PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

This article was downloaded by: [informa internal users]On: 4 February 2010Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 755239602]Publisher RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Teachers and TeachingPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713447546

To be or not to be … a teacher? Exploring levels of commitment related toperceptions of teaching among students enrolled in a teacher educationprogramMargareta Maria Pop a; Jeannine E. Turner b

a Elementary Education Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA b EducationalPsychology and Learning Systems Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Online publication date: 11 November 2009

To cite this Article Pop, Margareta Maria and Turner, Jeannine E.(2009) 'To be or not to be … a teacher? Exploring levelsof commitment related to perceptions of teaching among students enrolled in a teacher education program', Teachersand Teaching, 15: 6, 683 — 700To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/13540600903357017URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540600903357017

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial orsystematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contentswill be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug dosesshould be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directlyor indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practiceVol. 15, No. 6, December 2009, 683–700

ISSN 1354-0602 print/ISSN 1470-1278 online© 2009 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/13540600903357017http://www.informaworld.com

To be or not to be … a teacher? Exploring levels of commitment related to perceptions of teaching among students enrolled in a teacher education program

Margareta Maria Popa* and Jeannine E. Turnerb

aElementary Education Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA; bEducational Psychology and Learning Systems Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USATaylor and FrancisCTAT_A_435879.sgm(Received 30 October 2008; final version received 23 April 2009)10.1080/13540600903357017Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice1354-0602 (print)/1470-1278 (online)Original Article2009Taylor & Francis156000000December 2009Margareta MariaPopmargareta_pop@ncsu.edu

The present study explored the relationships of preservice teachers’ levels ofcommitment to teaching and their beliefs and perceptions of teaching as a career.Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in a teacher education programat a major university in the southeast. Sixty-seven preservice teachers completeda survey in which they rated the importance of 20 factors for influencing theirchoice of career. Additionally, among the survey respondents, nine students wereselected from three groups of preservice teachers for in-depth interviews: (1)students who were currently considering teaching as a career choice, (2) studentswho were undecided about their future teaching career, and (3) students who wereno longer considering teaching as a career. Overall, findings from this studyrevealed that preservice teachers’ understanding of their goal of becomingteachers and interpretations of their motivation for teaching were unique, yet thetypes of influences on their career choices were similar across participants’stories.

Keywords: preservice teachers; teacher education; career choice; goals

One of the primary objectives of the public school system in the USA is to provide ahigh-quality education for every student. In order to accomplish this goal, it is neces-sary to obtain an adequate supply of competent individuals who are willing to serveas teachers. Unfortunately, several studies show that currently the USA has a crisiswith low teacher recruitment and high teacher attrition (e.g., Darling-Hammond &Sykes, 2003; Guarino, Santibanez, & Daley, 2006; Malderez, Hobson, Kerr, Tracey,& Pell, 2004). In light of the current needs, little research has provided an understand-ing of the motivation of preservice teachers for teaching, nor provided an in-depthexploration of how their views of career choices relate to different levels of commit-ment to teaching. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice teachers’views of teaching as related to their levels of commitment to teaching. More specifi-cally, this study sought to explore preservice teachers’ understanding of their goal ofbecoming teachers and their motivation for teaching with regard to three groups ofstudents: (1) students who were currently considering teaching as a career choice, (2)students who were undecided about their future teaching career, and (3) students who

*Corresponding author. Email: margareta_pop@ncsu.edu

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

684 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

were no longer considering teaching as a career. Participants in this study werepredominantly junior and senior students enrolled in a US university teacher educationprogram. Therefore, all participants had made at least an initial commitment to thegoal of becoming a teacher. Before describing our research, we provide informationabout research and theory related to teachers’ decisions to choose a career ineducation.

Teachers’ career choices

In recent years, several studies have examined individuals’ choice of teaching as acareer. Much of the impetus for this research has come from a concern in many coun-tries that too few individuals choose this career, resulting in a shortage of high-qualityapplicants for teacher education programs. The growing teacher shortage is a realproblem facing the USA as well as many other countries. Recent international reviewsof the state of teacher recruitment suggest that teachers’ shortage is a widespreadproblem and many countries experience this phenomenon (Darling-Hammond, 1998;Fernandez, 1996; Richardson & Whatt, 2005). In addition to needing to train newteachers, recent US reports show that more than 30% of new teachers leave thisprofession within their first five years (Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 2003). For exam-ple, the ‘Teach for America’ program (an alternative teacher-education path) reportedthat an average of 80% of their trained-teachers had left their teaching jobs after twoyears (Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 2003; Guarino, Santibanez, & Daley, 2006).Research focused on understanding teacher attrition (e.g., Richardson & Whatt, 2005;Shen & Hsieh, 1999) highlight the challenges of teaching and the importance ofmaking a commitment to the career of teaching.

Developing the goal of pursuing a teaching career

In addition to the research about teaching attrition, a few contemporary researchstudies in teacher education have investigated the importance and emergence ofpreservice teachers’ goals for pursuing teaching as a career (Minor, Onwuegbuzie, &Witcher, 2002; Schutz, Crowder, & White, 2001). This line of research shows thatpreservice teachers’ goals, reasons, and their beliefs about teaching serve as a frameof reference through which information and ideas are processed (Clark & Peterson,1986; Dweck & Legget, 1988). In a longitudinal study, Schutz et al. (2001) investi-gated the emergent goal of becoming a teacher of eight preservice teachers. In theirstudy, goals were defined as ‘subjective representations of what one would like tohappen and what one would like to avoid in the future’ (Schutz et al., 2001, p. 229).These subjective representations are important in organizing preservice teachers’processes for thinking, acting, and emoting. Their findings revealed four mainsources that were influential in participants’ goal of becoming teachers. These goal-sources were family influences, teacher influences, peer influences, and teachingexperiences (Schutz et al., 2001, p. 299). Schutz et al. (2001) referred to the goal ofbecoming a teacher as a core goal or a life task goal. These types of goals are relatedto life choices such as decisions about education, occupation, and family (Schutzet al., 2001; Schutz, White, & Lanehart, 2000).

