Teaching Career Choice As Motivations: Effects On Students' Self-Regulated Learning Skills

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how students' motivations for attending teacher education programs influence their self-regulated learning (SRL) skills. A quantitative research method was employed with data collected from a questionnaire asking students to provide information on their career choice motivations and self-assessment of self-regulated learning. MANOVA techniques were used for data analysis, with 365 observations conveniently sampled from two universities launching teacher education programs. The findings show a significant difference of SRL between Yes and No responding groups who select their major based on their own interest, their parent's expectations, or as their last choice. Students who decide to attend teacher education programs, because they are interested in this field and feel they are relevant to become teachers, have their academic self-regulation stage measured higher than two others. This finding may enhance a conclusion that motives for selecting a teaching career should be intrinsically originated because self-regulation is an important quality of any person in this era of information and SRL is even vital for teachers to sustain good teaching.