A Calling to Teach: What the Literature on Callings Tells Us about Approaches to Research the Calling to the Teaching Profession

I draw upon the literature on organizational behavior, sociology of professions, sociology of religion, and teacher education, to understand how school teaching has been understood and researched in terms of a calling. I present a frame to broadly understand how, historically speaking, the concept of calling moved from a theocentric understanding to a post-secular one. Then, I show that research on callings has focused on the relationship that they have with the work and the workplace. Finally, I apply the analysis above on the calling to teaching.