Abstract:

South Africa is experiencing high teacher turnover. Studies show that some teachers leave after few years in the profession. The question is what motivates preservice teachers to choose a teaching career if teachers fail to stay long in the profession. The objective of this study was to explore motivations of first year preservice teachers in selecting a career in teaching. The aim was to identify motivation and perception factors that influenced preservice teachers to choose a teaching career. The expectancy-value theory presented a broad theoretical framework to comprehend preservice teachers’ motivations to become teachers. The Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT)-Choice scale which surveyed different classes of preservice teachers’ motivations such as perceived abilities; intrinsic, personal and social utility values; and task perception was used to gather data. Simple random sample was employed to select 156 first year preservice teachers who responded to the questionnaire. The results showed that in the motivation constructs, social utility value factors such as to shape future of children/adolescents and make social contribution were significant. In the perception constructs, satisfaction with choice and perceived teaching ability were also significant. Interestingly, social influences and salary factors were insignificant. These results indicated that preservice teachers chose a teaching career because of intrinsic values instead of extrinsic values such as salary. It is recommended that teacher education programs should inculcate affective commitment in preservice teachers to retain them in the teaching profession. The development of affective commitment in preservice teachers will lead to low teacher turnover in future.

Keywords:

FIT-Choice scale, motivation to teach, preservice teachers, teaching career, teacher education.