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Motivations for entering into a teaching career in Brunei Darussalam: An update
Abstract
189 pre-service teacher education students completed a qualitative questionnaire in which they were asked to state reasons for their decision to become teachers. The results were then compared to those of another study conducted in the same teacher education institute in 1995. The study revealed that, with the transformation of the institute which raises the education level required for entry to the profession, there were differences in students’ motivations. Extrinsic motivation was no longer the predominant determinant for students entering into teaching; instead, there were more students who identified intrinsically- and altruistically-motivated reasons for pursuing a teaching career.
... Internship experience is one of the significant factors influencing students' attitudes and perceptions toward a career (Luo et al., 2019;Qu et al., 2021). When students obtain positive internship experiences, their career attitudes and motivation are enhanced (Luo et al., 2019;Robinson et al., 2016;Seyitoğlu, 2019;Shak, 2022;Suastini et al., 2022). However, COVID-19 disrupted educational practices in higher education worldwide in various ways, notably impacting internships that were postponed, canceled, or converted to online (Teng et al., 2022). ...
... Previous studies found associations between students' internship experiences and their motivation to remain in the industry (Seyitoğlu, 2019;Shak, 2022;Stansbie & Nash, 2016). Seyitoğlu (2019) found that the behaviors of supervisors and working conditions influenced interns' motivation to remain in the food and beverage industry in Türkiye. ...
... Seyitoğlu (2019) found that the behaviors of supervisors and working conditions influenced interns' motivation to remain in the food and beverage industry in Türkiye. Shak (2022) found that the teaching experience of pre-service teacher education students may change their perceptions and motivations for starting a teaching career in Brunei Darussalam. Fong et al. (2014) noted that hotel and tourism students with unpleasant internship experiences were likely to hold negative career attitudes and less motivation to enter the industry. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted employment within the tourism and hospitality industry. Students have witnessed employment instability during the pandemic, thus shaping their attitudes toward their careers and perceived job security risks in the post-pandemic era. This study therefore explored the key factors influencing the students’ attitudes and intentions toward pursuing a career in the tourism and hospitality industry in Thailand. Data collected from 394 participants were analyzed, and the results underscore the significant role of internship experience in enhancing students’ motivation to work in the industry while reducing their perceived job insecurity. The results also indicate that career attitudes were influenced by motivation and perceived job insecurity but not by internship experience. Furthermore, students were likely to pursue a tourism and hospitality career when they possessed positive career attitudes and perceived lower job insecurity. The study highlights the mediating role of career attitude in linking motivation and the intention to pursue a career. These results provide insights for guiding the formulation of strategies to enhance undergraduate students’ career perceptions and intentions to pursue a career, contributing to filling job vacancies, sustaining business performances, and supporting the recovery of the tourism and hospitality industry in the post-COVID-19 era.
... Pre-service teachers who develop positive attitudes are seen as necessary for their professional competence while contributing significantly to the multifaceted development of children in the profession (Heinz, 2015). Shak (2022) also emphasizes the importance of understanding what motivates students to choose the teaching profession. Therefore, pre-service teacher education helps to shape pre-service teachers' attitudes toward the teaching profession (Bhargava & Pathy, 2014). ...
... Intrinsically motivated teachers focus on teaching and job effectiveness, so the teacher's intrinsic motivation is a driving force for teaching. On the other hand, extrinsically motivated teachers focus on the benefits of teaching, such as salary, vacation, or other external rewards linked to the job (Shak, 2022). Motivation to teach is important in order to favor teacher well-being (e.g., Slemp et al., 2020) as well as teaching quality (e.g., Moè et al., 2022). ...
... For example, Hein et al. (2012) focused on motivation to teach and teaching styles, and pre-service teachers' goal orientations examined the motivation and beliefs about teaching different teacher typologies (Thomson & McIntyre, 2013). While Shak (2022) investigated motivations to become a teacher, Wong (2014) investigated motivation to teach and found that they were highly motivated. ...