Other research investigating individuals’ motivations for choosing a teachingcareer (e.g., Kyriacou, Hultgreen, & Stephens, 1999; Papanastasiou & Papanastasiou,1998; Saban, 2003) suggests that the reasons preservice teachers provide for choosing

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 685

this career fall into three main categories: altruistic, intrinsic, and extrinsic reasons.Students who have altruistic reasons for entering teacher education programs seeteaching as a socially important and worthwhile job; they desire to help childrensucceed, and desire to improve society through teaching. Students, who hold intrinsicreasons for teaching, focus on positive aspects of job activities. These students professa love for teaching or a passion for their specific subject expertise (e.g., mathematicsor biology). Contrary to focusing on positive aspects of teaching-related activities,students who hold extrinsic reasons for teaching focus on aspects of the job that arenot inherent in the work itself. These preservice teachers indicated they tend to focuson external aspects that are associated with the career such as having long holidays,wanting a certain level of pay, or desiring other job-related benefits.

Most studies that investigated preservice teachers’ views of teaching, focusedprimarily on individuals who were highly committed to the goal of becoming ateacher. Kyriacou and Coulthard (2000), however, investigated reasons for pursuing ateaching career of students enrolled in a teacher education program with respect tothree groups: an anti-teaching group, an undecided group, and a pro-teaching group.Their findings reveled that all three groups were strongly motivated by the nature ofjob (i.e., ‘a job that I will find enjoyable’) and ‘pleasant working environment.’Students in the anti-teaching group placed relatively greater importance on ‘goodpromotion prospects’ and ‘high-earnings over length of career,’ while students in thepro-teaching group placed relatively greater emphasis on a ‘job where I will contributeto society’ and ‘a job where I can care for others.’

None of the previous studies analyzed preservice teachers’ understanding of theirgoals of becoming teachers in relationship with different types of motivation forteaching (e.g., intrinsic, extrinsic, or altruistic reasons) and their commitment to acareer in teaching. Additionally, no known studies investigated preservice teacherswho were undecided or who were no longer interested in pursuing a career in teachingto understand ways that preservice teachers’ commitment to the teaching career isrelated to their goals and reasons for entering teacher education programs. Theresearch questions addressed by this study aimed at exploring: (1) how preserviceteachers conceptualize their career goals, and (2) which reasons for teaching (i.e.,altruistic, intrinsic, extrinsic) were the most influential for preservice teachers withregard to their levels of commitment (e.g., current decisions, indecisions, orunwillingness to pursue teaching as a career).

Method

Design and procedures

The present study was conducted in two phases, described below.

Phase I: Descriptive data

In the first phase of the study, 67 students completed an initial survey to collect demo-graphic data as well as participants’ career intentions. The administration of the surveyoccurred during the first two weeks of the semester and requested that studentsprovide demographic and general information (e.g., gender, marital status, age, race/ethnicity, academic major, teaching experience). This survey also requested students’willingness to participate in an interview. To select interview participants, studentswere asked to indicate the extent to which they were currently committed to a teaching

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

686 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

career: (1) Yes, I do intend to pursue a career in teaching; (2) Not sure if I want topursue a career in teaching; (3) I no longer desire to pursue a career in teaching, or (4)Other.

Phase II: Interviews

Following the initial survey, students who indicated they were willing to participatein an interview were placed into one of three groups according to participants’answers regarding their career intentions. Group I, labeled Fully committed to teach-ing, were students who indicated that they currently were intending in pursuing acareer in teaching. Group II, labeled Undecided, were students who indicated thatthey were not sure regarding whether or not they would pursue a career in teaching.Group III, labeled Not currently interested in teaching, included students who indi-cated they were no longer interested in pursuing a career in teaching. From thesethree classifications, nine students (three from each category) were selected to partic-ipate in a face-to-face interview. These nine participants were considered to embodythe best potential source of rich information for interviews (Lincoln & Guba, 1985)representing a variety of students’ demographics (e.g., gender, ages, ethnicity, maritalstatus and majors/specializations).

Participants

Participants (n = 9) in the second phase of the study were recruited from the pool ofsurvey respondents who indicated that they were willing to participate in a face-to-faceinterview. Three different protocol interviews (see sample protocol Appendix) weredesigned for each of the three groups of preservice teachers (i.e., Fully committed toteaching, Undecided, and Not currently interested in teaching).

An analysis of the demographic profile indicated that participants varied in theirethnicity (White/Caucasian, n = 5; Latino/Hispanic, n = 1; African American, n = 3);marital status (Single, n = 7; Married, n = 2); major/specialization (Social Science, n= 4; Math Education, n = 1; PE, n = 1; English Education, n = 1; Elementary Educa-tion, n = 1; Early Childhood Education, n = 1), and years in the teacher educationprogram (Sophomore, n = 1; Juniors, n = 4; Seniors, n = 4). Participants’ ages werebetween 20 and 35. Additionally, 56% (n = 5) of interviewed participants werefemales, and 44% (n = 4) were males. Demographic details for each of the nine inter-view participants are presented in Table 1.

The interviews were audio-taped with the participants’ consent. Semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with each participant for an approximate one hour.Throughout the interviews, participants presented their personal views of teaching asa career choice, reflected on the motivational implications of their choices, andexpressed their understandings of the teaching goal development. The dialogueprovided participants with an opportunity to reflect on their journeys that had broughtthem to choose, or not choose, teaching as a career.

