Attracting Better Teachers in Spain: The Role of Positive Prior Teaching Experiences

• In Event: 34.019 - Global Perspectives on Teacher Motivation

Abstract

Purpose. Attracting better teachers is fundamental to improving education in the Spanish context. Designing projects to enable interaction with prospective students in order to provide a better understanding of teaching as a career can be a way to attract good candidates to the teaching profession.
Framework. After studying the results of the application of the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (Watt & Richardson, 2007) in the Spanish context (Authors, 2016), we realized the vocation’s social status was rated very low, not only in the Spanish sample, but also in comparison with all countries where the scale has been used.
Prior teaching experiences in schools seemed to have an influence on future teachers’ careers decisions (Chang-Kredl & Kingsley, 2014). We hypothesized that there might be an effect of programs that provide this experience with FIT-Choice motivation and perception factors.
Methods. We have designed a program that has been running in Spain for five years now with the participation of 187 high school students. This program consists of: (1) a workshop to discuss their perceptions of teaching, the initial formation of a teaching degree, and how to prepare and give a lesson and (2) informal experience with teaching students in a lower education year and practicing giving a lesson. The program also involves a personal reflection on their teaching experience, as well as an assessment of how well they did. In 2015, we introduced the application of the FIT-Choice scale before and after their experience of teaching (pretest and posttest). The sample for the 2015 edition consisted of 40 students.
Results. Motivation and perception factors means were calculated with this sample (Table 1). Comparing these means with the ones obtained in the Spanish sample with preservice teachers showed interesting results as well as did the comparison of results garnered before and after students’ experience. The study of our qualitative data based on students’ personal reflections sustained the quantitative results obtained.
Comparisons between motivation and perception factors for preservice teachers and high school students indicated that the means were lower on all factors for students. The most highly rated motivations for the students were: shape future of children, enhance social equity, social contribution, and prior teaching and learning experiences; for future teachers: work with children, intrinsic career value, shape future of children, perceived ability, social contribution, and prior teaching and learning experiences. As for the perception factors, high demand and expert career had higher scores for both samples. Social status and salary had lower scores, but social status had the lowest endorsement for preservice teachers.
Comparisons between results before and after the program showed higher scores on all factors after the teaching experience.
Significance. Our results suggest that programs that enable young people to get in contact more closely with the teaching experience could play a relevant motivational role in detecting positively motivated candidates for teaching and/or improving the prestige of this profession.

Authors

• Gloria Gratacos, C.U. Villanueva (UCM)

• Guiomar Nocito

• Santiago Sastre

• Ernesto Lopez-Gomez