Why become a teacher? Student teachers' perceptions of the teaching profession and motives for career choice Why become a teacher? Student teachers' perceptions of the teaching profession and motives for career choice (original) (raw)
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European Journal of Teacher Education, 2018
The aim of the study is to discursively identify student teachers' perceptions of the teaching profession early in their education and their motives for this career choice. Students wrote a letter sharing thoughts on why they want to become a teacher, how they regard the teaching profession and if someone inspired them in their career choice. The empirical data consists of 259 student texts from three Swedish teacher education programmes. The study employed a qualitative method denoting different categorizations compared to previous studies, emphasising the idea of multiple motives for career choice and the link to student teachers' evolving pedagogical identity. Major differences can be distinguished among the programmes, emphasising different main motives and shifting incipient pedagogic identities. The results indicate the value of organising teacher education programmes drawing on multiple motives, which is expected to contribute positively to completion of teacher education and teacher retention in future profession.
Why I Want to Teach: Exploring Factors Affecting Students’ Career Choice to Become Teachers
The Normal Lights, 2017
This is a qualitative study which explores different factors affecting the career decision-making of Grade 10 students leading to a choice of becoming a teacher. A total of 388 students participated in the study with 40 students from Metro Manila who conveyed they are pursuing teaching as a career. Data analysis involved coding and categorizing of responses with defining of emerging themes related to students’ motivation to teach. It had two levels of data collection: survey questionnaire to gather student’s perceptions about teachers and teaching as a profession and a focus-group discussion to validate salient themes that emerged from the responses to the survey questions. The findings revealed that early exposures to the role of teachers and influence of close family members contributed to the preference to pursue education as a program in tertiary education . Moreover, the student-participants had positive regard for teachers and the teaching profession. The students describe...
The motivation of prospective teachers in their choice of profession
2013
This study investigates who chooses primary teaching and how prospective primary school teachers differ from future teachers in other types of schools. Using variance analysis, future student-teachers of different types of schools are compared with regard to their motives for the choice of studies and profession. As a main result, prospective primary school teachers display a particular pedagogical motivational structure, idealism, and the wish for compatibility between family and professional life. In regard to their self-image, students of primary education have lower expectations of self-efficacy, but a higher awareness of responsibility. Conclusions as well as practical implications can be drawn for both the professionalisation of the teaching profession and teacher training, for example concerning the stabilisation or destabilisation of decisions on the choice of profession, realistic ideas about the professional field, and the strengthening of selfreflection.
2021
There are problems with the recruitment and retention of teachers in many countries. Several factors in the environment can influence these decisions. The current study compared factors that motivated Estonian and Finnish student teachers in their career choice, including perceptions about teaching work. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed on a sample of 718 Estonian and 322 Finnish students and measurement invariances were tested. The results with latent means comparison revealed six significant differences between the countries in terms of motivational factors; Estonian respondents gave higher ratings for all of them. As for perceptions, satisfaction with choice, status and salary were rated higher by Finnish student teachers, while expertise, social dissuasion and difficulty of the work were rated higher by Estonian students.
Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career: Students’ Reasons
International Education Studies, 2014
The success of educational change inevitably depends on the quality and performance of teachers. Therefore, the importance of employing high quality teachers is crucial for educational systems. Choosing talented and committed brains to teaching career depends on making it an attractive profession. It is considered that there are some reasons why student teachers choose teaching as a career. Many studies reveal that while some students choose this profession with altruistic-intrinsic and extrinsic reasons, some others choose it under the influence of others. This study aims to determine for what reasons student teachers choose teaching profession as a career. The study was carried out quantitively and 1410 student teachers participated in this research. Results revealed that students chose teaching mostly with altruistic-intrinsic reasons. In this respect, while the female students chose it with altruistic-intrinsic reasons, the students from poor and crowded families and the male counterparts chose it with extrinsic reasons.
Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research
The act of newly qualified teachers leaving the profession is a growing challenge, both in Norway and internationally. To address recruitment difficulties, there is a need for further knowledge of prospective teachers' career motivations. The current study validated a Norwegian translation of the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) Scale. Using a sample of 635 preservice teachers, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The results indicated that the translated scale offers a valid measure of Norwegian students' motivation to become teachers. Self-perception of teaching-related abilities was one of the main motivational sources, together with the desire to shape the future of children and adolescents and an interest in teaching. Findings are discussed in relation to previous studies based on the FIT-Choice scale in other countries.
‘To Teach or Not to Teach’: Reasons Motivating Students to Embark upon the Teaching Path
Studia Anglica Resoviensia
The paper presents and analyses factors motivating pre-service teachers to choose to teach. The reasons motivating students to enter the teaching profession are attested to be 'positive, altruistic and professionally sound' (Barnes 2005:349). Ewing and Smith (2003:22) state that young people are attracted to the profession because they perceive teaching as a satisfying career that offers opportunity for professional development, want to help others and contribute to society or wish to work with children. Taking Poland as a case in point, a large-scale study by Duraj-Nowakowa (2011:129) identified three main factors that motivate students to become teachers: fascination with the subject, eagerness to work with children and social status of the profession. This paper presents and discusses our own findings obtained through a questionnaire administered among philology students concerning their reasons for choosing the teaching career. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into why students majoring in English decide to embark upon the teaching path. What is more, the study reports upon factors deterring students from pursuing the teaching career and driving new recruits away from this path.
Student teachers' motivation to become a secondary school teacher in England and Norway
Teacher Development, 1999
This study sought to explore the reasons given by student teachers in influencing their choice to become a secondary school teacher. Some 105 student teachers in Stavanger and 112 student teachers in York completed a questionnaire at the beginning of their postgraduate teacher training course. Twelve student teachers from each sample were then interviewed. Both groups reported being strongly influenced by enjoying the subject they would teach, liking to work with children, and the fact that teaching would enable them to use their subject. This is broadly in line with other studies. However, there was tendency for more of the student teachers in the York sample, compared with the Stavanger sample, to place value on 'wanting to help children succeed' and 'liking the activity of classroom teaching'; conversely, there was a tendency for more of the student teachers in the Stavanger sample, compared with the York sample, to place value on 'long holidays' and 'social hours'. These tendencies may in large part be accounted for by the fact that more of the Stavanger sample were already teaching, were older and had family commitments.