Data analysis

The primary data source for the qualitative analysis was the transcribed interviews. Toincrease the trustworthiness of the qualitative analysis, member checks were

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 687

conducted after the interviews were transcribed (i.e., transcribed interviews wereemailed to participants asking them to provide feedback on the accuracy of interviewconversations). Data were then coded, organized into categories, and analyzed foremergent themes (Creswell, 2007; Glesne, 2006; Marshal & Rossman, 1989;). Threetypes of coding were used: open coding (examination for salient categories), axialcoding (interconnection of categories), and selective coding (connecting categories tothe theoretical propositions). Interviews were analyzed by using an inductiveapproach, a process that involves coding and then segregating data codes into dataclumps for further analysis and description (Carreon, Drake, & Barton, 2005; Glesne,2006).

Reliability and validity of coding

Two coders were involved in organizing and coding the data. Both coders wereknowledgeable about qualitative research methods and also had expertise in the fieldof teacher training. Additionally, both had a background in teaching and werecurrently involved in several research studies investigating preservice teachers’ beliefsand motivations. A coding scheme simultaneously was built and tested by the codersand then revised. To test the coding scheme, one page of transcripts from each inter-view was randomly selected. After the first test coding, an inter-rater reliability of90% was reached. The coding procedures and coding scheme were discussed by thetwo coders with attention on those aspects where they differed. Once 100% agreementin coding was reached, all transcripts were coded. Also, dependability of the qualita-tive findings was ensured by providing rich data from the interviews, by frequentlyusing self-reflexive memos (as a way to reflect and make sense of the data), and bysharing knowledge and data interpretations with colleagues.

Table 1. Interview participants’ demographics (n = 9).

Participant (pseudonym)

Career intention

Ethnicity Age Marital status

Minor/specialization

Year in program

Sarah Fully committed

White/Caucasian 35 Married Social science education

Senior

Mona Fully committed

White/Caucasian 28 Single Math education

Junior

Greg Fully committed

Latino/Hispanic 24 Single Social science education

Junior

Jason Undecided White/Caucasian 21 Single Physical education

Senior

Emily Undecided African American 22 Single English education

Senior

Keddie Undecided African American 23 Single Social science education

Junior

Keith Not currently interested

African American 20 Single Elementary education

Junior

Jessica Not currently interested

White/Caucasian 24 Married Early childhood education

Senior

Dan Not currently interested

White/Caucasian 21 Single Social science education

Sophomore

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

688 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

Findings

To present the findings regarding preservice teachers’ understanding of their goals ofbecoming teachers with respect to their level of commitment, we first present threecase studies that best illustrate the three categories of interview participants (i.e., Fullycommitted to teaching, Undecided, and Not currently interested in teaching). Then,we provide the thematic analysis conducted across all interviewed participants.

The interview results, exemplified by three case studies, present an in-depth anal-ysis of the goal development of preservice teachers. Sarah, Jason, and Keith’s (pseud-onyms) stories are exemplars within their categories. Each story is an illustration ofthe interplay of preservice teachers’ understanding of their motivational contexts, theirreasons for pursuing a degree in teacher education, and their career paths.

Case studies

Sarah: ‘Desire to act altruistically’

Sarah, a 35-year-old student was mother of two children, recently remarried. Hermajor/specialization was social science education and she was a senior at the time ofthe interview. Sarah was working as a substitute teacher for a school district nearbythe university. Her motivation for becoming a teacher was primarily altruistic, butextrinsic reasons were also prevalent. Sarah illustrated one of the main types ofreasons (i.e., altruistic) expressed by all participants in the Fully committed to teach-ing group. Through her story, Sarah illustrated how her actions, thoughts, and choicesin life were directed by her goal to become a teacher. She perceived teaching as anopportunity to help children and her experience in working with at-risk studentsinfluenced her motivation for teaching:

I decided to teach mainly because I like children. I know it sounds corny but … I hopeI can help them to become better people … I have worked in the prison system as a drugcounselor trying to help improve inmate’s life skills, and after seeing many of thembeing released and re-offending I realized that you have to get them when they areyounger, while they are still impressionable.

Although altruistic reasons were predominant, a unique combination of factorsinfluenced her decision to pursue a teaching credential. Sarah’s life stage issues (suchas her marital status, parental experience, age, and current profession) brought upanother category of reasons for teaching – extrinsic reasons. Her parental experienceand professional contexts played an important role in choosing teaching as a career.External reasons for teaching were taken into consideration by Sarah, such as teachingbeing perceived as a suitable job for a women and a family-friendly career:

I came to this choice also because of the benefits of going to work when my children goto school and getting off when my children get off. I think my children helped in mydecision to become a teacher. Becoming a teacher gives me the opportunity to be on theirschedule. When they are in school I will be in school. When they are out, I am out.

Research shows (Kyriacou & Coulthard, 2000; Saban, 2003) that when talkingabout their decisions to become teachers, high-achieving students entering colleges ofeducation straight from high schools, and those students who have tried to pursueother careers prior to considering teaching, commonly highlight the professionalstatus of teachers as a key consideration. However, there are motivational differences

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 689

between those who chose teaching as a career early in life, immediately followinghigh school graduation, and those students who decided later to switch to teachingfrom a different profession. Sarah represented the second category, the preserviceteachers who switched to teaching from a different, yet related profession (i.e.,substitute teacher).

Like many other participants, Sarah expressed that she was interested in becominga teacher from an early age. Life circumstances altered her intentions when shemarried and started a family immediately after high school graduation. Her experienceas a substitute teacher opened a new career perspective for Sarah. She was determinedto complete the teacher education program so that she could be hired as a full-timeteacher and fulfill her initial career goal. Additionally, Sarah, and those preserviceteachers who had held support roles in schools (e.g., paraprofessionals), indicated thatby choosing teaching, they wanted to expand their support roles and achieve a morerespectable status. Sarah perceived teaching as a transition from a support staff(substitute teacher) to a more challenging and highly regarded status.

