Re-imagining prospective English language teachers’ career paths

Understanding the career decisions and professional growth goals of pre-service English Language Teachers (PELTs), it is critical to address the challenges faced by the L2 teaching field for enacting extensive reforms in policies in the second language (L2) teacher education, the allocation of resources, and curriculum development to contribute to the quality of L2 education. Thus, this study investigates the career decisions and professional needs and aspirations of PELTs studying in one of the teacher education programs at a university in Istanbul, focusing on the challenges, opportunities, and perceived gaps. Employing focus group interviews with 30 PELTs and also individual interviews with three of them, we found that there were significant challenges, including the lack of teaching materials and low income, leading to dissatisfaction, burnout, and reconsidering alternative pathways. Workload imbalances, financial security, limited professional development opportunities at state schools were also viewed among the reasons for participants to consider alternative pathways abroad. Based on these findings, for future L2 educators, it is critical to address financial challenges through incentives and offer professional development initiatives, involving international partnerships, might contribute to linguistic and intercultural competencies, creating a more culturally aware teaching workforce.