1 Introduction

Austria, like many other countries, is currently experiencing a significant shortage of teachers. In 2022, the extent of this shortage was three times greater than in 2018. Every third school faces a deficit in teaching staff (OECD 2023). Teacher shortage leads to larger class sizes, heavier workloads for teachers that can cause burnout, and financial problems for the education system (UNESCO 2024). One way to tackle the shortage of teachers is the recruitment of second-career teachers (SCT). SCT are professionals who have graduated from specific fields and transitioned into the teaching profession (Tigchelaar et al. 2010). While the recruitment of SCT serves as an immediate strategy to address the teacher shortage, it should also be recognized as a valuable asset to the education system since SCT bring unique attributes and expertise to the role, which can contribute to improving the overall quality of teaching (Baeten and Meeus 2016; Schnider and Braunsteiner 2024). However, these unique attributes that distinguish SCT from traditional teachers can also lead to experienced tensions and particular challenges when starting out teaching (Tigchelaar et al. 2010; Van Heijst et al. 2024).

1.1 Job success of teachers

Addressing the teacher shortage is undoubtedly important, but this should not lead to indiscriminately hiring anyone for the job. Instead, it is crucial to select individuals who are well-suited to the profession—those who are likely to be successful and content in their job (Krammer and Pflanzl 2019). Job success can be evaluated using a variety of criteria, which may differ across professions. For instance, Gubler et al. (2020) found that teachers define career success differently than IT professionals. For teachers, subjective success often stems from a sense of meaningful work, making a positive impact, and fostering strong working relationships. These factors not only contribute to their sense of accomplishment but also help them remain in the profession despite challenges. Research on late-career teachers (Babic et al. 2022) highlights similar findings, emphasizing the importance of deriving meaning from their work and being supported by a positive workplace culture. Consequently, indicators such as job satisfaction, low levels of stress and burnout risk, intention to stay in the profession, and effective classroom management can be considered key measures of teachers’ job success.

Satisfaction is an important factor that is often given too little attention, especially since far too many teachers are leaving the profession (Toropova et al. 2021). Job satisfaction can be considered ‘a person’s overall evaluation of his or her job as favorable or unfavorable’ (Meier and Spector 2015, p. 1). Both intrinsic factors (personal characteristics such as traits) and extrinsic factors (situational characteristics such as work stressors) influence job satisfaction; and job satisfaction, in turn, is associated with outcomes like performance, turnover, and employee health (Meier and Spector 2015; Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2011).

Burnout is a psychological syndrome resulting from prolonged work-related stress, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach and Jackson 2012). Teaching is a profession characterized by high levels of burnout and emotional exhaustion (Hakanen et al. 2006; Schaufeli and Enzmann 2020). A meta-analysis by Swider and Zimmerman (2010) indicated that burnout is associated with absenteeism, turnover, and low job performance across different occupations. Furthermore, among teachers, higher levels of neuroticism tend to correspond to greater emotional exhaustion and stronger depersonalization whereas the other Big Five personality traits generally show negative associations with facets of burnout for teachers (Roloff et al. 2022).

Classroom management refers to the establishment of a positive classroom environment encompassing effective teacher–student relationships (Wubbels et al. 1999). Effective classroom management is associated with students’ academic, behavioral and social-emotional outcomes (Korpershoek et al. 2016). Klassen and Chiu (2010) have shown that teachers’ self-efficacy in classroom management is linked to lower stress levels and higher job satisfaction. Classroom management can also be viewed in terms of inclusion: in heterogenous learning groups, including students with special educational needs, there are additional challenges that teachers face (Lutz et al. 2023).

1.2 SCT in Austria

Austria’s government recently established a program that allows professionals from various fields to enter the teaching profession for secondary education. To qualify as SCT, candidates must hold a completed academic degree (minimum 180 ECTS, bachelor’s level) in a relevant or related field to a specific school subject. Additionally, SCT must have accumulated a minimum of three years of professional experience in their field of study. They must go through a selection process, after which they can start teaching immediately (while also have to take teaching courses). The selection process (‘Eignungsfeststellungsverfahren’; Federal Ministry of Education n.d.) consists of three consecutive steps:

  1. 1.

