Fallback Career Research Articles

Perceptions of the Teaching Profession and Motivation to Teach among Slovenian University Students

This study examined the perception of the teaching profession among students of social sciences and languages who were finishing their undergraduate studies and intended to continue their studies with a master’s degree. A subgroup of students planning to study for a master’s degree in teaching reported on their motivation to teach and their satisfaction with their career choice, while a subgroup of students who planned to pursue a master’s degree programme without a teaching degree responded to an open-ended question about why they did not want to become teachers. Participants answered the FIT-Choice Scale, which measures twelve motivational factors and six perceptions about the teaching profession. Students recognised teachers’ expertise; however, social status and salary were rated lower, indicating an imbalance between demands and rewards in the teaching profession. Altruistic and intrinsic motives were the main reasons for choosing the teaching profession. Students who will study teaching also rated their ability to become a teacher highly. Extrinsic factors (job transferability, teaching as a fallback career and time for family) were less important. Qualitative thematic analysis of the responses of students who will not study to become a teacher revealed that low intrinsic value (e.g., disinterest in teaching) and low personal utility value (e.g., better professional development elsewhere) were the most common themes. The high job demands due to demanding interactions with children and parents were also mentioned, while the teacher education programme was perceived as excessively extensive. The implications of the study highlight important considerations for policymakers and teacher education programmes.

Exploring changes in EFL preservice teachers’ motivation to enter the teaching profession in the context of policy change

Motivation to become teachers is believed to be a predictor of quality teachers’ professionalism. Particularly in language teaching, teachers with good motivation will support the teaching of English which is considered difficult by many students. However, changes in policy about Education qualification requirement might affect preservice English teachers’ motivation to enter the teaching profession. This study seeks for answers on how this change affects preservice teachers’ motivation to enter teaching profession. Data were in the forms of responses to questions related to participants’ initial motivation and the motivation at their 8th semester. They were collected using an online open-ended survey with links distributed via emails or WhatsApp to 400 English Language Education students. Two hundreds and ninety-nine students (response rate of 74.75%) filled in the survey. The data were analyzed qualitatively by coding and labeling the responses following the types of regulations proposed by the Self-determination Theory (SDT) of motivation. Findings suggest that 48.2% participants reported their initial motivation as Extrinsic, 41.8% Fallback Career, 1.7% Amotivation, 7.4% Intrinsic, and 1% Altruistic. Significant changes from Fallback Career to more autonomous extrinsic types of regulation were identified, where 75.9% participants reported Extrinsic Motivation and 6.0% Fallback Career at their 8th semester. Findings about high initial fallback careers imply the needs for careful selection of language teacher education programs. The fact that fallback careers change implies the hope for future teachers’ better practices, which in turns improve the English teaching in the classrooms.

How to ensure the sustainable supply of childcare educators: factors influencing student teachers’ career choice

IntroductionGuided by the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) model, this study investigates the career choices of student teachers majoring in childcare and analyses the factors influencing their career choices to address the teacher recruitment issue in the childcare industry in China.MethodsA total of 444 participants from vocational colleges were selected, and questionnaires were used to ask about their career choice intention and the influencing factors.Results and discussionThe FIT-Choice model is theoretically acceptable, although the subscales for personal utility value should be reformulated. Students majoring in childcare have a positive but weak intention to become childcare educators. Their career choice intentions are jointly influenced by their social influences, task perceptions, values and fallback career, with task perceptions and values playing mediating roles between social influences and career choice intentions.