... Other examples of community responsiveness in curriculum development may be found in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and midwifery, where programs of study are developed in direct response to needs expressed by the Ministry of Health and health-related organizations. In the area of education, the Master of Teaching program offered by the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education at UBD was shaped by the needs expressed by the Ministry of Education and related organizations responsible for employing teachers (Harun et al. 2023;Shahrill et al. 2014;Shak 2022;Wood et al. 2022); while, in the area of law, the Bachelor of Shariah Law offered by the Faculty of Shariah and Law at UNISSA was developed in response to a need for more Shariah court judges, registrars, and lawyers, as well as other kinds of related professionals. The only institution narrowly focused in disciplinary terms is KUPU SB, which produces trained religious teachers at the diploma, bachelor's, and master's levels. ...
Higher education in Brunei Darussalam dates from 1985, when the national flagship university, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, was established. There are four public and two private institutions in the higher education sector. Each has the freedom to set its academic standards, design and manage its educational programs, implement its student assessment policies, award academic qualifications, and provide professional development and training opportunities for its staff members. The institutions share many similarities in their organizational and service delivery character. Still, each is distinctive in its curriculum focus, and there is little need for them to compete because they do not offer overlapping or similar programs. This chapter begins by providing an overview of the higher education sector in Brunei Darussalam. It then addresses access, student assessment, curriculum, quality, inclusion and equity, digital technologies and innovations, training and professional development, leadership and governance, and higher education for development. The chapter concludes with an account of trends in the sector and critical challenges. A significant challenge for the sector is the recent increase in unemployment among new higher education graduates. The Ministry of Education is addressing this challenge by restoring a balance between demand from the labor market and the supply of graduates in different fields of study. Improving research and increasing internationalization are priorities for the sector’s future development.
The first school in Brunei Darussalam was established in 1914. Since then, access to education in this relatively small nation, situated in the northwest of Borneo, has expanded significantly. The national education system has also become more complex. Independence from Great Britain in 1984 prompted many new initiatives to strengthen national identity and develop the nation’s human resources. However, it was not until the inauguration in 2007 of Wawasan 2035, a national vision for the country, and approval in the same year of Sistem Pendidikan Negara Abad ke-21—better known as SPN21, a vision for the national education system for the twenty-first century, that the system began to achieve its current curriculum coherence and organizational character. This chapter provides an overview of the national education system and its context in Brunei Darussalam. It records how the system has developed historically and introduces each of its sectors. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the challenges now facing the system.KeywordsNational education systemReformQualityAccessNational visionStrategic planDiversityLifelong learning
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a broad framework for understanding factors that facilitate or undermine intrinsic motivation, autonomous extrinsic motivation, and psychological wellness, all issues of direct relevance to educational settings. We review research from SDT showing that both intrinsic motivation and well-internalized (and thus autonomous) forms of extrinsic motivation predict an array of positive outcomes across varied educational levels and cultural contexts and are enhanced by supports for students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings also show a dynamic link between teacher and student motivation, as teachers are themselves impacted and constrained by controlling mandates, institutional pressures, and leadership styles. Ironically, despite substantial evidence for the importance of psychological need satisfactions in learning contexts, many current educational policies and practices around the globe remain anchored in traditional motivational models that fail to support students’ and teachers’ needs, a knowledge versus policy gap we should aspire to close.
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.
Understanding student-teachers’ decisions to enter and stay in the teaching profession after graduation could help teacher educators to find appropriate procedures to enhance commitment to teaching. This study classified student-teachers based on their levels of commitment to teaching, and described these types based on student-teachers’ motivation to enter the teaching profession and their perceptions of the teaching profession and environmental aspects e.g. school condition and significant others. Thirty-seven undergraduate student-teachers from the Dar es salaam University College of Education in Tanzania were interviewed. Four student-teacher types from our results were identified: (1) committed passionate, (2) committed compromisers, (3) undecided and (4) uncommitted. Implications from the findings include the importance of designing teacher education curriculum in a way that caters for the needs of student-teachers in each type in order to enhance their commitment to teaching.
