Personal characteristics such as motivational factors and interests can be a predictor for successful learning and developmental processes during teacher education (Baumert & Kunter 2006). Studies also show that the alignment of personal characteristics and interests with the occupational environment lead to higher job satisfaction and higher subject-specific interests in the teaching profession (Kaub et al., 2016). According to Hollands (1985) well-known theory of vocational choice, job interest and the congruent choice of an occupation are an expression of one’s personality. Therefore, personal interest in a specific subject domain seems to be an important factor in the context of occupational choice in teacher education. It is assumed that the subject choice is associated with individual interests, motifs and job requirements (Weiß et al., 2012). So far, typical motifs of teacher education students for choosing teaching as a career such as “working with children and students“ and “enhancing/ imparting knowledge“ (Rothland, 2014) have been identified. In general, altruistic and intrinsic motifs outweigh extrinsic, pragmatic interests (Watt & Richardson, 2012; Rothland, 2014; König et al., 2013; Brookhart & Freeman, 1992; Neugebauer, 2013).

In this context, the question arises whether motivations of students differ depending on the subjects (e.g. STEM vs. Non-STEM) they study and how well these motivations fit to the social environment and pedagogical tasks of the teaching profession. Findings from Kaub et al. (2016) show that student teachers studying a scientific subject combination have a poorer fit to the social occupational environment of schools than their fellow students. Our study therefore examines possible differences in motivations of student teachers depending on their teaching domain. In the present study, we examine whether differences in motivations of beginning teacher education students exist. Additionally, we examine whether students of different teaching domains also show different motivations concerning the level they teach in (lower or upper secondary schools).

The following research questions will be answered: The first research question asks if students’ motivations for choosing teaching as a career differ in relation to their subject domains such as STEM, languages and social sciences. The second research question asks if students of STEM subjects differ in their altruistic and intrinsic motivations compared to students of Non-STEM domains. A third questions deals with differences between students of different school tracks and their subject domains: Do motivations differ between students who want to teach at lower secondary school levels and those who want to teach at higher secondary school levels? Here, the respective subject domains will again be taken into account.

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