When talking about her teaching experience and teaching career, Sarah’s state-ments articulated predominantly positive emotions; she frequently used words suchas: ‘excited,’ ‘love it,’ ‘fun’ to describe teaching. For her, teaching was a vocation andshe mentioned no negative feelings toward it:

There are times where I have found myself grinning from ear to ear and literally applaud-ing my students because something in them finally clicked and they know how to applywhat I taught them. It is a very rewarding experience for me and my students. Teachingwas just something that felt right to me. Once I made my decision to pursue education,something inside of me just clicked and I knew I was making the right choice.

Sarah’s story may be illustrative of a student whose choice of teaching career cameearly in life, but due to life circumstances, her chance to become a teacher wasdelayed. Her career decision was shaped by life events, by her emotions, and by herbeliefs.

Jason: ‘I want to be more’

Jason, a 21-year-old single male student, was a senior at the time of the interview. Hewas expecting to graduate very soon with a major in physical education. Jason epito-mized the concept, ‘I want to be more,’ which was common to all participants in theUndecided group. These students expressed the desire to do something more in lifethan ‘just teaching,’ usually willing to continue their education through a graduateprogram. Interestingly, they all mentioned the intention to continue their education infields related to teaching (e.g., guidance counseling or educational research). Jasonexplained:

I would like to go to grad[uate] school and get my master’s in educational psychology,and if I’m happy enough with that, then I’d like to get a position at a university some-where and do research in education – see what’s needed in classrooms, what teachersneed to help them further with education.

What initially attracted Jason, and the other preservice teachers from this category toteaching, were altruistic reasons, such as wanting to help children succeed and thebelief that, through education, society can be improved:

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

690 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

When I first got into education I was doing it more for the sake of wanting to helpstudents. Originally, I wanted to be a guidance counselor, but, more and more, I tookclasses in education. We debated things like people failing to help kids … and it seemslike there needs to be a real reform, but there is not a whole lot of backing [for] that.

Jason’s motivation for teaching was primarily altruistic; this was a constant leit-motiv in his interview when talking about teaching as a choice, or when talking aboutchoosing other related careers. However, Jason also mentioned other factors that influ-enced his career decisions, actions, and motivations, describing his choice of pursuingteacher education as a ‘snowball factor’ effect:

I had a friend, a social work major, and he was talking to me about how I would be reallygood in [social work] and I thought it is something that I’d like to do, but it’s not exactlywhat I want … I wanted to help kids before they got to the social worker … And that’show originally I got to think about guidance counseling and education. Then, [when] Istarted the classes in education, it was like a snowball factor, I just wanted to get moreand more involved.

Similar to students in the Fully committed to teaching group, students in the Unde-cided group expressed primarily altruistic reasons for going into teaching. However,interview participants in the Undecided group seemed to view teaching as being notacademically challenging and less intellectually stimulating for their needs. Therefore,they were interested in pursuing another career through a graduate program – yetinterestingly related to teaching – for altruistic reasons such as helping childrenthrough education. For these students, teaching was perceived as a means to an end,as a link to other related career opportunities:

I feel that I can be a good teacher. But I just feel I wouldn’t be as helpful with teachingas I would be if I’d do research. I just feel like I can do more. I want to be more. I wantto keep my mind growing, I want to keep learning new facts, I want to see how I can takethese new facts and apply [them] to people in society and help them learn new things.For me just to be a teacher – teaching the same thing over and over to just a new classof people – seems repetitive and not stimulating. I need to be stimulated in my careerpath. I feel that, with research in educational psychology, I’ll be able to keep going andhave my mind growing and that’s more helpful to me and also helpful to others.

Emotionally, Jason expressed mixed feelings about teaching, such as joy and anxi-ety. His past experiences in teaching were pleasant, but his indecisions about teachinggenerated feelings of anxiety. His frustration was coming from a concern of not beingable to communicate with children and relate to them: ‘I can’t really relate [to kids]and I don’t feel they can relate to me. I don’t feel that I understand where they’recoming from, or they might not understand where I’m coming from.’

His emotional expressions about teaching were enthusiastic. However, he talkedabout the desire of being more than a teacher, such as working in educational researchand having the opportunity to continue to learn all his life:

Like … the biggest thing with me, if I could go to college for the rest of my life, I prob-ably would. If I could get loans forever and not have to pay them back, and … be ableto [study] like I do … for the rest of my life, I’d be happy.

Jason’s story seems to be illustrative for preservice teachers who are unsureabout rather to pursue, or not pursue, teaching as a career. Various factors, such as

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 691

relationships, coursework, academic experiences, and professional goals havecontributed to his indecisions about teaching as a career. As were all the participantsin this group, Jason remained interested in education (i.e., research or college teach-ing), but was not interested in teaching in the elementary or secondary educationsystem after completing the teacher education program.

Keith: ‘I’m not ready for teaching yet’

Keith, a 20-year-old single male student was a junior majoring in elementary educa-tion at the time of the interview. He indicated on his initial survey that he was nolonger interested in teaching as a career. Interestingly, Keith and the other two inter-viewees from the Not currently interested in teaching group held views that weremore favorable to teaching than anticipated prior to conducting the interviews. Allparticipants in this group expressed desires for teaching, but perhaps later in theirlives. They considered teaching as a fall back plan if their current career interests orgoals (such as coaching, or acting) would not be fulfilled. The main reason expressedby preservice teachers in this group for not being interested in teaching was thatanother career opportunity – one that was perceived as more appealing than teachingwas their current focus (i.e., for financial considerations, or social status). Professionalinterests expressed by the three participants in this category were: coaching, counsel-ing, and acting. Keith’s career aspirations were in sports, coaching basketball at thecollege level, and teaching was clearly a second option: ‘Being a basketball coach ismy first priority. However, if that would not be available for me right away, teachingwould be definitely the fall back plan; that’s still something that I’d like to do, becauseof helping kids.’

Through his story, Keith illustrates a preservice teacher who is not ready forteaching. He perceived himself as not mature enough to take the responsibilities of ateacher. He expressed his concern, explaining:

I am a really quiet person, so, that’s one thing I have to work on. And then, I’m thinkingof how the kids would react to the fact that I just got out of college? I’m fresh, you know?I might want to take some time. I’d like to do coaching, and, if that’s not possible, thenteaching would be something that I want to do. I like kids.

