Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale Research Articles

Factors Influencing Special Education Career Choices: Interplay of Personality Traits and Identity Statuses

<p style="text-align:justify">Recent research has identified factors influencing the choice of a special education career; however, it has not thoroughly examined their connection with personality traits and identity status. Thus, the present study was designed to explore how different personality traits and identity statuses correlate with the motives and perceptions associated with the choice to teach in special education. The study involved 209 pre-service special education teachers. The NEO-Five Factor Inventory was used to measure the Big 5 personality traits. The Ego Identity Process Questionnaire assessed identity commitment and exploration. The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale was used to evaluate motivations and perceptions about teaching. Regarding the factors that influenced the decision to pursue a career in special education, intrinsic value, shaping children’s future, social equity, making social contributions, working with children, task demands, and job satisfaction were highly rated. Additionally, extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and identity statuses were identified as positive predictors for certain factors influencing the choice of a teaching career in special education. Finally, the study identified two distinct groups of students: "Identity Achievers" characterized by high positive personality traits, and identity commitment, and "Identity Explorers" characterized by lower positive personality traits and higher identity exploration. Differences were observed between the groups in their motives and perceptions concerning teaching in special education. In conclusion, this study highlights the relationships between personality, identity status, and career decision factors, offering insights into the factors that influence this critical career decision among future special educators. Directions for future research are discussed.</p>

“I’ve Decided to Become an English Teacher”: Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Reasons for Choosing Teaching as a Career

Purpose: The present study aimed to probe pre-service EFL teachers’ reasons for choosing teaching as a field of study and future career in the under-researched context of Turkey. The variance in their career motivations in terms of grade level was also examined in the study. Besides, the study aimed to explore whether any of the factors influencing their career motivations predict their academic achievement. Design/Methodology/Approach: The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale (Watt & Richardson, 2006) was administered to 155 pre-service EFL teachers enrolled in the English language teaching (ELT) department of a state university in Turkey. The emergent data were first descriptively analyzed to find out the career motivations of the participants. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was also performed to explore whether grade level significantly affects pre-service EFL teachers’ career motivations. Lastly, a standard multiple regression analysis was used to investigate whether any causal relationships exist between the participants’ career motivations and their achievement as represented by their GPA. Findings: The results of descriptive statistics demonstrated that the participants had moderately high level of career motivations. Grade level did not have any significant impact on their career motivations. The findings of the multiple regression analysis demonstrated that, of the factors affecting teaching choice, only time for family, desire to work with children, intrinsic career values, and desire to make social contribution emerged as the predictors of GPA, explaining 47% of the variance in the pre-service EFL teachers’ academic achievement. Conclusion: In the process of teacher education, it is vital to acknowledge and incorporate the multiple motives of career choice that EFL student teachers hold. Organizing teacher education programs drawing on multiple motives might contribute significantly to completion of teacher education and teacher retention in future profession.

Examination of Personality Dimensions Determining the Career Motivation of Trainee Teachers

"In our research, we are interested in how personality dimensions can influence the career choices of students entering teacher education and the extent to which sport appears as a preference variable in the strength of career motivation factors. There is a shortage of teachers, and the prestige of teachers is low (Borbély, 2016). The contradictory social situation of teachers is characterised by the incongruence of knowledge and material benefits related to the profession and prestige (Fónai, 2014). The teaching career is preferred among people with repressive personality traits (Figula, 2000). In our study, we used the Eysenck personality test and the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale career motivation test. Our sample is given by 244 trainee teachers participating in the teacher training of the University of Nyíregyháza, whose average age is 21.93 years. The sample includes physical education trainee teachers (56.6%) and non-physical education trainee teachers (43.4%) of the undivided teacher training. Students majoring in physical education are more willing to take risks, are more sociable, more extroverted than non-physical education trainee teachers, and are more emotionally stable and respond more calmly to various stimuli. The risk-taking personality trait has a negative effect on career motivation and increases the secondary career nature of the teaching profession. Impulsivity shows a positive relationship with personal usefulness, secondary career path, and social influence, while social conformity shows a positive relationship with the beauty of the teaching profession and social usefulness. Our studies provide a picture of the motivation of the physical education trainee teachers and other trainee teachers, as well as the differences between the groups. It helped to explore the factors influencing teacher career motivation and the degree of correlation. Our research proved that during the time spent in training, the perspective of trainee teachers about the teaching career changes, and their motivation, and thus the attraction of the career, decreases. Keywords: teacher career motivation, personality dimensions, teacher training, physical education teacher "

Psychometric properties of factors influencing Healthcare Career Choice Scale.

