Attitudes and motives for choosing to become a teacher: a comparative analysis of self-assessments of female aspirant early years teachers in Polish, Slovak and Czech universities

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years a number of European countries have been seeking to both improve and harmonise the quality of Higher Education provision, including in the area of Teacher Education. In light of these developments, the research reported in this article addresses the motives of female students in Polish, Czech and Slovak universities in choosing to study early childhood education (early years) teaching and their self-assessment of their preparation for the teaching profession. A preliminary analysis of curricula in the field of early childhood education in the three countries involved in the study showed that most major subjects in all three countries appear to meet the same or similar standards and require similar levels of knowledge, skills, competences. Responses to the research tool indicated that the majority of the respondents made the choice of training to be an Early Years practitioner because of a positive commitment to the profession. The responses of the female students who responded to the survey varied in relation to the students’ self-assessment of their preparation for the profession of early childhood education teacher and differed by country, which will be a cause for academic discussion and further research to discover the determinants of the observed differences.