Drawing on 16 narrative interviews analysed through Reflexive Grounded Theory, the study reconstructs how teachers interpret out-of-field teaching and configure strategies to navigate subject-matter unfamiliarity within organisational and collegial contexts. The analysis develops a model that links career motivation, professional self-concept, and individual development, demonstrating how motivational orientations and the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Self-Determination Theory) shape teachers’ engagement with out-of-field teaching across their professional trajectories. Findings show that teachers draw on a range of practice-oriented strategies, such as structured preparation, collegial support networks, shared materials, and reflective engagement, that facilitate adaptive responses to out-of-field teaching and promote both subject-specific and broader professional learning. Informal learning processes and collaborative arrangements emerge as particularly influential for confidence-building and sustained development. Conceptualised as boundary crossing experiences, out-of-field teaching assignments can catalyse identification, coordination, reflection, and transformation of practice. The study highlights concrete levers to convert out-of-field teaching from a stopgap into a structured opportunity for ongoing professional growth.