Session Information
10 SES 9.5 PE/PS, Poster Exhibition / Poster Session
Contribution
General description
Teachers’ shortage is observed in many western countries (OECD 2005; Eurydice 2009), due to the increasing age of the teachers and an insufficient esteem of the profession, notably in vocational education and training (VET) in Switzerland.
Since VET plays an essential role in economic development (Achtenhagen & Grubb, 2001) and nearly 3 out of 4 swiss (72,4%) adolescents make the choice to go to the VET after compulsory education (Swiss Federal Statistics Office, 2010), this issue of teacher shortage warrant attention.
One way to better understand why VET teachers tend to be of little attractivity is to observe the motivations and beliefs about profession of those who want to become teachers. In fact, as demonstrated by Watt and Richardson (2007), teachers’ perceptions on their professional activity, in addition to their motivations, should play a role in their career choice.
Theoretical framework
Watt and Richardson (2007) propose a comprehensive framework to investigate the motivations to teach: the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) which is based on the Expectancy-Value theory of motivation (Eccles et al., 1983). The FIT-Choice was adopted in the current study with some modifications to fit the Swiss VET context.
The model is divided into 6 major components about the motivations to choose the teaching career: self-perceptions (perceived teaching ability), intrinsic career value, opportunity, personal utility value (subdivided in time for family and job security), social utility value (promote social equity, work with young people and make social contribution) and antecedent socialization (prior teaching and learning experiences, social influences and dissuasion).
Next to the motivations, several components address the perceptions of the profession: task return (good salary and social status), task demand (high demand and expert career), pedagogical beliefs (direct transmission and constructivist beliefs), and satisfaction with career’s choice.
Research questions
1. What is the relative importance of the motivations to teach and beliefs about teaching in the choice of a career as VET educators?
A significant number of researchers have observed a predominance of intrinsic motivations (Bruinsma & Jansen, 2010; Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000; Richardson & Watt, 2005, 2006), however none of them studied VET teachers. We can nonetheless conjecture that the social utility value of the job, the intrinsic value and the self-perceptions (teaching ability) would be high in VET educators. In contrast, personal utility and antecedent socialization may be less important factors in the choice of this career. Finally, opportunity (choosing the career simply because there is an opportunity to do so) should be qualified as moderately important as it is in our daily observation a non-negligible reason to become VET educator.
Concerning beliefs about the profession, given the current image of the profession in society, we expect task demand to be rated higher than task return. Finally, regarding in pedagogical beliefs, we expect teachers to hold stronger beliefs in constructivism than in direct transmission.
2. To what extent do these motivations and beliefs differ among the three types of VET educators?
This question is exploratory given the paucity of research.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bruinsma, M., & Jansen, E. P. W. A. (2010). Is the motivation to become a teacher related to pre-service teachers' intentions to remain in the profession? European Journal of Teacher Education, 33(2), 185-200. Eccles, J. S., Adler, T. F., Futterman, R., Goff, S. B., Kaczala, C. M., Meece, J. L., et al. (1983). Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In J.T. Spence (Ed.), Achievement and achievement motives. Psychological and sociological approaches (pp. 75-146). San Francisco, CA: W.H. Freeman. Eurydice (2009). Key Data on Education in Europe 2009. Bruxelles : Eurydice. Kyriacou, C., & Coulthard, M. (2000). Undergraduates' views of teaching as a career choice. Journal of Education for Teaching, 26(2), 117-126. OECD (2005). Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. Paris: OECD. Richardson, P.W. & Watt, H.M.G. (2005). “I’ve decided to become a teacher”: Influences on career change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 475-489. 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. Swiss Federal Statistics Office (2010). Education statistics 2009. Neuchâtel: FSO. Watt, H.M.G., & Richardson, P.W. (2007). Motivational factors influencing teaching as a career choice: Development and validation of the FIT-Choice scale. The Journal of Experimental Education, 75(3), 167-202. Watt, H.M.G., & Richardson, P.W. (2008). Motivations, perceptions, and aspirations concerning teaching as a career for different types of beginning teachers. Learning and Instruction, 18, 408-428.
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