Personality in relation to occupational outcomes among established teachers

Established teachers’ self-reports on Five-Factor Model (FFM) scales, interests, and attributions were studied in relation to two outcome criteria, choice of teaching specialty (niche selection) and quality of teaching. Choice of teaching specialty was most strongly associated with openness to experience, interest in the arts and/or sciences, and internal-locus attributions (ability and effort) in response to a positive classroom event. On the other hand, quality of teaching assessed by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards was positively associated with several facets of the FFM, and negatively associated with business interests and with a tendency to externalize blame. Unexpectedly, Conscientiousness was unrelated to teacher performance. Findings suggested that broadly defined personality characteristics impact more on niche selection than on performance within the chosen niche, whereas narrowly defined characteristics better predict performance, at least among established professionals.