Despite the fact that he aspired to other domains, Keith’s initial motivation forteaching, similar to the other students in this category, was primarily altruistic andintrinsic: ‘My uncle inspired me about teaching. I’d like to start with little kids; hetaught as a college professor, but I think teaching is a gratifying job. I like helpingpeople. That’s why I chose education, for self-gratification’.

Students from the Not currently interested in teaching group had somewhat imma-ture and idealistic views (i.e., desire to become ‘rich and famous’) compared tostudents in the Fully committed to teaching and Undecided groups. Their motivationwas related mostly to their concerns about teaching as being unfavorably perceived bythe public in terms of social status and monetary considerations. Keith seemed to beinfluenced in his career decisions by such factors: ‘I think monetary status plays ahuge role in how people perceive you and teachers are not adequately paid. And withthe recent scandals, I would say teachers aren’t perceived too nobly anymore’.

Additionally, Keith mentioned other perceived drawbacks to teaching such asclassroom management and routine, dealing with the administration in a schoolsystem, lack of recognition for teachers, the workload, and working conditions. He

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

692 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

perceived teaching as having more disadvantages than advantages. But, in spite ofthese considerations, Keith (as well as all preservice teachers in this group) stillconsidered teaching as a potential career and did not dismiss this career option.Indeed, none of the preservice teachers in this group mentioned dropping out of theteacher education program, or changing their majors/specializations.

Keith’s emotions for teaching were diverse; he mentioned both positive andnegative emotions when talking about teaching. He clearly expressed frustrations andanxiety about teaching, especially about communicating with students and classroommanagement. Keith’s story illustrates the preservice teachers who are not yet ready forteaching. Despite the fact that he already made the initial step toward accomplishingthe goal of becoming a teacher, teaching was kept as a fall back plan.

Thematic analysis

Our case studies provided an in-depth examination of preservice teachers’ understand-ing of their teaching goal as related to their levels of commitment to teaching. Caseanalysis suggested four key (inter-related) themes across the data: (1) identity, (2)beliefs, (3) emotions, and (4) opportunities. These themes appeared to be central to theexperience of becoming a teacher, regardless of preservice teachers’ levels of commit-ment to teaching. These general themes represented at the types of influences (factors)that were similar across stories.

The theme of identity

Given the necessity of a perceived role shift from being a non-teacher to becoming ateacher, it is not surprising that a frequent topic brought up during the research inter-views was the ‘theme of identity’. Identity issues were connected to general reasonsfor becoming teachers such as willingness to help children, loving the subject theywould teach, personal experiences, or life stage issues (i.e., parenting). For example,one participant explained his understanding of motivation for teaching as follows:

The most crucial influence in my decision to become a teacher was, and still is, having[awareness] that I will have the ability to change lives and instill to my future studentsthe tools that they will need throughout their lives … Having the ability to impact kidsin a positive way and perhaps be a role model. I think there is nothing cooler than some-one looking up to you.

Often these altruistic reasons are drawn from preservice teachers’ own profes-sional experiences. In Sarah’s case, working with at-risk students changed her viewsof life and triggered desires to work with children. Other times, the preservice teach-ers’ own experiences as students provided a base for altruistic reasons for teaching.Sarah explained:

When I saw how much teachers meant to me, I wanted to do something that could changesomeone so dramatically. It was that feeling of knowing I would be changing a person’slife that has kept the desire to teach inside of me.

Preservice teachers’ self-perceptions played a major role in their decisions, orindecisions, to pursue teaching as a career. Perceptions of themselves as being suitablefor teaching were typical for preservice teachers who were fully committed to

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 693

teaching. They saw themselves as enthusiastic and charismatic and they believed theypossessed the skills and knowledge to teach. One student from the Fully committed toteaching group explained:

As a teacher, I see myself as being charismatic, exciting, and enticing, but also serious.I know that being young and teaching high school may be difficult … but I think once Imake myself established and show my students that I am serious, they will take meseriously. I would like to make information easily available for my students. I wantknowledge to be easily accessible. I do not want any of my students struggling becauseI know that each individual is more than capable of learning; I just need to find out whatit is inside of my students that sparks their interest. I want to keep them interested andon their toes.

This example illustrates also the relationship between identity, beliefs, and goals.The connection among these elements can help explain goal clarification and devel-opment. In their interviews the preservice teachers demonstrated that they are moreprone to choose teaching as a career if they perceive themselves as suited for the joband possessing the skills to do it.

The theme of beliefs

Beliefs in this study referred to preservice teachers’ perceptions of teaching andteachers. Participants frequently talked about issues related to the perceived status ofteaching, teacher quality, and work conditions. These issues were mainly presented asperceived advantages and disadvantages of teaching. A major influence in preserviceteachers’ beliefs about teaching were social issues, such as family and friends’ viewsof teaching, or the public perception of teaching – especially as present through media.An unfavorable public perception of teaching was mostly related to participants’views of financial considerations and lack of positive recognition for teaching. One ofthe participants expressed his view of teaching as being not appreciated by society:

We all know that teachers don’t get paid as much as they should get paid. Teaching isdefinitely important, but they don’t get the respect they obviously deserve … We putsuch an emphasis on money; we have lots of people today watching all these athletes andmovie stars on TV. Teachers don’t have that kind of money; they don’t have that muchof an impact on the economy, or that kind of fame.

In particular, preservice teachers’ beliefs were related to their past and presentexperiences with teaching. This is important in understanding how, for many inter-view participants, the nature of their experiences were influential in making the initialdecision to become teachers and also for choosing to stay in the profession aftergraduation.