    During the registration process, information about the selection process, the teaching profession, and the course (‘Hochschullehrgang’) is provided. Additionally, documents—including certificates, a curriculum vitae, a letter of motivation, and an application video—are required to be uploaded. Applicants whose primary language is not German must also provide evidence of language proficiency at the C1 level.

  2. 2.

    Next, suitable candidates are invited to participate in an online assessment called the TESAT-SC, which is proctored via videoconference. Based on whether all or some parts of the test have been passed, candidates are classified as ‘suitable,’ ‘conditionally suitable,’ or ‘not suitable’. (Conditionally) suitable candidates are invited to step (3).

  3. 3.

    The final step is an online interview in front of a selection committee, in which the suitability for the desired teaching subject is discussed and the results of the online assessment are addressed.

1.3 The Teacher Student Assessment Austria-Second Career (TESAT-SC)

International findings indicate that the quality of teacher’s actions is one of the strongest controllable factors influencing student achievement, sometimes having a considerably greater impact than the structural characteristics of the school itself (Neubauer et al. 2017; OECD 2005). In addition to subject-matter expertise, hard-to-measure attributes such as personality and attitudes play a crucial role in providing effective instruction, fostering positive relationships between teachers and students, and managing work-related demands in a healthy way (OECD 2005). It is therefore essential to consider SCT personality and attitudes in the recruitment process to ensure teacher quality and job success.

Based on the TESAT (Neubauer et al. 2017), which has been used for pre-service teacher selection for more than ten years in Austria, we developed a new assessment for SCT. Since SCT applicants already have a university degree and will no longer have to prove their ability to study, the TESAT-SC does not include cognitive traits such as intelligence or verbal abilities, but only teacher-relevant personality traits and attitudes which have, in previous studies, turned out as predictive for success:

(1) Emotion regulation defines how people manage their emotions, including which emotions they experience, when they occur, and how they are felt and expressed (Gross 1998). Teachers’ emotions and their regulation can be seen as an important aspect of the profession which is associated with various specific positive effects on teachers and their professional work behavior, such as higher satisfaction (Burić et al. 2021), improved classroom management (Hagenauer and Muehlbacher 2022; Sutton et al. 2009) and lower burnout risk (Chang 2020).

(2) Health and recreation behavior describes health-promoting behaviors (especially in the case of health problems), active leisure behaviors, and mental switch-off stress (Schaarschmidt and Fischer 2001). As the Teaching and Learning International Survey results (2018) show, 24% of European teachers report that their job has a negative impact on their mental health, and 22% of teachers report that their job has a negative impact on their physical health (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency 2021). Even if the reported causes of stress are not within the teachers, but within the educational system (e.g., too much administrative work), studies have found negative relationships between teachers’ health and recreation behavior and burnout (Schaarschmidt 2004). Besides, health and recreation behavior is associated with classroom management (Koschmieder et al. 2022a).

(3) The Big Five traits (Costa and McCrae 1999)—Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability (or, reversely, Neuroticism)—have been extensively studied in relation to the teacher profession. Conscientiousness has been identified as the strongest predictor of academic success in pre-service teachers (Poropat 2009; Weissenbacher et al. 2024), but is also linked to job satisfaction, and—negatively—to burnout (Cramer and Binder 2015; Hanfstingl and Mayr 2007; Klusmann et al. 2012; Mayr et al. 2020; Weissenbacher et al. 2024). Emotional stability has been consistently identified as the strongest predictor of teacher stress and burnout (Cramer and Binder 2015). Emotional stability correlates with emotional exhaustion and occupational stress (negatively), job satisfaction and classroom management (Klusmann et al. 2012; Koschmieder et al. 2022b; Mayr et al. 2020). High levels of Extraversion and Agreeableness generally increase the likelihood that teachers perceive themselves as less stressed and at lower risk of burnout (Cramer and Binder 2015; Mayr et al. 2020). Since Openness seems to be a less good predictor of teachers’ job success (Cramer and Binder 2015; Mayr et al. 2020) and shows substantial overlaps with openness to diversity and appreciation for creativity, it is not included in the TESAT-SC.

Closely linked to inclusion, (4) openness to diversity can be defined as all actions taken by teachers and students that foster a respectful and appreciative school environment by recognizing diversity and actively counteracting potential disadvantages (Koschmieder et al. 2022a). Teachers who are more open to cultural diversity report greater overall job satisfaction (Tardif-Grenier et al. 2024). Teachers who saw migrant students as an opportunity rather than a problem were less likely to suffer from diversity related burnout (Gutentag et al. 2018).

