Career intentions of Australian physical education teachers

2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate Australian physical education (PE) teachers’ career intentions and factors influencing their intentions. A sample (N = 234) of Western Australian PE teachers responded to a questionnaire determining PE teachers’ work and the primary motivators for intention to leave the profession. Half (51.3%) of the respondents wanted a change from their current PE teacher job and 39.8% were intending to leave PE teaching. The most frequent reasons for wanting to leave PE related to: non-use of expertise, workload, school administration, and lack of opportunities for personal and professional development. Consideration should be given to mediation strategies th…