Career Motivations as Sources of Teacher Identity in Foreign Language Education

A wide range of factors impact the choice of teaching as a career and result in entry to the teaching profession. The notion that these career motivations may also be possible antecedents of teacher identity was the rationale behind this study. The present study aimed to determine pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ motivation for choosing teaching as a career and teacher identities, and to gauge to what extent career motivations predict their teacher identities. The study, therefore, adopted a correlational design, and more specifically, the multiple regression technique. Participants included 271 undergraduate students majoring in an EFL teacher education program of a state university in Turkey. The data collected through a set of scales were analysed statistically. Results obtained using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) model showed that the three major self-reported career motives were altruistic-type social utility values called shaping future of children/adolescents and making social contribution as well as job transferability, a component of personal utility values. Teacher identity levels appeared to display a steady increase in each of the four grade levels from freshman to senior year. Multiple regression results indicated that career motivations accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in teacher identity. Among career motivations, ability, intrinsic career value and working with children/adolescents appeared to be the three strongest positive predictors of teacher identity, respectively. Following these, time for family and fallback career negatively predicted teacher identity. Based on the findings, educational implications were drawn and directions for future research were discussed.

Motivation for the choice of a teaching career: comparison of different types of prospective teachers in Croatia

ABSTRACT The present study explored motivation for teaching career choice within the FIT-Choice framework among different types of prospective teachers in Croatia. A total number of 634 prospective teachers enrolled in different initial teacher education programmes participated in this study (prospective preschool, classroom and subject teachers). Results revealed that the intrinsic value of teaching, the social value of teaching and perception of own teaching abilities were the most important motives for choosing a teaching career, while the fallback career motive had the lowest ratings across the groups. Analyses also revealed that the motivation of prospective preschool and classroom teachers is very similar and that the importance of intrinsic utility value and social utility value was somewhat less pronounced among subject teachers. Although all prospective teachers expressed a relatively high level of satisfaction with career choice, group comparisons revealed that prospective subject teachers’ satisfaction level was lower compared to the other two groups.

Why Choose Electrical Subjects? Profiling and Analyzing Motivations of Kuwaiti Pre-Service Teachers

The aim of this study was to determine factors that influence Kuwaiti pre-service teachers’ choice of Practical Electrical Subjects by profiling and analysing their motivations. Unlike previous studies that focused on the traditional conceptualisations of intrinsic, altruistic, and extrinsic motivations, this study uses the interpretive lens of Expectancy Value Theory which forms the foundation for the Factors Influencing Teacher Choice model to analyse and describe factors that influence the pre-service teachers’ career choice decisions. One hundred fifty-six pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher education programme completed the Factors Influencing Teacher Choice survey on which they rated 25 motivational factors. T-tests and One-way ANOVA were used to examine differences based on gender and year of study. Self-efficacy beliefs, social utility value, time for family, job security and prior teaching and learning experiences were important career choice determinants. Fall back career was the least important motivational factor. Gender was found to significantly influence their career choice while year of study did not significantly influence their decision. In general, female pre-service teachers appeared to be more motivated to choose teaching electricity as a practical subject than males. The pre-service teachers’ year of the study showed significant variations only regarding social utility values and fallback career. The results of this study would contribute to existing literature on factors influencing pre-service teachers to choose a teaching career that involves vocational or practical subjects’ teachers. Some theoretical and practical implications are drawn for pre-service teacher education.

Why to become a teacher in Iran: a FIT-choice study

ABSTRACT Teaching motivations have recently received wide research attention. The FIT-Choice model (Factors Influencing Teaching Choice) comprising different motivations and perceptions of teaching has been used in different countries to research teaching motivations. In this study, using a valid Persian language version of the FIT-Choice scale, motivations, and perceptions of the teaching of 527 Iranian student teachers were studied. Results showed that some sub-constructs of the FIT-choice model changed or merged with the Iranian sample. The sacredness of the teaching job, which was added to the scale as a separate motivation, did not form a new kind of motivation and was merged with social contribution motivation. In the new structure, social/spiritual function and ability-intrinsic value were the highest motivations, while time for family, and fallback career were the lowest motivations. Moreover, although student teachers viewed teaching as a difficult, poorly-paid job that requires expertise, they were satisfied with their choice of teaching. Results also showed that male and female, science and non-science, and undergraduate and graduate teacher education candidates had different motivations and perceptions.

A Comparative Study of the Motivations to Teach Chinese Between Native and Non-native Pre-service CSL/CFL Teachers.