Why do individuals all over the world choose to become school teachers? What motivates them to become educators of young people, and how committed are they to this cause when they enter their teacher education courses? Considering that teacher motivation and commitment have been identified as crucial factors for the future success of education and schools (Huberman, 199337.
Huberman, M. (1993). The lives of teachers (J. Neufeld, Trans.). London: Cassell Villiers House.View all references; Manning & Patterson, 200556.
Manning, M., & Patterson, J. (2005). Special publications. Childhood Education, 81, 249–251. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2005.10522284View all references; Rikard, 199970.
Rikard, G. L. (1999). Promoting teacher commitment in pre-service teachers. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 70(9), 53–56. doi: 10.1080/07303084.1999.10605969View all references), these are important questions for policy makers and societies to address. This paper provides a systematic and conceptual review of empirical research studies exploring student teachers’ career motivations and commitment in 23 countries from 5 continents. A variety of motivating factors are explored, their relative importance in student teachers’ career decisions is discussed, and differences between various subgroups and cultural contexts are highlighted. Attention is drawn to methodological limitations as well as recent developments in this important area of research.
This study was conducted to investigate the motivations of 974 Turkish pre-service teachers for choosing teaching as a career and to examine their perceptions about the teaching profession. Correlations, t test, ANCOVAs and MANCOVAs were used to explore the relationships among participants' motivations and perceptions, and to make comparisons according to different characteristics such as gender, different specialism, number of times participants had entered the university entrance examination, and rank of their preference of teaching as a profession. The results showed that the social and personal utility value and prior teaching and learning experiences were the highly rated motivation factors. The findings also revealed how the general image of teaching as a career held in the social-cultural context of Turkish society shaped participants' motivations and perceptions.
This paper aims to identify key motivational factors and examine the role of gender that influence positivelydecision to become a teacher in the UAE. Furthermore, due to recent heavy enrolment in teacher education atpublicly-funded institutions, this study also finds it essential to understand B.Ed. students’ intentions to teachafter graduation. A total of 116 pre-service teachers studying in Teachers’ Academy in UAE was surveyed usinga self-administered questionnaire survey. The data was analysed using multivariate statistical techniques usingSPSS. A Likert-type scale with 14 motivational items under four broad categories of motivations, namely,altruistic, intrinsic, extrinsic and pragmatic, was used to accomplish the stated aims of this research. The studyconfirmed that the intrinsic motivation and altruistic motivation are significant determinant for their intention tobecome teacher. Extrinsic motivational factors have a very marginal role to play in their decision to teach in theschool. The result did not find any significant impact of Pragmatic motivational factors on the intention to teach.Moreover, the results did not find any significant difference between male and female students. These outcomesof the research would be of help for the UAE educators and policymakers. Also, since teachers’ education forthe Emiraties (UAE nationals) are mostly funded by the government, the findings of this study would be usefulin recruiting potential students who have higher possibility to contribute in educational sector of the UAE. Toimprove the teacher education as well as the recruitment policies and their implications in practice, facilitationof a strong base of ‘educational research’ in the UAE is recommended. It is important to note that the findings ofthis study cannot be generalized to the entire UAE teacher education policies and practices due to the small sizeof the sample available for analysis. Overall, the study provides insights into the motivation factors that promptgreater number of pre-service students to consider teaching as a profession. This would therefore be a useful toolfor the UAE educational stakeholders against the backdrop of continuous fall in students’ participation.
