Title: Students' motivations to become teachers: FIT-Choice findings from Indonesia

Authors: Anne Suryani; Helen M.G. Watt; Paul W. Richardson

Addresses: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Victoria 3800, Australia ' Faculty of Education, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Victoria 3800, Australia ' Faculty of Education, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Victoria 3800, Australia

Abstract: The motivations for undertaking teacher education and perceptions about the teaching profession were examined among 802 fourth-year undergraduate teacher education students at two public and two private universities in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia (M = 21, SD = 2.31, 83.16% women). Following translations and piloting, participants completed the factors influencing teaching choice scale (FIT-Choice; Watt and Richardson, 2007) with culturally relevant factors added for: 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. The extended scale proved valid and reliable with some modifications (e.g., item teaching qualification modified into teaching certification). Social utility values, prior teaching and learning experiences, intrinsic career value and religious influences were the main motivations for choosing teacher education, followed by secure progression prospects and 'second job'. Choosing teacher education as a fallback career was lowest rated, and correlated positively with all teacher education factors. Teaching was perceived as a highly expert career, with high social status.

Keywords: teacher education students; career motivation; professional perceptions; religious influence; religion; career aspirations; FIT-Choice scale; Indonesia; teaching profession; teaching choice; second jobs; tuition fees; admission competition; study time; media dissuasion; social status; social utility value; prior experiences; intrinsic value; secure prospects; fallback careers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJQRE.2016.077802

International Journal of Quantitative Research in Education, 2016 Vol.3 No.3, pp.179 - 203

Received: 08 Nov 2014
Accepted: 02 Oct 2015
Published online: 15 Jul 2016 *

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