Teachers as leaders: Pre-service teachers' aspirations and motivations

Teacher attrition is among the most salient problems facing education systems worldwide. Recent research has attempted to understand this phenomenon in light of teacher generational characteristics, finding that today's teachers often view teaching as a short-term endeavor, and desire influence beyond the classroom. This exploratory study attends to this issue in relation to US pre-service teachers. Findings indicate that, even before officially entering the classroom, many teachers expect to take on leadership roles-especially “hybrid” roles that keep them partly in the classroom. Based on findings presented here, we consider implications for teacher preparation and teacher career paths.