Difficulties in attracting student teachers have resulted in research focusing on student teachers’ motives for studying to join the profession. Because previous findings are mixed, the first aim of this study was to explore motives for students to become teachers. A second aim was to explore the relationship between teachers’ motives and their academic engagement and dropout rates at the end of their studies. A sample of 333 student teachers at a Swedish university completed a questionnaire measuring motives for becoming a teacher and their academic engagement. The best model of a confirmatory factor analyses defined three motivational factors as altruistic, intrinsic and extrinsic motives. A path analysis showed a negative significant relationship between the altruistic motive and dropout, mediated by academic engagement, whereas the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic motives and academic engagement were not significant.
As teaching is a nation-building profession, the career motivations of pre-service teachers are worth exploring. This study examines the career motivations of 283 Turkish pre-service teachers who have chosen teaching as a career. Accordingly, they were asked questions about deciding to teach, career perceptions, and major expectations. A profile of the participants was then developed by analyzing their responses in quantitative and qualitative ways as being descriptive, statistical, and inductive steps. It is seen that extrinsic, altruistic, and intrinsic motivations all play a role when individuals choose teaching as a career. In addition, although altruistic motives are very dominant for females, mercenary-based extrinsic motives are dominant for males. Associatively, teaching is further desired as a first profession by females. In light of the findings, we give suggestions for teacher training institutions and policy makers.
In times of teacher shortage, well-considered, goal-oriented teacher recruitment is important. An understanding of the reasons why different groups of students undertake teacher training would be useful in developing targeted campaigns. Against this background, the research question is as follows: what are the motivations prompting students to enter primary teacher training and do these motivations vary according to student characteristics? A questionnaire based on the reasons and expectations included in the Learning and Studying Questionnaire was administered during a compulsory course. Participants were 1,805 pre-service primary education teachers starting their first year of study at 14 different schools in Flanders (Belgium). Results show that students mainly undertake teacher training for intrinsic and altruistic reasons such as developing skills and knowledge that will be useful in their future teaching career, attending interesting and well-taught courses, gaining an understanding of the subject and helping children and making a difference in the world. In addition, students also take into account extrinsic factors such as good working conditions, long holidays and the ability to balance work and family responsibilities. Significant differences in motivation were found to be related to student characteristics such as gender, age, educational background and self-reported academic achievement, suggesting that teacher recruitment could benefit from population-specific approaches aimed at increasing the attractiveness of teaching and teacher training.
Many studies have investigated preservice teachers' motivations to teach. However, few studies have (a) used robust measurement methodologies to test the psychometric properties of instruments measuring motivations to teach, (b) attempted to measure changes over time in preservice teachers' motivations to teach, or (c) attempted to assess the effects that relevant variables such as age or gender may have on temporal changes in motivations to teach. This study sought to address these perceived deficits in the literature. Results indicate that the instrument developed in this study was reliable and valid across two waves of data collection, that preservice teachers' motivations to teach changed across the course of their first semester of teacher education, and that, in some cases, these changes were related to the age of preservice teachers.
This article reports on an investigation into the motivations of a cohort of pre‐service teacher education students, undertaking a five‐year, full‐time combined undergraduate and initial teacher education degree program at the University of Sydney, Australia. Participants completed an extensive questionnaire which sought to gather data on the characteristics of the cohort; the factors that influenced their decision to undertake a teaching degree; their educational and work backgrounds; their perceptions of teaching, teachers and students; their expectations of teaching as a career; and their professional goals. The study found that a majority of participants made the decision to teach based on reasons that reflect personal aspirations to work with young people to make a difference in their lives; to maintain a meaningful engagement with the subject area they were drawn to; and to attain personal fulfilment and meaning. The study found that more than two‐thirds of the sample intended teaching for at least 10 years after being appointed. The article explores the implications of the findings for early career teacher satisfaction, teacher retention and early career teacher attrition.
