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MOTIVATIONS FOR POSTSECONDARY CORRECTIONAL EDUCATORS

NCJ Number
143028
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Education Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1993) Pages: 115-131
Author(s)
R Tewksbury
Date Published
1993
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Participant observation and in-depth interviews with 40 postsecondary correctional educators employed by Wilmington (Ohio) College were the methods used to identify major motivational factors that lead correctional educators to work in postsecondary correctional education.
Abstract
Analysis of the data revealed five dominant motivations for teaching in a postsecondary correctional education program: alternative career paths, academic idealism, institutional objectives, educational expansion, and social reform. These motivations interact and are not mutually exclusive. Three motivations, which accounted for 55 percent of the educators, focus primarily on individual goals and concerns: alternative career paths, academic idealism, and institutional objectives. Two motivations are altruistic: motivations related to educational expansion (25 percent of the sample) and to social reform (20 percent of the sample). 4 notes and 49 references