In German and Austrian education policy, instruction (“Unterricht”) and education (“Erziehung”) are central duties of the teaching profession, although it is striking that education takes second place. The German Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK, 2022) describes the “core task” of teachers as planning and implementing lessons professionally and appropriately, considering different learning conditions and developmental processes. Teachers also have an educational mandate to promote the individual development of pupils with regard to their living conditions and possible disadvantages. In line with this, the Austrian Ministry of Education identifies instruction and education as the main tasks of teachers in the primary school curriculum (status as of September 2024). In contrast, the Swiss-German Conference of Directors of Education (2016) sees education as the responsibility of the parents, while teachers are responsible for instruction and learning at school.

In the German language, school education (“schulische Erziehung”) can be understood as a teacher's offer to a pupil to initiate, promote, and secure values with the help of didactically and methodically prepared learning content (Seibert, 2009). In this way, the school system creates a cultural and social identity for students that promotes and secures the cohesion of society (Fend, 2008). There is a strong connection between instruction and education (e.g. Herbart 1806/1985), as teachers always educate when they teach, for example by creating conditions for learning and conveying values (Mägdefrau, 2013). Although the relevance of the educational mission of schools can be well justified (e.g. Hollstein et al., 2019; Kiel & Seyring, 2020; Liebau, 2009), the competence area of education plays a subordinate role in pedagogical research and teacher training (e.g. Kanold & Liebers, 2021; Kunina-Habenicht et al., 2012).

The present study examines teachers' interests in instruction and education. According to Krapp (2007), interest refers to a person's special relationship to an object (content, topic, field, etc.). The activity undertaken is experienced as valuable and is accompanied by positive feelings such as enjoyment, excitement, and a sense of competence. Interest is generally considered to be a relatively stable person-object relationship over time (Krapp, 2007), although research shows that job-specific interests are less dispositional and more processual (e.g. Hanfstingl, 2008; Mayr, 2010). Moreover, a person's interest in his or her work is an important prerequisite for job satisfaction and success (e.g. Mayr, 1998; Mayr, 2010; Volodina et al., 2015).

The main questions guiding this research are: "To what extent are teachers interested in instructional and educational activities, and how do these interests change over the course of teachers' educational and professional biographies?" According to the current state of research (e.g. Kanold & Liebers, 2021; KMK, 2022; Kunina-Habenicht et al., 2012), interests in instruction are assumed to be more dominant than interests in education. With regard to interests over time, the available empirical findings do not indicate a great variability in interest in instruction, but changes in interest in education are possible (Krapp, 2007; Mayr, 2010). When and to what extent changes occur is unclear, although the career entry phase is likely to be an important stage in a teacher's career.

The data used in this study come from the project "Teachers' Education, Development and Career in Austria" (TEDCA), which investigates the educational and professional biographies of Austrian teachers (Mayr et al., 2022). Pre-service teacher training takes place at university colleges of education as well as at universities in Austria. All teachers in the present sample completed a 3-year training program at a university college and obtained a teaching degree for primary, lower secondary, or special education. TEDCA combines four longitudinal studies with different starting points (TEDCA-85, TEDCA-95, TEDCA-01, and TEDCA-11). The present study includes longitudinal data from TEDCA-95, collected between 1995 and 2018. In addition, cross-sectional data from a final survey in 2018 (wave G) was used, which includes participants from all TEDCA studies. TEDCA contains various questions and scales, including the Teacher Interest Scales (original: “Lehrer-Interessen-Skalen”, LIS) developed by Mayr (1998). From these scales, items on instructional and educational activities were selected based on literature to form the two scales Interest in Instruction (6 items, sample item: making complex topics understandable to pupils) and Interest in Education (6 items, sample item: trying to resolve conflicts between pupils). In the scale heading, participants are asked to rate how much they enjoy carrying out the corresponding activities. The items are rated on a five-point Likert scale. Both scales have satisfactorily high Cronbach's alpha values (α = .73 for both scales). As a result of a principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation, a 2-factor solution was proposed, in which all items load primarily on the intended factor. The present research questions are investigated using a cross-sectional and a longitudinal data structure. The cross-sectional data collected in wave G consists of N1 = 687 (86.2% female) teachers. On average, the participants are M = 38.4 years old (SD = 8.74) and have M = 12.2 years (SD = 8.19) of teaching experience. The longitudinal data come from TEDCA-95 and consist of N2 = 170 teachers (76.5% female). At the time of the last measurement, the participants are M = 43.4 years old (SD = 3.39) and have M = 16.0 years (SD = 4.15) of teaching experience.

In the cross-sectional analysis (wave G, N1 = 687), interest in instruction averages 4.22 (SD = 0.55), while interest in education averages 3.73 (SD = 0.68) (Cohen's d = 0.796). The teachers' preference for instructional activities over educational activities is also found in the smaller longitudinal sample (TEDCA-95, N2 = 170). Participants consistently have a higher interest in instruction at five measurement points over 23 years. Interest in instruction is relatively stable throughout the training and teaching career. In comparison, interest in education shows decreasing values, with the strongest decline between the end of studies and the third year of employment. The presentation uses a multi-line graph to illustrate the development of teachers' interests over time. The impact of gender, type of school, incidental learning opportunities, and intensity of further education on interests in instruction and education is also reported. One reason for teachers' higher interest in instruction in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses could be their training, as educational science has a lower weight in Austrian and German teacher training than subject-specific sciences and didactics (e.g. Kunina-Habenicht et al., 2012). The decline in interest in education after entering the profession can be explained by the fact that, especially in the early years of the profession, a lot of time and commitment is spent on preparing and following up lessons, which means that educational topics take a back seat. Teachers may also be overburdened with classroom management or working with parents in their early years, which makes these topics less attractive. Leading a class requires professional educational skills, the development of which should not be left to chance (Nolting, 2023). The findings reported in this study provide a basis for discussing which practice-relevant educational topics should be taught during teacher training.

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