The theme of opportunities

Another theme that emerged from the data was the ‘theme of opportunities’. In manyways, the theme of opportunities was closely related to the ‘theme of beliefs’, and canbe considered an extension of preservice teachers’ beliefs. Many participants believedthat other career opportunities could be obtained through teaching and therefore, theteaching profession was perceived as a ‘means to an end’. Opportunities throughteaching that were mentioned by participants were possibilities to travel or to engage

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

694 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

in a family-related business. The most frequently mentioned topic related to otheropportunities through teaching was preservice teachers’ aspirations to pursue a careerthrough a graduate program that was related to teaching (i.e., becoming a researcher,a college professor, or counselor, etc.). Sometimes, their future careers were notclearly seen as particular professions, but rather a desire to continue their education athigher levels:

I would like to have my own house in Winter Park. I would like to have a family, andstart thinking of working on my Ph.D. What I will pursue for my Ph.D., I am not quitesure yet. I know I will be successful.

Traveling was another perceived opportunity that may be obtained throughteaching. Many participants expressed their intentions to obtain a teaching certificatein the USA so they could travel and teach abroad for several years. For example, oneparticipant was particularly interested in teaching in South America:

Ultimately, what I want to do is teach earth science in a South American country, but inan international English-speaking school. I’d like to teach for maybe 5 to 10 years if notmore, if I really like it.

Additionally, some participants considered other career opportunities due to finan-cial and practical security. These opportunities were seen as having a more elevatedsocial status because of monetary considerations. One student explained that: ‘Moneyis important’. He then clarified that ‘money is a lot better coaching football than teach-ing. [Teaching] requires a lot of time, and the amount of work you have to put intoteaching – and to not get paid [well]’.

Career aspirations unrelated to teaching (such as a family business) were notfrequent issues in conversations with participants, but one participant mentioned it inrelationship with the possibility of transferring skills. He perceived teaching as learn-ing about management and leadership. As he explained, once these skills are learned,they could be transferred to other domains:

I do like teaching. I see myself as competent and able to manage a class. However, I doplan to work with my father in the family business, which is selling wholesale jewelry,office supplies, promotional goods, and various other small businesses like a drycleaners and a small ceramic factory, hopefully take over all of them one day.

Additionally, such opportunities sometimes were believed to be more attractivethan teaching, at least at this point in their lives. These opportunities might be inter-preted as distant goals, and are closely related to preservice teachers’ beliefs about theworld. As Schutz et al. explained, ‘What people see in the world is tied in with theirbeliefs about the world and the goals they are attempting to attain and maintain’ (2001,p. 304).

The theme of emotions

A final theme, the ‘theme of emotions’, appeared to play a central role in preserviceteachers’ decisions of becoming teachers. Throughout the interviews, participantsoften expressed feelings and emotions about their teaching experiences or decisions topursue teaching as a career choice. As shown in the case studies, all participants

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 695

expressed positive or negative feelings about teaching. Positive emotions wereexpressed using words such as ‘excited’, ‘love’, ‘relaxed’, ‘feel good’, ‘feel right’.Negative emotions were revealed through words such as ‘panic,’ ‘overwhelming’,‘shock,’ and ‘uncomfortable’.

Emotional expressions of interviewees also revealed preservice teachers’ levels ofconfidence about teaching. Research has shown (e.g., Bandura, 1997; Elliot, 1999;Elliot & Sheldon, 1997) that confidence in embarking on a new task is a necessary,but not sufficient, precursor to success. Data from the case studies revealed variationsin preservice teachers’ levels of confidence about teaching. For some preserviceteachers, their previous teaching experiences and beliefs about teaching triggeredpositive emotions. They perceived teaching as a desirable career and their knowledgeand skills in teaching were seen as confidence-boosting. One student expressed hishigh self-efficacy that related to positive feelings about teaching:

When I’m in front of a class teaching, nothing else is on my mind other than that I lovewhat I’m doing. I have a complete feeling of enjoyment for teaching … But you know,as a person, I am awfully shy in front of my peers. When I’m teaching, though, I don’tget that anxiety. I feel much more comfortable, able to talk to them and not feel as if theymay be mocking me. When you’re standing in front of students I can only feel as if theirattention is focused solely on me. I do feel that I’m a good teacher. Like, I think I amable to convey the correct message; I can get my point across clearly.

However, for some preservice teachers their previous experiences and beliefsabout teaching generated negative emotions, such as anxiety, panic, uncomfortablefeelings. Interestingly, these preservice teachers perceived teaching as a demanding,challenging, and overwhelming job that offered few rewards. In addition to thesenegative feelings and beliefs about teaching, they perceived themselves as being notadequately prepared for teaching and expressed their lack of confidence in theirknowledge and instructional skills.

Discussion and implications

Overall, findings from this study revealed that preservice teachers’ interpretations oftheir motivation for teaching were unique, yet the types of influences on their careerchoices were similar across the stories.

With respect to reasons for choosing teaching as a career, study results indicatedthat preservice teachers from all three groups reported predominantly altruisticreasons for pursuing a teaching career. Research findings on similar studies aboutpreservice teachers’ reasons for becoming teachers (Kyriacou et al., 1999; Kyriacou& Coulthard, 2000; Saban, 2003), and also studies on teachers’ job satisfaction(Brunetti, 2001; Guarino, Santibanez & Daley, 2006) support the idea that the mostpowerful motivators for teaching are altruistic reasons. However, the case study datain our study illustrated the complex, personal, and situated nature of the reasoningbehind participants’ decisions of becoming teachers. Additionally, the thematic anal-ysis provided an in-depth understanding of common threads in preservice teachers’views about teaching and their career choices. Our findings revealed that preserviceteachers’ views of teaching as a career, and their understanding of their goal ofbecoming a teacher was mostly related to how they made sense of their choices inthe context of life experiences; participants viewed and interpreted their decisionsthrough their existing network of knowledge, experiences, beliefs, and expectations.

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

696 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

The research results from both case study and thematic analysis illustrated moredetails for some of these considerations.

