How second-career teachers, teacher educators and school actors perceive conditions for beneficial use of previous professional expertise

Second-career teachers (SCTs) can benefit more from their previous professional expertise (PPE) if tailored support is provided during certification and induction, but how such tailoring can be achieved is not yet clear. This qualitative interview study reports how Dutch SCTs, teacher educators (TEs) and school actors (SAs) perceive the value of PPE and the conditions for its beneficial utilisation. The paper shows that all groups value PPE and discusses instances in which TEs', SAs' and SCTs’ perceptions are complementary or contrasting. The implications address suggestions for a new, tailored support structure for SCTs to underpin beneficial PPE utilisation. • Assessing task similarities together with second-career teachers can underpin beneficial utilisation of previous expertise. • To tailoring learning opportunities, sharing perceptions about the use of previous professional expertise seems worthwhile. • Second-career teachers' social/interpersonal skills are underutilised due to their focus on subject matter expertise. • Monitoring hindering PPE utilisation from routine expertise by those supporting second-career teachers is important. • SCTs strength in organising their own support can contribute to support provided by the schools.