Alternative Certification Routes for Career and Technical Education Teachers Matter: A Descriptive Study on CTE Teacher Efficacy and Retention in Pennsylvania

Abstract

This describes the experiences of alternatively certified Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers who participated in the Pennsylvania alternative CTE teacher preparation, induction, and mentorship programs. In addition, it identifies the perceptions of alternatively certified CTE teachers and Career and Technical Center (CTC) Directors about which specific competencies and practices within these programs affect CTE teacher efficacy and retention. The researcher utilized a descriptive, non-experimental mixed methods approach by distributing cross-sectional surveys to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The cross-sectional surveys revealed that alternatively certified CTE teachers feel the teacher preparation, induction, and mentorship programs mostly meet their needs to develop teacher efficacy and stay in the teaching profession. The respondents of both surveys did indicate the need for several changes to help increase teacher efficacy and retention. The greatest need for improvement was to make the programs more relevant to the needs of newly hired teachers and to have information, resources, and support provided to alternatively certified CTE teachers be more timely, and accessible. This study exhibited that alternatively certified CTE teachers need ongoing, meaningful, and accessible peer support embedded in all aspects of their professional learning to increase their self-efficacy and retention. The findings of this study advocate for more research on specific competencies and practices for teacher preparation, induction, and mentorship programs to determine why individuals choose to leave the teaching profession, and which competencies and practices lead to higher teacher efficacy and retention.