Findings from this study bring new understandings of motivational aspects ofcareer choices and how preservice teachers’ motivation is related to identity issues,beliefs, opportunities, and emotions. Most preservice teachers perceived teaching as adesirable career if they saw themselves as having the knowledge and skills to teach,and the confidence to do it. Also, the preservice teachers’ teaching experience in thiscase was associated with positive emotions. The positive emotions were associatedwith a willingness to pursue a career in teaching. Participants in the Fully committedto teaching group had more favorable views of teaching and positive emotions aboutteaching compared to the other two groups of preservice teachers. For those who wereUndecided and those Not currently interested in teaching, their previous experiencesand beliefs about teaching generated negative emotions, and they perceived teachingmostly as a demanding, challenging, and overwhelming job. Additionally, they sawthemselves as not adequately prepared for teaching, and expressed lack of confidencein their teaching skills.

A further possible interpretation of preservice teachers’ emotional expressionsand implicit considerations, relates to stages in personal change processes. Someresearchers have suggested (i.e., Brunetti, 2001; Csikszentmihalyi, 1991) that in anynew project, emotions change over time, moving from uninformed optimism, excite-ment, or arousal, to pessimism – as a result of being more informed – and progressinggradually to feelings of resignation, hope, and then reward. As individuals, preserviceteachers are not only undertaking a new learning project (to become a teacher), butthey are also engaged in changing to a new identity, from non-teachers to teachers.Implications of these results include the need to continue efforts, from teacher educa-tion personnel, to provide effective support that helps preservice teachers navigatethese emotionally charged stages. Hence, findings from this study showed that preser-vice teachers’ understanding of their goal of becoming teachers are clearly related tohow students perceive themselves as teachers, and how they perceive teaching as acareer choice. Knowing how students understand their goal of becoming teachers,how they perceive themselves as teachers, and how they perceive teaching as aprofession, can help both research and practice to thoroughly understand the careerchoices at the individual, as well as at the group level.

Additionally, the findings did not only reveal various aspects related to eachgroup’s choices (i.e., Fully committed to teaching, Undecided, Not currently inter-ested in teaching) and their views of the teaching career, but at the same time, raisedquestions about the educational system’s ability to help these decisions of remainingin teaching, or shifting to teaching. For instance, both the Undecided and Not currentlyinterested to teaching groups revealed positive interests related to the teaching career;therefore the educational system could find ways to support these individuals to enterand remain in the teaching field. The Not currently interested in teaching group,clearly expressed their views of teaching as being a ‘fall back plan’, and that theirprimary motivation for teaching was altruistic. Their plans were to follow other careergoals that were perceived as more appealing because of financial considerations orhigher social status, but still considered that they might return to teaching. Also, willindividuals in the Undecided group – who expressed altruistic reasons for teaching butaspired for ‘something more than teaching’ – consider teaching at some point in theirlives? Policy makers and teacher education recruitment programs can reflect onimplications of such views, and think of ways to attract these individuals to consider

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 697

teaching and remain in teaching, but at the same time satisfy the individuals’ needs forintellectual challenges by providing more academic support.

Another central issue, necessary to be addressed in this context is related to theteacher education quality programs. The teacher attrition problem must be understoodin a larger context, connected to teacher quality and quality teacher education. Anal-ysis of national data shows that teacher preparation is essential for how individualsunderstand their future professional roles, their practices, and consequently their atti-tudes toward the teaching profession (Cebula & Lopez, 1982; Cochran-Smith &Zeichner, 2005). Therefore, a major implication must be considered for the teachereducation programs that must examine the ways they provide preservice teachers withquality program preparation, especially related to providing more effective teachingexperiences. Teacher education programs can find ways to better scaffold preserviceteachers’ development of confidence, self-efficacy, realistic beliefs about the teachingprofession, and positive attitudes toward the profession. Knowing how preserviceteachers view teaching as a profession and what specific reasons for teaching theyhave, can add valuable information in understanding a possible mismatch between thepreservice teachers’ beliefs and expectations about the teaching profession and thereality of teaching practice, which indirectly can fuel teaching attrition.

Findings from this study revealed that different combination of reasons were rele-vant to each preservice teachers groups’ choice of teaching as a career, but at the sametime, common sources of influence were found for the three groups of participants.Further, major implications of such findings can be considered for the educationalprograms and policy makers in presenting teaching as an appealing profession, andcentral to the development of society.

Limitations

The findings from this study may be limited by the cultural aspects of the study’ssettings and by the participants’ demographics. Also, the participants in this studywere following a traditional teacher training program within a large university. Theirviews could be different than other preservice teachers who are following a non-traditional teacher training (i.e., alternative teacher certification routes through variouscollege programs or educational organizations). Another issue is related to partici-pants’ retrospective accounts; their stories could be constructed in a faulty manner dueto cognitive composing processes, to fit with their career choices. Reasonable, coher-ent, even captivating accounts are limited by problems of memory and reporting, andmay be based not on recall but on other cognitive processes such as knowledgeconstruction (McCorkle, 1991). However, despite these limitations, retrospectiveaccounts may still prove valuable in studying the process of personal understandingof career choices.

Implications for future research

Findings from this study provide a useful basis for further exploration of why peoplechoose teaching as a career, and how they understand their choices in the context oftheir motivations, beliefs, and actions. In order to better understand what factorsattract individuals to entering teaching, important implications of this study’s resultsare to be considered for campaigns to increase teacher recruitment. Future researchand follow-up studies also might be interested to explore if such individuals who

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

698 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

expressed indecisions, or were not currently considering a teaching career as preser-vice teachers, reconsidered their career options, and returned to the teaching career. Ifso, it would be interesting to further explore if such individuals are among those wholater are leaving the teaching profession. Or, how many of those preservice teacherswho were fully committed to teaching, expressed altruistic reasons for teaching, andhold positive views about teaching, left the teaching profession? Therefore, furtherdiscussions related to attrition issues, and ways to bridge the teacher educationprograms, policy implications, and the job realities can be addressed by futureresearch.

