Indonesian Students' Motivations to Become Teachers and Their Career Aspirations

• In Event: Aspects Influencing Preservice and Beginning Teachers' Motivations, Aspirations, and Actions

Abstract

Purpose. This paper focuses on two questions: What motivates Indonesian students to enter teacher education? To what extent do their motivations for entering into teacher education influence their professional engagement and career development aspirations?

Framework. This study was founded on the Factors Influencing Teaching-Choice (FIT-Choice; Watt & Richardson, 2007) framework. It is underpinned by the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation (Eccles [Parsons] et al., 1983; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) which proposes that people’s choices, persistence and performance can be explained by their beliefs about how well they will perform an activity and the extent to which they value it. The FIT-Choice framework consists of 12 motivational factors (ability, intrinsic value, fallback career, job security, time for family, job transferability, shape future of children/adolescents, enhance social equity, make social contribution, work with children/adolescents, prior teaching and learning experiences, social influences), five factors for perceptions about the teaching profession (expertise, difficulty, social status, salary, and social dissuasion) and one factor for career choice satisfaction. Factors added to the Indonesian cultural setting were religious influences, “second job” (time for casual work), tuition fee for teacher education (cheaper), admission into teacher education (less competitive), time for teacher education studies (shorter) and media dissuasion.

Methods. Participants were 802 fourth-year undergraduate teacher education students from four Indonesian universities (M age=21.61 years, SD=2.31, 83.16 % women). Measures were adapted as described above from the FIT-Choice scale (Watt & Richardson, 2007) and the Professional Engagement and Career Development Aspirations scale (PECDA; Watt & Richardson, 2008). Correlations among all observed variables were calculated and a structural equation model (SEM) developed based on strong and significant correlations (r > .50) between variables to test the extent to which the predictor variables (motivations) influenced outcome variables (PECDA; planned effort, planned persistence, professional development aspirations and leadership aspirations.

Results. Social utility values (make social contribution, work with children/adolescents, enhance social equity), prior teaching and learning experiences, intrinsic value and religious influences were the main motivations for choosing teacher education, followed by job security and “second job”. Among motivational factors, only intrinsic value, job security and enhance social equity significantly predicted professional engagement and career development aspirations factors. Participants’ planned effort was predicted by intrinsic value and enhance social equity, then it predicted the length of time they planned to stay in teaching. Professional development aspirations were predicted by intrinsic value and enhance social equity, then it predicted leadership aspirations. The SEM model was performed using full responses (listwise n = 668) and data fitted it well, χ² (1173, N = 668) =2.750, TLI=.924, CFI=.930, RMSEA=.051, and SRMR=.053.

Significance. This study contributes to the literature on teacher motivations which has been limited in the Indonesian context. Investigating teacher education students’ professional engagement and career development aspirations is crucial in preparing future teachers and developing policies to attract and retain talented and motivated people in the teaching profession.

Author

• Anne Suryani, LIFT Foundation