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Journal of Educational Change

, Volume 15, Issue 3, pp 327–355 | Cite as

Choosing teaching as a career in urban public Catholic and Jewish schools by graduates of elite colleges

  • Eran Tamir
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Recruitment, preparation, and retention of graduates of elite colleges is considered an innovative approach to improve teacher quality and promote change in the neediest schools. While the debate over the effectiveness of such programs is heavily focused on programs like Teach For America, this paper considers three teacher preparation programs located at elite colleges that combine alternative and traditional teacher preparation. This article argues that teachers who were trained at elite colleges and who chose teaching in urban public, urban Catholic, and Jewish schools tend to (a) conceptualize teaching around broad issues related to social justice, educational change, and community revitalization, arguing they joined teaching to improve society, and (b) seek leadership positions in their respective school sectors. These findings carry substantial policy implications in the areas of teacher recruitment, preparation, retention, and teacher quality.

Keywords

Elite colleges Bourdieu Choosing to teach Social justice Teacher education policy Alternate route programs Teacher careers Urban schools Catholic schools Jewish day schools Beginning teachers Teach For America 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This publication is part of the Choosing to Teach Project, which has been directed by the author and is supported by grants from the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University and the Spencer Foundation. I like to thank the Journal of Educational Change anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Conclusions and interpretations are those of the author.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish EducationBrandeis UniversityWalthamUSA

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