Process of Choosing to Discontinue a Career in Japanese Language Teaching Among Former Japanese Language Teachers

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the process and underlying factors of the choice by former Japanese language teachers to discontinue their teaching careers. We interviewed three former Japanese language teachers and analyzed their responses using the trajectory equifinality approach (TEA). Their common path was that they were in unstable situations (e.g., having multiple part-time jobs) and experienced a triggering event resulting in quitting teaching and changing careers. In addition to income instability and a sense of crisis, the underlying factors included characteristics of the Japanese language teaching profession, such as the precarity of part-time teaching, scarcity of full-time positions, and susceptibility to social conditions.