Contribution from such research can provide insights into both research andpractice regarding changes that need to be made in teacher education programs (i.e.,regarding preservice teachers’ expectations), changes in the realities of teaching(i.e., workplace factors), or both. Students’ beliefs and expectations are more realis-tic if support is provided through practical training in teaching and professionalsocialization contexts. Therefore, teacher attrition can be reduced and more moti-vated individuals can be recruited to the profession, if preservice teachers enter theircareers with more realistic views of teaching and a profound understanding of theircareer goals.

ReferencesBandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.Brunetti, G. (2001). Why do they teach? A study of job satisfaction among long-term high-

school teachers. Teacher Education Quarterly, 28(3), 49–74.Carreon, G.P., Drake, C., & Barton, A.C. (2005). The importance of presence: Immigrant

parents’ school engagement experiences. American Educational Research Journal, 43(3),465–496.

Cebula, R., & Lopez, J. (1982). Determinants of student choice of undergraduate major field.American Educational Research Journal, 19(2), 303–312.

Clark, C., & Peterson, P. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes. In M.C. Wittrock (Ed.), Hand-book of research on teaching (pp. 255–296). New York: Macmillan.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Zeichner, K. (2005). Studying teacher education: The report of theAERA Panel on research and teacher education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among fiveapproaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1991). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harperand Row.

Darling-Hammond, L. (1998). Teachers and teaching: Testing policy hypothesis from aNational Commission Report. Educational Researcher, 27(1), 5–15.

Darling-Hammond, L., & Sykes, G. (2003). Wanted: A national teacher supply policy foreducation; the right way to meet the ‘highly qualified teacher’ challenge. EducationPolicy Analysis Archives, 11(33), 233–238.

Dweck, C.S., & Legget, E.L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality.Psychological Review, 95, 256–273.

Elliot, A.J. (1999). Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement goals. EducationalPsychologist, 34, 169–189.

Elliot, A.J., & Sheldon, K.M. (1997). Avoidance achievement motivation: A personal goalsanalysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 171–185.

Fernandez, J.A. (1996). Education and teachers in Western Europe: Reference paper preparedfor the International Conference of Education, International Bureau of Education,Warsaw, Poland, Geneva.

Glesne, C. (2006). Becoming qualitative Researchers. Boston: Pearson.Guarino, C., Santibanez, L., & Daley, G. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: A review

of the recent empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 76, 173–208.

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice 699

Kyriacou, C., & Coulthard, M. (2000). Undergraduates’ views of teaching as a career choice.Journal of Education for Teaching, 26(2), 117–126.

Kyriacou, C., Hultgreen, A., & Stephens, P. (1999). Student teacher motivation to become asecondary school teacher in England and Norway. Teacher Development, 3(3), 373–381.

Lincoln, Y.S., & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Malderez, A., Hobson, A.J., Kerr, K., Tracey, L., & Pell, G. (2004, September). Why train to

teach? Comparing the motives of trainees following six different routes into training inEngland. Paper presented at European Conference on Educational Research (ECER),University of Crete, Crete, Greece.

Marshal, C., & Rossman, G.B. (1989). Designing qualitative research. Newbury Park, CA:Sage.

McCorkle, M. (1991). A retrospective account of some qualitative research. QualitativeReport, 1(2), 1–18.

Minor, L.C., Onwuegbuzie, J.A., & Witcher, A.E. (2002). Preservice teachers’ educationalbeliefs and their preconceptions of characteristics of effective teachers. Journal ofEducational Research, 96(2), 116–126.

Papanastasiou, C., & Papanastasiou, E. (1998). What influences students to choose theelementary education major: The case of Cyprus. Mediterranean Journal of EducationalStudies, 3, 35–45.

Richardson, W., & Whatt, H. (2005). ‘I’ve decided to become a teacher’: Influences on careerchange. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(5), 475–489.

Saban, A. (2003). A Turkish profile of prospective elementary school teachers and their viewsof teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 829–846.

Schutz, P.A., Crowder, K.C., & White, V.E. (2001). The development of a goal to become ateacher. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(2), 229–308.

Schutz, P.A, White, V.E., & Lanehart, S.L. (2000). Core goals and their relationship to semestersubgoals and academic performance. Journal of College Student Retention: Research,Theory and Practice, 2(1), 13–28.

Shen, J., & Hsieh, C. (1999). Improving the professional status of teaching: Perspectives offuture teachers, current teachers, and education professors. Teaching and Teacher Education,15(3), 315–323.

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010

700 M.M. Pop and J.E. Turner

Appendix. Sample interview protocol for Group I, Fully committed to teaching1. Please tell me a little bit about yourself (for instance, how old are you, about your marital

status or if you have children).2. You’ll be graduating in ___ years (months); please tell me a little bit about your career

plans.3. I’m principally interested in this study, as you know, in exploring students’ motivation for

teaching as a career choice. Please tell me, in your case, what factors have influenced yourdecision to become a teacher? How did you come to this choice?

4. What was the most crucial influence in your decision to become a teacher?5. In what way other people have influenced your decision to become a teacher?6. How any particular life issues influenced your choice of career?7. Do you have any experience in teaching? If yes, can you please tell me a little bit about it?8. How do you see yourself as a teacher? (Probe: You may want to talk about your personal

characteristics, your instructional style and your philosophy of teaching).9. When thinking of you teaching, what kind of emotions (feelings) you associate with this

experience?10. In general, what do you think about teaching as a job? (Probe: For instance, what social

status teachers have, financial considerations, how teachers are perceived today in society,etc.).

11. What do you think would be the most rewarding experiences for you as a teacher?12. What drawbacks do you have when thinking of teaching as a career?13. How do you see yourself and your life, 10 years from now?

Downloaded By: [informa internal users] At: 09:41 4 February 2010