This paper is motivated by concern about the decline in the numbers of males entering the teaching profession in Malaysia. It seeks to explore first year student teachers’ views of teaching as a career choice and to determine the factors that influenced their decision to enter the teaching profession. A total of 425 student teachers completed a questionnaire in which they were asked to rate factors that influenced their decision to become teachers following which a comparison by gender was made. The findings of the study reveal that male and female student teachers have similar motives in selecting teaching as a career. Generally, both groups emphasise altruistic and extrinsic factors. This paper discusses the findings in relation to wider issues concerning gender, and draws conclusions which may be helpful to policy-makers and institutions in the recruitment of students into pre-service teacher training.
Identifies and compares the factors that have motivated 176 third-and fourth-year students at the University of Cyprus to choose the elementary school teaching profession. Six factors accounted for 63.3% of the variance: (1) internal motives; (2) job benefits; (3) status of the profession; (4) relatives' influence; (5) external motives; and (6) teacher influence. (SLD)
This paper presents the major findings of a longitudinal study of teachers’ professional identities in the early years of teaching. It analyzes key influences upon the ways in which new teachers’ identities are shaped and reshaped over time. Through their own perceptions, analyses of the school cultures in which they work and their pupils’ views it reveals how the interplay between contextual, cultural and biographical factors affects their teaching practices. Teachers’ personal and professional histories and pre-service training, alongside issues of school culture and leadership, emerge as stronger mediating influences (than previous literature suggests) in determining the kinds and relative stability and instability of professional identities which teachers develop in the early years of teaching and thus the kinds of teachers they become and their effectiveness.
Ordering of names is alphabetical for equal first authors In this large-scale Australian study, we profile the background characteristics and teaching motivations for individuals entering teacher education across three major established urban teacher provider universities in the Australian States of New South Wales and Victoria. Our recently developed and validated ''FIT-Choice'' (Factors Influencing Teaching Choice) Scale determines the strength of influence for a range of motivations from individuals choosing teaching as a career. Findings build upon and extend previous literature relating to reasons for teaching as a career choice, which have not systematically applied current motivational models to developing explanations. Participants were the entire cohorts (N51,653) of first-year pre-service teacher education candidates at three universities in Sydney and Melbourne. Results provide a profile of a large sample of pre-service teachers whose decision to enrol in a teacher education program has been made at a time when the mass media and the general public have increasingly looked upon teaching as a poor career choice. Our new theoretical approach allows us to recommend strategies for teacher recruitment campaigns, based on a comprehensive understanding of individuals' motivations for choosing teaching.
In this study we examined the relationship between teacher and student intrinsic motivation in project-based learning. The
participants were 126 Hong Kong secondary school teachers and their 631 students who completed evaluation questionnaires after
a semester-long project-based learning program. Both teachers and students were asked to indicate their motivation in the
program, and students were also asked to report the instructional support they received from their teachers. The results of
hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that teacher intrinsic motivation predicted student intrinsic motivation directly
as well as indirectly through the mediation of instructional support. When teachers reported higher intrinsic motivation in
the program, their students tended to perceive receiving more support from them and to report higher intrinsic motivation
in the learning experience.
Who enters teaching and why are questions of immense social and political importance throughout the world. This paper presents a scoping review of empirical studies, published between 2007 and 2016, that addressed influences on the choice of teaching as a career. Seventy articles were analysed descriptively and substantively. Our overview of the nature, extent, and range of research published in these articles highlights that most studies focus on motivations for teaching, with intrinsic and altruistic motivations most commonly identified. We argue that a broader range of theoretical perspectives could add fresh insights to the question of why people choose teaching.
This paper reports on findings from an exploratory study carried out in Portugal and Sweden, concerning student teacher recruitment to Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. It addresses issues such as the motivations and expectations of the student teachers regarding the teaching profession. Drawing upon existing related literature, a questionnaire was designed and sent to student teachers in Portugal and in Sweden. In total, 112 and 157 student teachers participated in the study, respectively. Data suggest a given profile of a student teacher making it possible to analyse some of key characteristics in both countries. The comparison between countries in combination with suggestions and recommendations from student teachers indicate that the recruitment process may be supported if the information about the design, content and the aims of ITE programmes are clarified and made explicit.
