Changes of motivations for choosing teaching career among student teachers during the first year of teacher education in Estonia

Author(s):

Merle Taimalu(presenting / submitting)Piret Luik(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 04 C, Learning to Teach: Reflection, Distress, Motivation

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

09:00-10:30

Room:

B226 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Anthony Malone

Contribution

As many other European countries in Estonia also the situation of teacher education can be described by the low popularity of teaching career among young people and the quite low numbers of good candidates for teacher education (Krips et al., 2009), ageing teachers and the lack of young teachers (OECD, 2011; Loogma et al., 2009). Some studies have also revealed that the big amount of graduated beginning teachers do not enter to the chosen profession (Ots et al., 2008) or see the teaching career as only temporary in their career and leave soon (Loogma et al., 2009).

Many studies in several countries (Australia, USA, Turkish, European countries) have been carried out about factors which influence the choice of teacher career (e.g. Fokkens-Bruinsma & Canrinus, 2012; Kilinç et al., 2012; Klassen et al., 2011; Löfström et al., 2010; Richardson & Watt, 2006; Voltri et al., 2013; Watt et al., 2012; etc).

Generally the results of many studies are similar. The most important motivations for choosing teaching career are intrinsic motives such as working with children/adolescents, perceived teaching abilities, making social contribution, etc (Fokkens-Bruinsma & Canrinus, 2012; Kilinç et al., 2012; Richardson & Watt, 2006; Sinclair, 2008; Voltri et al., 2013; Watt et al., 2012). Some cultural differences have been found also, for example in Turkish study (Kilinç et al., 2012) stability of teacher work has been valued as very important. Among the perceptions about teacher profession the majority of respondents see teaching as demanding high level of expertise and difficult work, but at the same time offering low salary and social status (Fokkens-Bruinsma & Canrinus, 2012; Kilinç et al., 2012; Richardson & Watt, 2006; Watt et al., 2012).

The majority of those studies are cross-sectional, but confessedly to authors only some of them follow longitudinal model (Roness & Smith, 2010; Rots et al., 2012; Sinclair, 2008). It is probable that the motivations and perceptions about teacher work change during teacher education and the process is important to monitor. As the most of the results of cross-sectional studies are similar, the results of previous longitudinal studies are different – according to Roness & Smith (2010) and Sinclair (2008) students’ motivation for teaching stay stable during teacher education, but Rots and her colleagues (2012) assert the contrary – we think that the topic needs further investigation.

The one basic theory under those studies is expectancy-value theory (according to Edwards and Atkinson). The main concepts used in our presentation are motivations and perceptions. With motivations we mean reasons (motives) as something which actuates individuals study to be a teacher (Sinclair, 2008), why one has chosen teaching as a career and wants to become a teacher. Additionally the choice of teaching career is influenced by perceptions – opinions about teacher’s work, ideas about this profession and satisfaction with the choice (Richardson & Watt, 2006).

The aim of the presentation is to give an overview of changes of motivations and perceptions among first year student teachers and search for correlations between those changes and student teachers’ self-assessments their first year studies.

Research questions are the following: (1) Which are the changes during the first year of teacher education in motivations and perceptions influencing the choice of the teaching career; (2) Which are the relations between the changes and student teachers’ self-assessments to their first year studies?

Method

Sample consists of the first year student teachers from Estonia, from two universities – University of Tartu and Tallinn University. Data was gathered in autumn 2012 (in the beginning of the first year of teacher education) and in spring 2013 (in the end of the first year of studies). The size of sample in autumn 2012 was 328, and in spring 2013 there were 257 respondents. The number of student teachers who participated in the both stages of data gathering was 119. Among them there was 78 % from University of Tartu. According to background data there were 11 male and 106 female (2 respondents haven’t marked their sex). Participants were from several curriculums (preschool and class teachers, subject teachers, special education teachers, vocational teachers). The mean age of respondents was 24.9 years (SD=6.8), the youngest respondent was 18 and the oldest 46 years old. About 38 % has some kind of previous experience working as a teacher. The method of data collection was a questionnaire. The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) Scale was used (Richardson & Watt, 2006) which consists of 40 motivation items and 20 perceptions about the profession items. We translated all items into Estonian, and discussed the comprehensibility of each within the research team and also with the authors of the scale. Some items were reworded because these were not appropriate for the Estonian context. Some items and questions were added to the questionnaire used in spring (e.g. about the readiness to work as a teacher after graduation; their own opinion about the change of motivation to be a teacher during the first year of studies; their self-assessments about the first year studies, course-mates and university teachers, etc). Earlier (Taimalu & Luik, 2013) 10 factors for motivations and 6 factors for perceptions have found. Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to find the structural pattern of teaching motivation. Reliability indicators were acceptable for all factors (> 0.7). After that the factor means and the changes between the self-assessments given in spring and autumn were computed. Paired samples T-test was used to compare factor means between the beginning and the end of the first year. Correlation analysis was used to find out relations between the changes of motivations and perceptions and their assessments about the first year studies.

