Incentives and disincentives to choose teaching as a profession: A conceptual framework

• In Event: Teacher motivation and professional development

Proposal

As quality teachers play a central role in enhancing students’ learning (Wagner, 2018), attracting high-achieving students to join the teaching force is of great importance in developing and sustaining a quality teacher community (Smylie & Miretzky, 2004). The beginning of 21st century marked a significant transformation in teacher workforce: high demand for new teaching posts, low enrollment in teacher colleges, high turnover rate, or increasing fallback teachers (Heinz, 2015; Johnson & Kardos, 2008). Thus, exploring the incentives to choose teaching as a profession has become critical in teacher education research (Bookhart & Freeman, 1996; Johnson & Kardos, 2008). Cross-cultural comparative studies have provided informative findings, suggesting localized policy initiatives in teacher human capital framework, teacher recruitment, and teacher preparation programs, etc. (Akiba & LeTendre, 2009; Myung, Martinez & Norstrum, 2013; Johnson & Kardos, 2008).
Most studies on teaching choice implied all participants would actually enter the profession. Few studies, however, acknowledged and explored why student teacher graduates hesitated or decided not to begin teaching at all (Bookhart & Freeman, 1996; Moses, Berry, Saab, & Admiraal 2017; Rots, Aelterman & Devos, 2014; Struyven & Vanthournout, 2014). As knowledge of pre-service teachers’ exit the profession is limited, identifying disincentives to teach is beneficial in developing teacher supporting programs to strengthen entry professional commitment. Also, considering cost efficiency of teacher education is salient, particularly in some countries where tuition waiver policy for teacher education is in practice. Reviews of empirical studies on pre-service teachers’ decision to teach revealed two influential theoretical and conceptual frameworks: motivation theory and value-expectation theory (Fray & Gore, 2018; Heinz, 2015). However, current frameworks do not allow researchers to investigate incentives and disincentives together. Insignificant predictors of intent to teach are not equivalent to disincentives. Hence, it is necessary to have a conceptual framework to explain the constructs of and the relationship between the two elements.
The present paper will review empirical studies on pre-service teachers’ teaching decision, to investigate what aspects of career incentives/ disincentives have been examined locally or cross-culturally; what theoretical/ conceptual framework and research methods have been used and to what extent; and particularly, what cultural, socio-economic, or policy-related findings have been discussed in relations to vocational motivations. The selected literature consists of peer-reviewed journal articles, published in English within 2000-2017, and with pre-service teacher participants (senior full-time undergraduates, and K12 teacher preparation programs).
Traditionally, motivation theory identifies altruism, intrinsic and extrinsic factors as influential motivation determinants. However, this categorization in most research lacked comprehensive definitions of each factor and differentiations for overlapped sub-categories (Heinz, 2015). Also, in the context of international comparative education research, it is important to include culturally and contextually diverse participants; and to consider the influences of other socio-economic factors such as opportunity costs and job prospects for better understanding of students’ career choice (Heinz, 2015; Johnson & Kardos, 2008). Despite the strong validity and reliability of the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice model – The FIT-Choice model (Watt & Richardson, 2006), participants in studies utilizing the FIT-Choice survey tool were limited in ten countries (Fray & Gore, 2018; Heinz, 2015), leaving a big gap in international (comparative) research.
Gatzels & Guba (1957) proposed a conceptual framework for “organizational morale” with three components: (1) individual needs and motives, (2) institutional goals, and (2) role expectations. High morale indicates healthy or harmonious interactions to a certain level existing among the three elements, representing the feelings of identification (1 & 2), belongingness (1&3) and rationality (2&3). Conflicts in any relationship pose threats to morale. Applied to the context of teaching choice, the morale framework can also explain in-service teachers’ attrition or burnout. For instance, the feeling of belongingness is threatened when there is the mismatch between a teacher’s need to pursue higher education or spend time with family and the expectation of being a full-time teacher. Morale can be sustained when the school leaders fulfil the teacher’s needs by, for example, allowing his/ her to have a more flexible schedule.
Studying incentives of pre-service teachers also benefit from the framework. My argument is that career choice is made through an interactive process of navigating within the system. The student teacher examines the characteristics of the profession to validate their capacity to deal with the tasks and negotiate the job satisfaction. The higher shared values exist, the stronger incentives the student teacher has to start teaching.
Adapting the theories of organizational morale (Gatzels & Guba, 1957), acquired needs (McClelland & Winter, 1969), and self-determination (Ruy & Deci, 2008), the proposed conceptual framework visualizes the constructs of incentives and disincentives to teach in a Venn diagram of two circles. The first circle represents Individual factors, including individual needs, motives and values (e.g. autonomy, competence, achievement, leadership, service, power, relationship, personality, etc.). The other represents Occupational factors, comprising institutional goals (e.g. students’ achievement, teacher accountability, etc.), professional expectations (e.g. what teachers are expected to do to achieve institutional goals), and socio-economic values (e.g. social status, family/ peer influences, job security, job prospect, cultural values, working conditions, etc.)
Interactions among sub-categories can either expand or shrink the shared area. The overlapped area of the two circles indicates incentives (shared values between individuals and the profession). The bigger the shared area is, the stronger incentives a person has. The unshared area indicates differences or conflicts, creating disincentives. The more incentives compared to disincentives exist, the more committed to the profession the student teacher will be. The framework also shows the influences of political, economic and social changes on both constructs, either positively or negatively.
Initial findings of this study suggest further research on both determinants of pre-service teachers’ entry and exit the profession. Also, it is beneficial to study how much pre-service and in-service teachers know about the teaching profession such as relevant policies, career prospects or life-long learning opportunities. Another recommendation is to create and foster collaborations among teacher colleges, school districts and high schools, regarding career counselling programs for both high school and college students, student-teacher mentorship, summer internship, educational research, teacher assignments, teacher professional development programs, etc.

Author

• Trang T.T Pham, University of Foreign Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University. PhD Candidate in Educational Leadership Program, Department of Education Policy Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, USA