AimThe aim of this paper was to modify Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (FIT‐Choice scale) to be appropriate for healthcare professionals and to assess the psychometric properties of the modified scale.DesignA cross‐sectional study was used.MethodsA convenience sample of 395 students at the preparatory stage of their health path participated in study to evaluate the psychometric properties of “Healthcare Career Choice Scale” (HCC Scale). The study involves two phases: instrument modification and psychometric evaluation.ResultsThe content validity index was 0.88. Using factor analysis, 12 factors were extracted and explained 71.8% of the total variance. The internal consistency was demonstrated with Cronbach's α = .91.

Reasons of Preservice Teachers Attending the Pedagogical Formation Certificate Program for Choosing Teaching as a Profession

DOI: Due to social, economic and cultural conditions, preservice teachers’ reasons for choosing the teaching profession differ from country to country. The purpose of the current study is to determine the factors affecting the choices of prospective teachers in the process of preferring the profession of teaching. The participants of the study were 230 voluntary preservice teachers randomly selected from among the students attending the pedagogical formation certificate program in the academic year of 2016-2017. Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (FIT-Choice scale) developed by Watt and Richardson (2007) and then adapted in the Turkish context by Kılınç, Watt and Richardson (2012) was used in the research. The correlation between the pedagogical formation students’ motivation and level of perception in relation to their preferring the profession of teaching was investigated by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It is seen that the obtained model has good fit indices. According to SEM, as a reason for choosing teaching as their profession, while the pedagogical formation students put greater emphasis on desire to work with children/adolescents and secure nature of the profession, they put less emphasis on transferability of teaching (job transferability) and use of the time allocated to the family. Moreover, their satisfaction with their decision to be a teacher seems to be great and it is observed that they have not been affected by the opinions of people around them.

Motivation to Become a Teacher: a Norwegian Validation of the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale

ABSTRACTThe act of newly qualified teachers leaving the profession is a growing challenge, both in Norway and internationally. To address recruitment difficulties, there is a need for further knowledge of prospective teachers’ career motivations. The current study validated a Norwegian translation of the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) Scale. Using a sample of 635 preservice teachers, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The results indicated that the translated scale offers a valid measure of Norwegian students’ motivation to become teachers. Self-perception of teaching-related abilities was one of the main motivational sources, together with the desire to shape the future of children and adolescents and an interest in teaching. Findings are discussed in relation to previous studies based on the FIT-Choice Scale in other countries.

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

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.

Motivation and personality of preservice teachers in Croatia

The study presents results founded upon the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale validation and the relations between personality traits and motivation for teaching in Croatia. A sample of 374 first-year preservice teachers from three universities participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis of the items comprising the Croatian version of the FIT-Choice scale provided support for its construct validity following the omission of six items with low factor loadings. Personality dimensions of the five-factor model provided a set of theoretically meaningful relations with the specific motivational factors determining the choice of teaching profession. In line with previous studies, our results showed that personality traits better predicted intrinsic motivation compared to extrinsic motivation. Two interpersonal dimensions, extraversion and agreeableness, were significant predictors of intrinsic career value, but also of satisfaction with the choice of this profession. Extraversion also predicted ability, whereas agreeableness demonstrated positive relations with social utility value motivations for a teaching career.

Motivations for choosing teaching as a career: An international comparison using the FIT-Choice scale

Motivations for preservice teachers' choice of teaching as a career were investigated using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (FIT-Choice scale; Watt & Richardson, 2007). This scale was initially developed and validated in the Australian context; our study applied it across international samples from Australia, the United States, Germany, and Norway. Support for strong factorial invariance implied the scale functioned similarly, and could fruitfully be employed in different contexts. Sample comparisons revealed that motivations for teaching were more similar than they were different across these samples; whereas, perceptions about the teaching profession tended to reflect country differences.

Choosing Teaching as a Career: Motivations of Pre-service English Teachers in Turkey

This study examined the career motivations of pre-service English teachers at a state university in Turkey. For data collection, an adapted version of the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale was used and 207 pre-service teachers were surveyed. The findings revealed that social utility and intrinsic values of teaching were important career motivations for the participants which were followed by ability related beliefs. Both male and female participants were more intrinsically and socially motivated, while male participants had higher ratings for job security and employment possibilities. There was not a statistical difference between first and fourth graders’ career motivations.