In this study, the assumption that motivation is relevant for preservice teachers’ engagement to the profession is investigated using the Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT) Choice theory. This assumption is tested in two Dutch teacher training contexts. Survey data from preservice teachers training in training for secondary education level (n = 168) and primary education level (n = 53) were used in stepwise regression analyses. In both contexts, working with children and adolescents was in the top three of important motives to become a teacher. As well, this motive predicted many factors relevant for the engagement to the profession (e.g., planned effort, planned persistence, and leadership aspirations). Differences between the contexts were observed regarding which motives contribute to the preservice teachers’ engagement to the profession.
This interview-based qualitative study is concerned with the recruitment of secondary teachers in Malawi. This study shows a range of perspectives for pursuing a teacher training course: failure to follow a desired career, springboard to other careers, to upgrade, and teaching out of vocation. It shows that trainee teachers held a range of images about teaching: its ability to enhance knowledge; low pay with no incentives, low status profession, and lack of trust of male trainee teachers. Teacher educators and policy makers need to consider the perspectives of trainee teachers to reduce resource wastage and support trainee teachers appropriately.
This study utilized cluster analysis to identify typologies of prospective teachers enrolled in a teacher education program in the U.S. based upon their self-report motivations for teaching. A three-cluster solution generated three distinctive typologies of prospective teachers (N’s of 93, 70 and 52), and further differences among typologies were investigated with respect to participants’ beliefs about teaching.Follow-up semi-structured interviews confirmed meaningful differences found between the clusters with regard to unique combination of motivations and beliefs about teaching relevant to each typology. Implications for teacher education and teacher development are further discussed in relationship with study findings.
In this paper, we report on an inquiry exploring the experiences of 10 mainland Chinese student teachers of English so as to understand why they came to Hong Kong for a teacher education programme. The study revealed that these students were largely attracted to teaching in Hong Kong because of its extrinsic benefits such as professional stability, the prestige associated with the English language teaching profession and the opportunities to acquire valued skills transferable to other professions including English competence. Facing challenges as non‐local students, they were also uncertain of becoming teachers in the new context. As ‘elite’ Chinese students were often unwilling to become teachers, we found it strategic to attract a large number of talented non‐local students to the teaching profession and retain them. We conclude the paper with recommendations for various stakeholders to support these non‐local students' adaptation and development as committed and competent teachers in local schools.
With the decline in applications to teach, this paper examines why teaching is chosen as a career, and considers the extent to which a range of factors identified within a sample of 466 Northern Ireland students was consistent with those identified in the United States, the rest of the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Using analysis of variance, the study also compares the influence of the different factors on sub-groups within the group of teacher trainees surveyed. It is based on the responses to a questionnaire administered to students involved in initial teacher training. The findings showed that, in keeping with earlier research, those in the process of training to teach were attracted to the profession largely for intrinsic reasons, although, to a lesser extent, there was extrinsic motivation too. The implications of these findings are considered in the light of the government's recent teacher recruitment initiatives.
This article analyses the factors influencing the attractiveness of the secondary teaching profession in Zimbabwe. The findings are based on data collected from more than 200 non-graduate student teachers by means of a questionnaire, supplemented by documents and interviews. Among the 21 relevant factors listed in the questionnaire, those relating to salary, fringe benefits and working conditions were considered to have the greatest influence. In particular, benefits similar to those of comparable professions in the public and private sectors were identified as crucial. The author broadens the context of his conclusions by comparing the situation in Zimbabwe to that in other developing countries.
