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In this article, results are presented from a large-scale online survey about the motivations of career change students, and their beliefs about the attributes that they bring to the teaching profession. The findings revealed that career changers' motivations were largely intrinsic, although pragmatic decisions were also important, with perceived family-friendliness of a teaching career a common response. These findings generally support findings of previous research into motivations to teach, as found in the literature. The data examined in this paper also revealed that career change entrants believed that the most important attributes they bring to teaching are life experiences, generic workplace skills and experience, and personal qualities, rather than specific content knowledge. These findings provide support for the continued targeting of career change people into the profession, particularly in the current policy context in which some stakeholders express concerns about a perceived lack of quality of teaching in Australian schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Becoming a teacher requires not only the development of a professional identity but the construction of professional knowledge and practice through continued professional learning. This study tracked a sample group of 16 early career teachers through their first year of teaching. The participants were encouraged to write about their experiences in journals and undertake an interview in an attempt to provide an understanding of the central tasks of learning to teach required by early career teachers during their induction into teaching together with the factors which support or hinder their professional learning. This paper makes use of a continuum developed by Feiman-Nemser which identifies Central Tasks in Learning to Teach (CTLT) as a Framework for analysis of participant data. Conclusions indicate developing a professional identity and enacting a beginning repertoire to be the most challenging aspects of professional learning for these teachers. Learning support in the traditional form of formal induction programs and mentoring were recognized as useful; however, collaborative, informal, unplanned learning from colleagues and former peers was also reported as a most significant and valuable source of support. Conversely, participants felt additional responsibilities, difficult classes and unrealistic teaching expectations together with lack of status and professional feedback hindered their professional learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mentoring may be seen as a process that helps student teachers become professional teachers. In this context, a variety of significant roles played by mentors have been identified in the literature. This paper reports on mentors' perceptions of the most important roles selected from a given list, as revealed through questionnaire and interview data. This analysis forms part of a large‐scale evaluative project of a school–university partnership scheme initiated by the University of Hong Kong. The findings indicate overwhelming attention given to the role of ‘provider of feedback’, which stresses the provision of pragmatic advice given to student teachers according to their personal strengths and weaknesses. However, for those mentors whose perception of the most important role had changed over time, the direction of change was towards roles such as ‘counselor’, ‘equal partner’ and ‘critical friend’, which emphasize a more relational aspect of working together with student teachers to achieve professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]