Chapter 4 - Factors Motivating Students to Become Secondary School Teachers

Summary

Abstract

Like many countries, Norway has a shortage of qualified teachers. While national authorities have taken action to increase enrolment–for instance, recruitment campaigns–many colleges and universities struggle to attract qualified candidates to their teacher education programs. Therefore, there is a need for research that examines students’ motivation to become teachers and how different motivational factors interact with and influence one another. In this chapter, we present selected results from a survey based on a sample of student teachers studying to teach secondary school in Norway. Factors that were highest rated are emphasised and discussed in relation to theory and findings from other countries. In general, results indicate that motivations to teach among Norwegian student teachers do not differ substantially from those of future teachers in other countries. Second, we accompany the aforementioned discussion with additional data that extend the current understanding of how students think about their careers and study choices during the process of applying for teacher education programs. The results suggest that many student teachers are very conscious of their career choice; further, subject interest may be a main motivator for student teachers approaching secondary education. Third, we investigate how various concepts may be interconnected; more specifically, we examine the relations between gender, intrinsic value, competence perception, and altruism. Results indicate that there are gender differences in altruistic motivation and that individuals who enjoy teaching often want to work with children. Moreover, teaching ability motivation is a stronger predictor of altruistic values than intrinsic value for teaching. Finally, altruistic values are related to their parents’ occupations.