What factors motivate students to enter teacher education? Do they really want to be a teacher?

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractpeer-review

Abstract

UNESCO (2010) noted that the shortage of qualified teachers is one of the biggest problems to achieve the “Education for All” goals. In 2008, the number of Indonesian primary teachers was 1.6 million but it is projected that by 2015 the number will decrease to 1.4 million because a substantial number of teachers will retire. Despite the low salary and high workload what still attracts students to choose a teaching career? Indonesia has a different educational system and cultural setting compare to Western countries. This paper (1) examines the validity and reliability of an adapted and translated teaching motivations (FIT-Choice) scale in the Indonesian context, (2) describes students’ motivations for entering into teacher education, and, (3) their teaching career plan. The study refers to the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice framework (FIT-Choice; Watt & Richardson, 2007, 2012) which has been empirically validated and employed by researchers in Australia, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Croatia, Switzerland, Turkey, and China. Finalyear teacher education students at two public and two private universities in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia participated in the main study (802). The findings showed that the adapted FIT-Choice scale displayed good construct validity and reliability in this Indonesian setting. Unlike the original sample in Australia, making a social contribution and prior teaching and learning experiences were the main motivations. The majority (81.92%) planned to become a teacher after study completion, 11.72% planned to teach temporarily then switch career, 4.86% intended to pursue non-teaching occupations and 1.50% did not respond. Findings are interpreted in light of contextual factors in Indonesia, to enrich the literature on choosing a teaching career worldwide.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2013
EventJunior Researchers of European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction Conference 2013 - Munich, Germany
Duration: 26 Aug 201327 Aug 2013

Conference

ConferenceJunior Researchers of European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction Conference 2013
Abbreviated titleJURE 2013
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityMunich
Period26/08/1327/08/13

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