Second-Career Teachers Pursuing Teaching as A Career: A Phenomenological Study

In the past few years, professionals left their first careers to enter teacher preparation programs and become second-career teachers. With this, the purpose of the study is to explore the experiences, reasons, challenges, and coping mechanisms of second-career teachers. Also, the study crafted a program based on its findings. Moreover, this study utilized a qualitative phenomenological study to discover the lived experiences of second-career teachers pursuing teaching as a career. There were six purposively selected second-career teachers teaching junior high school at Olaycon Integrated School who participated in the conduct of the study. The data were gathered through an in-depth face-to-face interview and used an audio recorder to record the discussion. Findings revealed that teaching is a rewarding yet demanding career that carries a lot of responsibility. The experiences of the second-career teachers in pursuing teaching were diverse and multifaceted, as they took different paths to succeed in the profession. The study also showed that second-career teachers are both motivated by intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. On the other hand, teachers have encountered many challenges in the teaching field and found ways to cope with them. The study ends with a professional development program crafted based on the results of the study that will serve as a recommended blueprint to educational leaders in order to help second-career teachers become proficient in the field.