The present study compared the motivations to teach Chinese between native and nonnative pre-service teachers of Chinese as a second/foreign language (CSL/CFL). The participants included 325 native and 325 non-native Chinese-speaking pre-service CSL/CFL teachers registered in the Masters in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL) programs; the teachers were asked to complete a 24-item questionnaire. Two major findings emerged. First, a similar six-factor teacher motivation was observed for both the native and non-native teachers. Second, the two groups showed non-significant differences in their ratings of the importance of cross-cultural value, intrinsic value, altruistic value, and fallback career choice as types of motivation but differed significantly in their ratings of extrinsic value and social influence. These results highlight the differences and similarities in the motivation of the second language teacher and offer insights into the variables at different levels that might influence the motivation of the second language teacher. Teacher motivation is advised to be taken into account in the training and administration of CSL/CFL teachers to alleviate the problems of teacher shortage outside China.

Motivation Status of Social Studies Teachers

Teaching quality is closely related to teacher qualifications. Motivation, which plays a significant role in teaching, affects the teacher’s performance positively or negatively, which is in turn reflected in student learning. The purpose of this study is to determine the motivational situations of social studies teachers on the basis of their motivations to choose the teaching profession and their satisfaction with their choice, their self-efficacy beliefs and student qualities. In this study, which was conducted according to the case study design, semi-structured interviews were held with 7 teachers. The data obtained were analyzed using content analysis. As a result of the research, important motivation factors that were effective in the selection of teaching as a career were found to be intrinsic career value, prior teaching and learning experiences and a fallback career. Factors of work with children, time for family and having a job were also effective in choosing the teaching profession. It was determined that the teachers were satisfied with their decision to become teachers. In addition, it was found that the teachers' self-efficacy perceptions were not generally high. It was further determined that student qualities had a positive or negative effect on teacher motivation, including low student motivation for the lesson.

Motivation profiles of urban preservice teachers: Relations to socialization, initial career perceptions, and demographics

Given the perennial challenge of attracting and retaining high-quality teachers, especially in large cities, there is a need to understand why preservice teachers in urban districts choose a teaching career, their perceptions of the profession, and how these relate to their initial career commitments and aspirations. Using latent profile analysis, we examined patterns of motivational perceptions with variables from the Factors Influencing Teacher Choice model alongside perceived task effort cost, opportunity cost, and emotional cost of teaching within a diverse sample of 630 preservice teachers. We identified four distinct profiles that differentially related to theorized antecedents (prior teaching and learning experiences, social encouragement, fallback career) and outcomes (satisfaction, planned persistence, planned professional development, leadership aspirations). Race, gender and certification-level were distributed in unique patterns across profiles. Results provide a holistic perspective of preservice teacher motivations and indicate that perceived costs in relation to FIT Choice variables were a defining characteristic of motivational patterns.

Association between Influential Factors and Teaching Profession as Career Choice among Undergraduate Student Teachers: A Structural Equation Study

This study investigated the fitness of the Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT) Choice scale in a Kurdish educational setting among undergraduate teacher-training students (N=1335) encompassing nursery, primary and secondary education. The factors motivating this population to become teachers were examined in the Iraqi-Kurdish educational context. The-FIT-Choice scale was translated into the Kurdish language and its reliability and validity were measured. Intrinsic/altruistic and social utility values were found to be the most important factors behind the choice of the teaching profession as a career. Intrinsic career value, social contribution, the experience of prior learning and teaching were also influential motivational factors in this choice, as were social influences and social status factors compared to similar research conducted in Australian and Turkish educational settings, however, fall back career, job security, time for family, job transferability, the opportunity to shape the future of children and enhance social equity did not demonstrate meaningful value as motivational factors in this survey. One of the most important results differentiating this from other studies was that the addition of moral value factors to the original scale revealed that these values played an important role in students’ perceptions towards the teaching profession as a career.