(5) Appreciation for creativity describes the individual preference for interacting with creative people (Jauk et al. 2019). While creativity ‘is one of the key factors that drive civilization forward’ (Hennessey and Amabile 2010, p. 570), studies show that creativity is not always considered a desirable trait in schools; creative children are often described as more disruptive than their more ‘average’ peers (Scott 1999). To not only allow creativity in education, but also to help students develop creativity (Claxton et al. 2006), teachers need to appreciate creativity. Appreciation for creativity is related to everyday creative activities, while teachers’ creativity is related to classroom management (Jauk et al. 2019; Khodabandeh and Jamali 2019).

1.4 The present study

In the present study, we pursue two objectives: First, we explore the job situation and experiences of those who have passed the admission process. Second, we examine the prognostic validity of the TESAT-SC in terms of job satisfaction, burnout, and (inclusive) classroom management. Based on previous studies, we expect the following relationships:

  1. 1.

    Emotion regulation is expected to positively predict satisfaction and classroom management, and to negatively predict burnout (Chang 2020; Hagenauer and Muehlbacher 2022).

  2. 2.

    Health behavior is expected to negatively predict burnout and positively predict classroom management (Koschmieder et al. 2022b; Schaarschmidt 2004; Schaarschmidt and Fischer 2001).

  3. 3.

    Among the Big Five, we expect conscientiousness to positively predict satisfaction and negatively predict burnout (Hanfstingl and Mayr 2007; Klusmann et al. 2012; Mayr et al. 2020; Roloff et al. 2022). We expect extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability to negatively predict burnout; and extraversion as well as emotional stability to positively predict satisfaction (Cramer and Binder 2015; Klusmann et al. 2012; Mayr et al. 2020; Roloff et al. 2022). Emotional stability is expected to predict classroom management (Koschmieder et al. 2022b).

  4. 4.

    Openness to diversity is expected to positively predict satisfaction and (inclusive) classroom management (Tardif-Grenier et al. 2024; Unruh and McCord 2010). We aim to explore if openness to diversity negatively predicts burnout since a study by Gutentag et al. (2018) has shown that an open-minded attitude towards migrant students is a protective factor of diversity-related burnouts.

  5. 5.

    We want to explore if appreciation for creativity is related to classroom management (Jauk et al. 2019; Khodabandeh and Jamali 2019).

2 Method

2.1 Data collection and procedure

Data were collected in multiple waves (see Fig. 1 for an overview). The first wave (time 0; t0) was the TESAT-SC which took place between December 2022 and August 2023. Between October and November 2023 (time 1; t1) and between June and July 2024 (time 2; t2), we administered online follow-up surveys which took approximately 10 min (t1) and 15 min (t2) to complete. Taking the TESAT-SC was compulsory, whereas the participation at the follow-up studies was voluntary. We used different questionnaires for individuals who have entered the teaching profession versus those who have not (or have already left).

Fig. 1
Fig. 1The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
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Data Collection and Participants

2.2 Participants

We included all candidates in this longitudinal study who applied as SCT in Austria between December 2022 and August 2023 and were classified as either ‘suitable’ or ‘conditionally suitable’ based on the TESAT-SC (99.94%)Footnote 1. We invited only candidates who agreed to be contacted again for scientific purposes. At t1 and t2, participants gave informed consent, i.e., they were informed and approved that their data could be used (anonymously and not on an individual basis) in scientific publications. Participants were not rewarded. Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of University Graz (‘Ethikkommission der Universität Graz’). The process used in this study adheres to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. A total of 216 participants completed all three measurement points. Some participants took part either in t0 and t1 (N = 884) or in t0 and t2 (N = 763). Since our study was not focused on changes over time, we utilized the t0 + t1 and t0 + t2 samples separately for our analyses. For research questions related to job experience, we used subsamples consisting exclusively of participants who were actively teaching (N = 378; N = 383). To examine the validity of the TESAT-SC, we further restricted the analysis to complete cases within the latter subsample (N = 357). An overview of the (sub-)samples and their descriptions is provided in Fig. 1.