This study explored undergraduates' views of teaching as a career choice. A total of 298 students completed a questionnaire in which they were asked to rate the importance of 20 factors in influencing their choice of career, and then the extent to which they thought teaching as a career offers these factors. A comparison was made between the views expressed by three groups of students: those who were definitely not considering teaching (N = 102), those who were seriously considering teaching (N = 40), and those who were undecided (N = 155). All three groups rated 'a job that I will find enjoyable' as the most important factor influencing their choice of career. However, as we move from the 'definitely not considering teaching' group towards the 'seriously considering teaching' group, there was a shift towards rating as important in their choice of a career those factors which teaching more evidently offers and a more favourable rating that teaching offers these factors (e.g. 'a job which gives me responsibility', 'a job where I can contribute to society' and 'job mobility'). The students who reported that they could be encouraged to consider teaching as a career were also asked to consider measures that might do so. The most highly rated measure was 'an increase in the quality of resources for teaching'.
In order to counter what appears to be a problem for many OECD countries, namely the growing shortage of teachers, it will be crucial to retain pre-service teachers and keep them committed to teaching. Their motivation for becoming a teacher is believed to be relevant in this respect. This study investigated the importance ascribed by 136 Dutch pre-service teachers to multiple motives, using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) theory as a basis. It then investigated how these motives are related to the effort these pre-service teachers plan to invest in their profession, their planned involvement in the profession and their current commitment to the profession. Finally, the results were used to distinguish adaptive motives for becoming a teacher (motives that are positively related to effort, involvement and commitment) and maladaptive motives for becoming a teacher (motives that are negatively related to these constructs). The most important motive identified for becoming a teacher was the pre-service teachers’ belief in their teaching abilities. The least important motive was their perception of teaching as a fallback career.
One hundred elementary school teachers were surveyed to assess: their perceptions of the prevalence of intrinsically- and extrinsically-oriented work incentives in their schools; their perceptions of the prevalence of aversive work conditions in their schools; and their commitment to teaching. Analysis of the data revealed that: (1) the perception of the prevalence of instrinsically-oriented work incentives and perception of aversive conditions in the workplace were powerful predictors of commitment to teaching, while the perception of the prevalence of extrinsically-oriented incentives was not; (2) overall, the respondents expressed greater intrinsic motivation than extrinsic; and (3) respondents who were predominantly intrinsically motivated expressed a slightly higher degree of commitment to teaching than did respondents who were predominantly extrinsically motivated. Professional incentive efforts need to address the intrinsically motivated goals of teachers, while de-emphasizing the use of extrinsically-oriented work incentives. However, in light of the additional effects of perceived aversive work conditions, it is recommended that, to more fully account for teacher commitment, the teacher work incentive position be expanded to include the effects of aversive conditions in the workplace. (Author/JD)
The relationship between goal-orientation, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation for the teaching profession, previous achievement and entrance scores was investigated among teacher applicants (Study 1; N=230), and student teachers (Study 2; N=114). Utilizing path-analyses the following relationships were found in both studies, between: (a) mastery goals and intrinsic motivation, (b) avoidance goals and extrinsic motivation, (c) previous achievement and performance goals, and (d) intrinsic motivation and entrance scores. In sum the findings suggested that goal-orientation was instrumental for long-term teacher motivation and that teacher motivation, in turn, formed a basis for goal-orientation during teacher studies.
The teacher trainees' responses to open-ended questions were used to determine their motives for choosing a career in teaching. The evidence suggests that extrinsic motives were the main determinants for trainees to choose teaching. The reasons “no other choice” (ranked first) and “influence of others” (ranked second) were the most important. Under intrinsic motives the important reasons were “ambition to become a teacher” (ranked third) and “opportunities for academic development” (ranked fourth). Under altruistic motives “like working with children” (ranked fifth) was found to be the most important reason. The findings indicate that a large proportion of the trainees gave reasons for choosing teaching which were extrinsic in nature. Such motive may have important implications on their long-term commitment to teaching and this is highlighted in the final section of the paper.
Investigation of pre-service teachers' views of teaching as profession
- Akarsu
Motivation and commitment: Pre-service teachers from Hong Kong and Mainland China at a training institute in Hong Kong
- Gu