“So I had to give it up”: The role of social support for career persistence or attrition in a qualitative sample of second career teachers

This qualitative study uses the Job Demands-Resources framework to examine social support and its role in career retention or attrition among Swiss second career teachers (SCTs). In many countries, including Switzerland, great efforts are made to bring professionals from other occupational fields into teaching. As a result, the number of SCTs is growing, as are speculations about their skills, resources, and career persistence. A qualitative content analysis of 23 semi-structured interviews shows that support from colleagues and principals is a crucial job resource for SCTs, but seems to be positively associated with work engagement and career retention only if it is offered in forms that are sensitive to SCTs’ own needs and skills. Implications for SCT training and job induction are discussed.

Exploring the key attributes of former racehorses considered to have the potential for a successful second career in horseball

The British horseracing industry is committed to safeguarding the welfare of racehorses throughout their racing careers and beyond. Former racehorses who do not retire to a stud career and are suitable for second careers are often retrained to compete in other equestrian sports. Horseball is a growing discipline, which proactively supports retraining of racehorses (RoR) that could offer a suitable second career for former racehorses. This study explored the key attributes that horseball competitors look for in a potential former racehorse to promote a successful career in the sport. Participants voluntarily completed an online, 18 question survey (SurveyMonkey®), distributed through horseball related communication channels (Facebook™, Instagram™ and the British Horseball Association). Horseball competitors were asked (a) what key physical and behavioural characteristics they considered necessary for a successful horseball horse and (b) whether they would consider competing a former racehorse. A total of 45 horseball competitors completed the survey representing a margin of error of ±13% at the 95% confidence interval for the UK horseball population (n=200). Most respondents celebrated former racehorses’ suitability for horseball competition; 73.72% (n=32) had already owned and competed a former Thoroughbred racehorse in horseball and 97.78% (n=44) would consider purchasing and competing one in the future. Former racehorses were recognised to possess key performance attributes: agility, temperament, and speed suitable for a successful second career in competitive horseball. However, injuries that impeded former racehorse performance; lameness and other chronic injuries, were deemed as detrimental to success in competitive horseball. Further work in collaboration with racehorse rehoming stakeholders is required to produce guidelines to identify specific behavioural and physical characteristics which could predict the suitability of former racehorses for successful second careers across equestrian disciplines.

Flagler’s Whitehall: Beaux-Arts Grandeur in the American Tropics

ABSTRACT In a second career begun in his retirement, Henry Morrison Flagler (1830–1913), the cofounder of Standard Oil and one of the wealthiest citizens in the United States, embarked on the development of the tropical wilderness of Florida. Starting in St Augustine, he built a network of luxury hotels and railroads that became the infrastructure for modern Florida. Creating a counterpart to the premier summer resort of Newport, Rhode Island, Flagler transformed Palm Beach, an undeveloped barrier island, into a winter playground for the new American aristocracy, starting with the Georgian-style Royal Poinciana Hotel. It was Whitehall, however, the mansion built for Flagler in 1900–02 as a wedding gift to his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan, that became the resort community’s monumental showplace. Designed by the New York firm of Carrère & Hastings in the Renaissance-derived classicism of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, the stately white palace fronting Lake Worth embodied Flagler’s cultural aspirations as a patron of the arts. As the first major client of Carrère & Hastings, Flagler was critical in launching the career of one of the most prominent architectural firms of the Gilded Age. This article examines Whitehall in the context of Flagler’s business practices and personal goals, consistent with Andrew Carnegie’s ‘Gospel of Wealth’. Architectural opulence not only boosted Flagler’s mercantile purposes, but also reflected a belief, nurtured by his relationship with Carrère & Hastings and other close associates, about the importance of classical architecture and the arts in the development of society.

From Industry Professionals to Secondary School Teachers: The Relationship between Second Career-Changing Teachers and Social Cognitive Career Theory

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and teaching field is facing significant human resources shortages, particularly in the subject matter of environmental sciences education. The current study collected interview and focus group data and sharing from 220 pre-service and in-service second career-changing teachers in the United States about their career decision and decision-making process. The results of this study indicated that the participants believe educating the next generation is their priority of joining the education and teaching profession. Many expressed that the populations of STEM teachers with professional and industry experiences are greatly needed. The outcomes of this study provided the blueprint for researchers, school leaders, policymakers and human resources planners to reform and polish their current plans for teachers training and professional development in order to solve the workforce issues in the fields of STEM education and teaching. Received: 29 May 2021 / Accepted: 15 July 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021

Entering, Staying, Shifting, Leaving, and Sometimes Returning: A Descriptive Analysis of the Career Trajectories of Two Cohorts of Alternatively Certified Mathematics Teachers

Background: By attracting high-achieving college graduates and professional career changers, selective alternative certification programs, such as the New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF), promise to address pressing teacher shortages while also improving outcomes in hard-to-staff schools. Purpose: Looking at the main patterns in their careers before, during, and after completing NYCTF, the study provides insights into the short- and long-term impacts of mathematics teachers who entered as first- and second-career teachers on NYC public schools and the people in them. Participants: The study tracked the career trajectories and decision-making of more than 600 NYCTF mathematics teachers over a 9-year period. Research design: The longitudinal analysis of the teachers’ career trajectories is illuminated by descriptive statistics and qualitative analyses of their responses to open-ended survey items. Results: The article provides a portrait of urban mathematics teachers’ career decision-making as it unfolds over time. It challenges conventional understandings by demonstrating the stochastic nature of teachers’ career decision-making and, as part of this, consequential amounts of involuntary and midyear turnover. It further shows that, although in many ways similar, the career trajectories of the career changers and recent college graduates differed in key regards. Recommendations: On their own, strategies designed to attract high-achieving recent graduates and professional career changers to teach core subjects like mathematics will not solve long-standing teacher turnover and shortage issues in in high-needs urban schools. Districts also should focus on retention strategies, including training and induction tailored to meet the different needs and career goals of first- and second-career teachers.

1926 and Beyond

This chapter tracks Vitagraph's physical assets after its sale to Warner Bros., including the Brooklyn and Hollywood studios, as well as the actual films themselves, about 20% of which survive in archives. The post-Vitagraph activities of the company's founding partners is examined, from Blackton's profligacy that resulted in dire poverty, to Smith's second career as owner of the iconic Chateau Marmont hotel and receipt of an honorary Academy Award in recognition of his fundamental contributions to motion pictures. Several post-Vitagraph reunions and the fate of many of its key personnel are covered, including Margaret Gibson, a former ingénue at the Santa Monica and Hollywood studios who led an especially troubled existence. The chapter concludes with an in-depth discussion of how and why Vitagraph has been so utterly absent from the canon of film history.

Learning Transformation Perceptions of Preservice Second Career Teachers

Teachers’ shortage has become a critical issue in most countries in the world. One of the solutions has been the initiation of short-term teacher education programmes which attract adult career changers who enter the programme with prior working experiences and world knowledge. However, the process of transferring previous knowledge is challenging and teachers need to navigate new horizons. The aim of the study is to identify shifts in students’ perceptions regarding the teaching profession, and what experiences prompted the shifts. The research was conducted among 15 students in a teacher education college in Israel. The analysis of interviews exposed five main themes where students displayed shifts of perceptions. The themes relate directly to the two interrelated key concepts of second career teachers and transformative learning. The synergy between the two concepts created tension, dilemmas and dissonances which generated spaces for learning and fertile ground for shifting in frame of reference.