Expected Outcomes

According to student teachers’ self-assessments the motivation to become a teacher has changed during the first year among 2/3 of respondents: about quarter reported the decrease of motivation and about 40 % claimed the increase of motivation to become a teacher. In the end of the first year of teacher education 44 % of student teachers presumed that they will start working as a teacher after graduation, 16 % have not decided yet, but as many as 40 % of student teachers think that they will not enter to the chosen profession after graduation. The comparison of factor means between the beginning and the end of the first year revealed only three significant differences. The motivations factor Social influence (significant others’ opinions) have got significantly higher self-assessments in spring than in autumn (p<.05). Among the perceptions factors two differences were found: factor Expertise (high demands for teacher career) (p<.01) and factor Social dissuasion (other people have suggested choosing some different career) (p<.05) have self-assessed higher in spring than in autumn. We have found also several correlations between the changes of motivations and perceptions during the first year of teacher education and students’ self-assessments to their studies in the first year.

References

Fokkens-Bruinsma, M., & Canrinus, E. (2012a). The Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT)-Choice Scale in a Dutch teacher program. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 40, 3, 249-269. Kilinç, A., Watt, H. M. G., & Richardson, P. W. (2012). Factors Influencing Teaching Choice in Turkey. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 40 (3), 199-226. Klassen, R. M., Al-Dhafri, S, Hannok, W., & Betts, S. M. (2011). Investigating pre-service teacher motivation across cultures using the Teachers’ Ten Statements Test. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 579-588. Krips, H., Taimalu, M., Luik, P., Kukemelk, H. (2009). Estonian students occupational preferences. EARLI 2009 conference Fostering Communities of Learners; Amsterdam, Netherlands; 25-29.08.2009. Loogma, K., Ruus, V.-R., Talts, L., & Poom-Valickis, K. (2009). Õpetaja professionaalsus ning tõhusama õpetamis- ja õppimiskeskkonna loomine. OECD rahvusvahelise õpetamise ja õppimise uuringu TALIS tulemused. Tallinn: Tallinna Ülikooli haridusuuringute keskus. Löfström, E., Poom-Valickis, K., Hannula, M. S., & Mathews, S. R. (2010). Supporting emerging teacher identities: can we identify teacher potential among students? European Journal of Teacher Education, 33 (2), 167-184. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2011). Building a High-Quality Teaching Profession. Lessons from around the world. Pariis: OECD Ots, A., Vaher, K., Selliov, R., & Laanoja, P. (2008). Ülevaade Eesti õpetajaskonnast [Overview of Estonian teaching staff] Retrieved December 12 2012, from www.hm.ee/index.php?popup=download&id=8781. Richardson P.W. & Watt, H.M.G. (2006). Who chooses teaching and why? Profiling characteristics and motivations across three Australian universities. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 34(1), 27–56. Roness, D., & Smith K. (2010). Stability in motivation during teacher education. Journal of Education for Teaching, 36 (2), 169-185. Rots, I., & Kelchtermans, G., & Aelterman, A., (2012). Learning (Not) to become a Teacher: A Qualitative Analysis of the Job Entrance Issue. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 1-10. Sinclair, C. (2008). Initial and changing student teacher motivation and commitment to teaching. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 36 (2), 79-104. Taimalu,M. & Luik,P. (2013). Factors Influencing Teaching Choice among first year student teachers in Estonia. European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction (EARLI), 27-31 August 2013, Munich, Germany. Voltri, O.; Luik, P.; Taimalu, M. (2013). Õpetajakoolituse praktikantide ja kutseaastal olevate õpetajate kutsevalikut mõjutavad motivatsioonitegurid. Eesti Haridusteaduste Ajakiri, 1(1), 97 - 123. Watt, H.M.G., Richardson, P.W., Klusmann, U., Kunter, M., Beyer, B., Trautwein, U., Baumert, J. (2012). Motivations for choosing teaching as a career: An international comparison using the FIT-Choice scale. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 791–805.

Author Information

Merle Taimalu (presenting / submitting)

University of Tartu

Institute of Educational Sciences

Tartu

Piret Luik (presenting)

University of Tartu

Institute of Education