2.3 Instruments

2.3.1 Online assessment (t0)

  1. 1.

    Emotion regulation was assessed by a modified version of the test for Emotion Regulation in Situations (Koschmieder and Neubauer 2021). This version consists of 19 situational judgement test (SJT) items, each offering 4 response options, representing one of four emotion regulation strategies (acceptance, avoidance, problem solving and rumination). Participants must choose the answer that they feel is best for the situation. The internal consistency was α = 0.62, which seems low but is common in SJTs. SJTs often exhibit high retest reliability despite low consistency (Neubauer and Hofer 2022).

  2. 2.

    Health and recreation behavior was assessed using a newly developed situational questionnaire consisting of 19 items. The questionnaire assesses health behavior in response to warning signals, physical and mental relaxation ability. The questionnaire is designed to first describe a specific situation (e.g., “At the moment, I often feel exhausted at work and in my free time. In the future, I will …”) followed by related items (e.g., “… allow myself more rest”) on a four-point scale. The internal consistency was α = 0.80.

  3. 3.

    The Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability) were measured using the German version of the Big Five Inventory (Lang et al. 2001). Participants responded to 42 questions on a five-point-scale. The internal consistencies ranged between α = 0.68 (agreeableness) and α = 0.86 (extraversion).

  4. 4.

    Openness to diversity was measured using an adapted 12-items-version of a SJT (Koschmieder et al. 2022a). Each item describes a challenging pedagogical situation and four response options, from which participants should choose the one they would most likely use themselves. The internal consistency was α = 0.64.

  5. 5.

    Appreciation for creativity was measured using 12 items of the Appreciation for Creative Personality scale (Jauk et al. 2019) which is a forced-choice instrument for assessing individual differences in the preference for engaging with creative individuals (α = 0.63).

2.3.2 Follow-up 1 (t1)

At t1, we asked about the current job situation (‘Have you entered the teaching profession?’). For those already engaged in teaching, job satisfaction was assessed using one item (‘How satisfied are you with your current workplace?’) on a five-point scale ranging from ‘very unhappy’ to ‘very happy’. Similarly, workload and intention to quit were measured with single-item-scales using a 5-point scale ranging from ‘very low’ to ‘very high’.

2.3.3 Follow-up 2 (t2)

At t2, we repeated the questions from follow-up 1 (see above). For those already engaged in teaching, we included additional measures. Job satisfaction was (additionally to the single-item scale) assessed using six items (e.g., ‘I enjoy working at my school’) on a four-point scale. The internal consistency was α = 0.83. Burnout was measured using a shortened 7‑item version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Enzmann and Kleiber 1989) on a four-point scale. The internal consistency was α = 0.79. Classroom management was assessed by a shortened 12-item version of the ‘Linzer Diagnosebogen zur Klassenführung’ (LDK; Lenske and Mayr 2015). The LDK comprises the scales (1) instruction clarity, (2) teacher-student relationship, and (3) performance monitoring with internal consistencies between α = 0.64 and α = 0.67. Inclusive classroom management was measured using 10 items of the scale for classroom management in inclusive schools (InClass; Lutz et al. 2023) which is based on the LDK. We only used the scales instruction clarity and teacher-student relationship as the content of the scale performance monitoring was too similar to that of the LDK. The internal consistencies were α = 0.65 and α = 0.76, respectively.

2.4 Statistical analysis

All statistical analyses were performed in R using the packages psych (Revelle 2007) and lsr (Navarro 2015). To assess validities, we employed Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression analyses using the forced entry method (Field et al. 2012). To evaluate how well the TESAT-SC captures self-assessed job success, we modeled higher-order criteria derived via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the correlated outcome measures. Consistent with the Brunswik-symmetry principle, we align predictor and criterion bandwidth by focusing on a general success construct, which is commonly emphasized in performance research (Ones and Viswesvaran 1996; Viswesvaran and Ones 2000). We then regressed the factor scores on the TESAT-SC predictors to assess overall explanatory power and unique contributions. As the residuals of one multiple linear regression deviated from normality, as shown in the QQ plot, classical inference based on the t‑distribution may be unreliable (Mooney and Duval 1993; Fox and Weisberg 2018). Therefore, standard errors and confidence intervals were estimated using a bootstrap procedure (Resample R = 10000).

