교직을 이탈한 교대 졸업생의 진로 탐색과 삶의 재설계에 관한 사례연구 = A Case Study on Career Exploration and Life Reconstruction among Teacher Education Graduates Who Departed from Teaching

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Recent increases in early-career teacher resignations and declines in licensure exam passing rates suggest that the institutional stability of teaching does not always align with individuals’ career orientations. This study analyzes the life histories of nine college of education graduates who either did not enter the teaching profession or left it early, using qualitative case study methods to explore how they chose, abandoned, and transitioned from teaching. Participants initially selected teaching under familial and societal expectations, but gradually recognized a misalignment between their personal values and the professional demands they encountered in schools or during teacher preparation. Rather than leading to mere frustration, this recognition prompted reconsideration and redefinition of their career paths. Through iterative experimentation and feedback—commonly within new relational networks—they regained autonomy and reconstructed their professional identities in more personally meaningful ways. In this process, “stability” was reinterpreted from externally guaranteed security to an internal alignment grounded in personal values and opportunities for growth. These findings reveal that entering or leaving teaching is not simply an individual failure nor the result of a single structural factor but a process shaped by biographical context, organizational experience, and ongoing career exploration. The study highlights the need for flexible career pathways in teaching, where entry, retention, and transition from a continuum of accumulated experiences can transfer across fields. It offers a perspective that reframes non-entry and early departure from teaching as pathways to self-realization while contributing insights in sustaining public education