INSIDE AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM IN VIETNAM: STUDENTS’ MOTIVATIONS FOR TEACHING AND THEIR INTENTIONS TO TEACH

Recent years have witnessed a decrease in both the number and quality of students enrolling in English Language Teacher Education (ELTE) programs. Those ELTE graduates also tend to pursue careers other than teaching. Given the great demand for English language learning at the moment, such low motivation for teaching is undesirable. This study was thus conducted to investigate motivations for teaching of senior students at a language teacher education institution in Vietnam as well as the correlations between these motivating factors and their intentions to teach. Data was collected from 114 senior students using questionnaires, and analyzed using SPSS (version 20.0). Findings from the study suggested that (a) participants displayed a positive prospect of pursuing teaching career; (b) prior teaching and learning experience, making social contribution, and shaping future of children/adolescents were the most influential factors while fallback career, job transferability, and time for family were the least endorsed ones; (c) although teaching is perceived to be part of a respected profession that requires expert knowledge and emotional devotion, teachers are generally underpaid; (d) significant relations were observed between intrinsic career value, satisfaction with choice, social utility values, perceived ability, and prior teaching and learning experience and intentions to teach.

Odnos zadovoljstva odabirom učiteljske profesije i nekih čimbenika odabira

Istraživanje je provedeno u ak god. 2017./2018., među studentima Odjela za nastavničke studije u Gospiću Sveučilišta u Zadru. Cilj je rada bio korištenjem FIT-Choice skale, ustanoviti vezu između zadovoljstva odabirom učiteljske profesije i nekih čimbenika odabira iste. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da se studenti različitih godina studija statistički značajno razlikuju u shvaćanju važnosti plaće kao motivacijskog čimbenika za odabir učiteljske profesije te da postoji pozitivna i statistički značajna povezanost između zadovoljstva odabirom učiteljske profesije i sposobnosti, intrinzične vrijednosti poučavanja, djelovanja na budućnost djece te motivacije za rad s djecom. Nadalje, istraživanjem smo pokazali i da je zadovoljstvo odabirom učiteljske profesije statistički značajno i negativno povezano s odabirom ove profesije kao zamjenske što je, kao i prethodni navedeni nalazi, u skladu s rezultatima drugih istraživanja. Pokazalo se da je intrinzična vrijednost poučavanja najznačajniji prediktor ukupnoga zadovoljstva odabranom profesijom. Na koncu, ovim smo istraživanjem pokušali ponuditi smjernice i poticaje za neka buduća istraživanja koja su povezana s gore navedenim odnosima.

Exploring Serbian teachers’ motivation for teaching with the application of FIT-choice scale

Why choose to become a teacher in Serbia? There is no evidence about teachers? career choice motivation after the newly introduced changes of teacher education in Serbia. The authors examine motivations among (future) class and subject teachers (N=132) applying broadly implemented instrument with fine psychometrical characteristics - FIT-Choice (Factors Influencing Teaching Choice) questionnaire, with an additional factor - Subject. Teachers perceive as most influential factors: Subject, Intrinsic career value, Social utility factors, Perceived abilities and Prior teaching and learning experiences. They were followed by Job security and Time for family, both highly rated. Factors Job transferability and Social influence have ratings above the scale midpoint, while fall-back career was perceived as unimportant. The obtained hierarchy of career choice factors is concordant with the hiererchies obtained previously in Western European countries by FIT-Choice scale. In comparison with previous findings in Serbia, fall-back as a motive lost its significance. Relying on the results exploring the connection of teacher career choice motivation and the career characteristics, we should expect future teachers to be more devoted, more agile in their professional development with less attrition intensions, in comparison to the currently employed teachers, in case that social and economic conditions do not place constraints.

CHOOSING TEACHING AS A PROFESSION: INFLUENCE OF BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS ON FALLBACK CAREER

Personality plays a significant role in influencing motivation for choosing a perspective profession. As empirical evidence confirmed, personality traits conscientiousness, openness to experience, extraversion are in positive correlation with intrinsic motives for choosing teaching as a profession (in negative with personality trait neuroticism), and in negative correlation with extrinsic motivation and fallback career (in positive with personality trait neuroticism). The primary aim of research is to point out the importance of personality traits in career choices via detecting which personality traits are predictors of fallback career. In the research first grade university students (teacher trainees; N = 402) completed the Five Factor Inventory and SMVUP-4-S scale. As results show, Big Five personality traits are in correlation with fallback career and are a significant predictor of fallback career. The Big Five model together explained 17.4% of the variance in fallback career, where personality traits agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and neuroticism has been shown as a statistically significant predictor of fallback career of teacher trainees. Keywords: Big Five, career choice, fallback career, personality traits.