3 Results

3.1 Job situation and experience

At t1 (October/November 2023), 42.76% had already entered the teaching profession. Most of the remaining participants (84.78%) said that they could still see themselves entering the profession. Only 3.44% ruled out an entry; the remaining participants did not answer the question. At t2 (June/July 2024), 47.58% had already entered the teaching profession. 46.79% had not entered the profession yet; and 2.62% had already quit teaching again. As depicted in Fig. 2, individuals who had already started teaching at t1 stated to be satisfied (measured by the single-item scale; M = 3.90, SD = 1.27), had a high workload (M = 3.86, SD = 0.83) and a low intention to quit (M = 1.70, SD = 0.94). At t2, individuals who had already started teaching were satisfied (M = 3.83, SD = 1.31), had a high workload (M = 3.74, SD = 0.74) and a low intention to quit (M = 1.65, SD = 0.97)Footnote 2. The absolute and relative frequencies are presented in Supplemental Table 2.

Fig. 2
Fig. 2The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.
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Histograms depicting Job Experience. X‑axis: 1 = very low, 5 = very high

3.2 Predictive validity of the TESAT-SC

First, we analyzed the bivariate correlations between all predictors and criteria (see Table 1). Emotion regulation negatively correlated with burnout and positively with classroom management-teacher student relationship (CM-relation). Health and recreation behavior correlated with all CM facets. Conscientiousness correlated with all criteria except for inclusive (incl) CM-relation, with the highest correlation with incl CM-instruction quality. Extraversion correlated with all criteria, showing the highest (negative) correlations with burnout and CM-relation. Agreeableness correlated with all criteria (with burnout, as expected, negatively), with the highest correlation with CM-relation. Emotional stability correlated negatively with burnout, and positively with all facets of CM except for incl-CM-relation. Openness to diversity positively correlated with satisfaction and CM-relation, and negatively with burnout. Appreciation for creativity was not related to any of the criteria except for CM-relation. The intercorrelations between all predictors and criteria are provided in Supplemental Table 1.

Table 1 Correlations of TESAT-SC variables and criteria of job success
Full size table

To assess the overall explanatory power of the TESAT-SC for self-assessed job success and the unique contributions of each predictor, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) across the various criteria and subsequently performed multiple linear regression modeling to predict the factors identified (see Supplemental Table 3). The principal axis analysis, employing oblique rotation, revealed a two-dimensional structure of job success (according to the eigenvalues and the scree plot). Factor 1, encompassing satisfaction and burnout, was labeled “well-being”, while Factor 2, which includes all CM and inclusive CM scales, was designated as “performance.” The two factors were moderately intercorrelated (r = 0.31) and explain 52% of the variance. A second EFA with a fixed one-factor solution yielded a general factor of overall job success explaining 36.1% of the variance.

The variance explanation in the regression models (explaining the extracted factor scores) was low to medium: Overall success was most strongly predicted by the TESAT-SC traits, which explained 12.9% of the variance, well-being was explained at 10.2% and performance at 9.6%. Well-being was significantly predicted by extraversion (β = 0.21) and openness to diversity (β = 0.16), performance by extraversion (β = 0.14), and overall success was predicted by extraversion (β = 0.21) and agreeableness (β = 0.13).Footnote 3

4 Discussion

Since Austria’s government established a new program allowing professionals from various fields to enter the teaching profession, more than 1500 people have gone through the selection process in its first year. In this longitudinal study, we endeavored to scientifically follow the path of these people in pursuing two objectives: First, we wanted to explore their job situation and experiences and second, we wanted to examine the prognostic validity of the TESAT-SC as selection instrument. The results of two follow-up surveys during the first year of teaching show that SCT experience high satisfaction, but also a high workload, and nevertheless a low intention to quit. Looking at multiple criteria of job success, we found evidence of prognostic validity for almost all traits assessed in the TESAT-SC, though with partially small effect sizes.

First, we looked at the people who had successfully completed the admission process: did they go into teaching, and if so, how were they doing? About half of the respondents had already started teaching and most of the remaining participants were still motivated to start teaching at a later stage. At both measurement points—after the first school weeks and after the first year—new SCT reported high job satisfaction and a low intention to quit, despite experiencing a high workload. It is pleasing to note that only 2.6% left the profession within the first year. This is relatively low compared to international data, which shows that seven percent of fully qualified teachers leave the profession each year and that Austria is one of the countries where more teachers quit than retire each year (OECD 2024). On the one hand, the low dropout rate could underscore a general match between the applicants selected through the admission process and the demands of the teaching profession. On the other hand, we could only analyze data of people who participated in our follow-up study. Although we achieved a relatively high response rate of 50%, it remains unclear how many SCTs who have already left the profession participated in the study.

