The rise of for-profit teacher preparation programmes: investigating career outcomes for novice teachers

The increased privatisation of educational systems is a global trend with several important implications for teachers' preparation and workforce outcomes. With many countries facing teacher shortages, retention for novice teachers is a key area of focus for educational leaders and policymakers – yet there is a lack of evidence related to the relationship between new alternative pathways into the profession and retention patterns. In this paper, we add to the limited literature on for-profit teacher preparation Programme outcomes. Our results extend work related to educational market deregulation and contribute to research about novice teachers. Drawing on longitudinal employment files and certification records for over 160,000 individual teachers, our results demonstrate meaningful variation in the demographic characteristics and retention outcomes of for-profit prepared novice teachers. Our findings have implications for educational leaders, preparation Programme leaders, and state/district, national, and international policymakers. The realities of for-profit Programmes may have global implications.