When we compare our data with official statistics from the Ministry of Education (Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung 2024) for the same period, it does not appear that our figures are underestimated. By the 2023/24 school year, 852 SCT had begun working as teachers, with only 23 subsequently leaving the profession, resulting in a dropout rate of 2.7%. Whether the dropout rate or the intention to quit will remain low in the coming years requires further investigation.

Our second research question was the extent to which the traits measured in the TESAT-SC online assessment can predict job success. While student learning and student evaluations are central indicators of teacher effectiveness, these data were not available in the present study. Accordingly, we operationalized job success with teacher-centered criteria—satisfaction, burnout, and classroom management (with lower burnout indicating higher success; Koustelios and Tsigilis 2005). The Big Five emerged as the most robust predictors. As expected, extraversion and agreeableness correlated with all criteria: job satisfaction, (inclusive) classroom management and low burnout. This is in line with previous research (Cramer and Binder 2015; Klusmann et al. 2012; Mayr et al. 2020). Emotional stability and conscientiousness, which were expected to serve as protective factors (e.g., against burnout; Klusmann et al. 2012; Mayr et al. 2020), correlated with burnout (negatively) and certain facets of classroom management. Conscientiousness also correlated with satisfaction, though this effect was negligible.

Emotion regulation correlated, in accordance to the literature (Chang 2020) negatively with burnout; but did not correlate with satisfaction and most of the classroom management facets. One possible explanation for the failure to find all of the expected correlations may be related to the instrument’s instruction: participants are asked about emotion regulation knowledge rather than emotion regulation as typical behavior. It is possible that actual behavior differs from knowledge. Health and recreation behavior, often linked to stress resilience, predicted classroom management. This aligns with previous research on pre-service teachers (Koschmieder et al. 2022b). Contradictory to previous results (Schaarschmidt 2004), we did not find correlations with burnout.

Openness to diversity correlated with job satisfaction, and negatively with burnout, which confirms previous results (e.g., Tardif-Grenier et al. 2024) but did surprisingly not correlate with (inclusive) classroom management. This may be due to limited variance in the data. The test for openness to diversity includes pedagogically challenging scenarios related to issues such as exclusion, migration, physical disability or sexuality (Koschmieder et al. 2022b). In our sample, responses were highly homogeneous, with most participants choosing the socially desirable options. This lack of variability could result from self-selection into a socially engaged profession such as teaching, where applicants are generally motivated by inclusive values (Koschmieder et al. 2022b); but could also be due to faking (see 4.1 Limitations). Appreciation for creativity did only show a negligible correlation with one classroom management facet, suggesting limited practical utility in this selection context.

Although the traits assessed in TESAT-SC can individually predict job success criteria, multiple regression analyses indicate that the variance explained for the three overarching job success criteria (well-being, performance, and overall job success) is—with Rs of 0.32, 0.31 and 0.36—with a low to medium explained variance between 10 and 13%. Even though we know that characteristics such as personality are related to success in the teaching profession (Kim et al. 2019), we also know that there are many other characteristics, including those outside the individual (e.g., working conditions) that affect criteria such as job satisfaction (Toropova et al. 2021). On an individual level, there might be other factors that are not part of the TESAT-SC, but that could be relevant to the job success of teachers, too, such as verbal ability and self-efficacy (Andrew et al. 2005; Brouwers and Tomic 2000). In view of the relatively low variance explanation, we follow the argumentation of Kuncel and Hezlett (2010, p. 340) which says that 10% “is sufficiently large that hiring or admitting individuals who score better on the test can double the rate of successful performance. For example, 67% of individuals who score in the top quintile on a predictor will have above-average performance, compared to only 33% of individuals who score in the bottom quintile”.

4.1 Limitations and further directions

As already mentioned, results considering the proportion of people who have entered the teaching profession must be treated with caution. Although our response rate was high, we cannot rule out a possible selection bias. We have received some (also detailed qualitative) responses from applicants who no longer want to enter the teaching profession after completing the selection process (e.g., because they do not agree with the job conditions or the salary), therefore, we do not know how many people did not respond at all because they had already given up their desire to become a teacher. Since we surveyed all those who had completed the TESAT-SC at some point during the year, the selection process had already taken place more than 10 months ago for some of them at follow-up 1; the extent to which these people were still interested in participating in the study, unless they were working as teachers in the meantime, remains unclear. Another limitation results from the fact that our predictors were assessed in a selection context. We know that faking can occur in high-stakes situations (Birkeland et al. 2006). As a recent study has shown, candidates applying for initial teacher education score higher on personality tests in a high-stakes versus a low-stakes situation with particularly high effects in emotional stability (Weissenbacher et al. 2025). We must therefore assume that the self-assessments in this study are also distorted and that we do not have the true values of the individuals available for the Big Five, for example. Such distortions can lead, for example, to a restriction of variance (Hu and Connelly 2021). On a positive note, we were able to identify correlations with career success despite the assumed variance restriction due to faking; however, these may be underestimated and would be higher if we had collected the same characteristics in a low-stakes situation. To gain deeper insights in the second-career teaching program and the validity of the TESAT-SC, it would be useful to include qualitative responses. We also gave participants in open-ended questions the opportunity to elaborately describe their experiences and the reasons why they did or did not enter the profession or already quit teaching again. Due to space constraints, we were unable to include these data in the present publication (but will address them in future publications). Follow-up studies will also analyze the other two stages of the selection process (e.g., to find out more about demographic characteristics or motivations of applicants) and possible associations with the TESAT-SC. Further longitudinal studies should incorporate additional measures of teacher success beyond self-reports for two main reasons. First, it is essential to assess not only whether our procedure can predict teachers’ self-reported satisfaction or success but also how students perceive their teachers through student ratings and how students’ performance develops under their instruction, serving as indicators of teacher effectiveness. Second, using multiple measures will help rule out the possibility that the observed correlations are solely due to shared method variance inherent in self-report data (Lindell and Whitney 2001). Finally, Big Five (Lang et al. 2001) and LDK (Lenske and Mayr 2015) items partly overlap at the behavioral indicator level, which may introduce shared construct variance between predictors and criteria; this overlap could inflate or blur estimates of predictive validity and warrants follow-up using more discriminant measures and multitrait–multimethod approaches.

4.2 Practical implications and conclusions

What practical implications does this study reveal? (1) Not all characteristics assessed in the TESAT-SC correlate with the outcomes examined in this study. If these do not show correlations with other criteria (e.g., student-ratings or students’ performance), they are likely to be excluded of the TESAT-SC in the future. (2) The study’s results could in future inform the weighting of the included traits, with traits that exhibit stronger correlations with outcomes (e.g., extraversion) receiving greater consideration in assessing suitability. (3) Parts of the TESAT-SC need to be revised: the ceiling effects observed in openness to diversity necessitate further efforts to increase the difficulty of the test and reduce the susceptibility to faking. If these efforts prove unsuccessful and the discriminatory power does not improve, we would ultimately need to conclude that this trait cannot be reliably measured through self-report in high-stakes situations and remove it from the TESAT-SC. (4) Although predicting outcomes based solely on personality and attitude-related characteristics has inherent limitations, our findings encourage to reconsider which characteristics could complement the TESAT-SC and enhance its predictive power.

In summary, the high level of satisfaction, combined with the low intention to quit and the minimal dropout rate, serve as strong indicators for sustaining SCT within the system over the long term. This is particularly encouraging given the current plans to extend SCT to primary education. However, the consistently high workload reported by participants suggests a need for tailored support programs for SCT, particularly during their first year in the profession. As this group enters the classroom with minimal pedagogical training, support structures that address classroom and stress management may be particularly important for the program’s long-term success and SCT’s retention. Our findings offer first evidence for the predictive validity of the TESAT-SC. While not all hypothesized relationships could be confirmed, certain psychological traits—particularly health and recreation behavior, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to diversity—did show significant associations with success indicators. In future studies, e.g., more long-term follow-ups, we will take a closer look at those traits that have so far shown no or only negligible correlations with success (e.g., appreciation for creativity).