David Polhemus: Every Strike Brings Him Closer to the Next Home Run.

Baseball aficionado, David Polhemus, is not one to let a strike avert a home run, nor does he allow a temporary setback in science prevent him from accomplishing the task at hand. David double majored in Chemistry and Economics at Emory University. He recently graduated with a PhD in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. David currently works in the Lefer lab at Louisiana State University’s Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. David Polhemus I’m from San Francisco, California, born and raised. When I was young, what I cared about most was playing baseball on the street with my friends. I enjoyed sports and being outdoors. Neither of my parents had a scientific background; dad is in finance and mom works in human resources. My parents were incredibly supportive of my education and encouraged me to pursue my interests, not theirs. When I attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, I studied economics for its practical applications, but also studied chemistry. My passion for science further developed during summer vacations when I worked in anesthesia and neuroscience labs as a student intern. I applied for a lab tech position in a cardiovascular research lab at Emory and I immediately fell in love with the field, so much so that a couple of years later I entered a PhD program within the same lab. I have an outstanding mentor, Dr David Lefer, whom I credit for my success. His love for science is inspirational. During my young career, I have had the unique opportunity to play a role in translating a discovery that we made in mice into clinical trials in humans. We found that in mice, hydrogen sulfide improves cardiac remodeling and function during heart failure. Currently, the same hydrogen sulfide drug that we tested in …

“I chose to become a teacher because”. Exploring the factors influencing teaching choice amongst pre-service teachers in Ireland

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the suitability of the FIT-Choice scale for use within an Irish Initial Teacher Education setting with a cohort of first year pre-service teachers (n = 143), from across five different subject disciplines. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to examine participants’ motivations for choosing teaching as a career, as well as their perceptions about teaching. The results were found to be consistent with the original FIT-Choice structure thus supporting the validity of the FIT-Choice scale within this Irish Initial Teacher Education context. Prior teaching and learning experiences, as well as perceived ability, were found to be the strongest influential factors in participants’ decision to become a teacher. These findings further highlight the prominence given to subject-based knowledge in Ireland. The relationships between participants’ motivations for becoming a teacher and their satisfaction with career choice were also examined. Choosing teaching as a fallback career was negatively related to satisfaction, whereas a desire to work with children was found to be a significant positive predictor.

Motivational factors influencing teaching (FIT) as a career: An empirical study of the expatriate teachers in the Emirates

This study aimed to investigate the motivational factors that lead to choice of teaching career in expatriate teachers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A UAE version of the Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT)-Choice scale (Watt & Richardson, 2007) was developed following the pre-testing strategies used by Dillman (2000), Heinz (2013) and Sharif (2014) and applied to identify the factors that most influenced the expatriates choose teaching as a career in the UAE. In a proposed and successfully tested model in this study, altruistic &/or intrinsic and extrinsic factors were found to be the mediator in the relationship between prior teaching & learning experience and social influence, and choice of a teaching career. Some gender differences were observed in case of four factors, ie, fall back career, work with children and adolescents, salary and prior teaching and learning experiences, and implications were discussed. For recruitment campaigns, strategies based on this study findings and understanding of the expatriate teachers’ motivations to adopt teaching as a career in the UAE were discussed. Due to the fact that the most recent study by LinkedIn among 380 million global members highlighted the UAE to be the most popular destination for expatriates surpassing Australia, Canada and Singapore (Maceda, 2015), the findings of this study can be considered to be of value to: (a) altruistically/intrinsically motivated professionals who are international-minded and seeking greener pastures in the UAE, and (b) the UAE policymakers who are working hard to fill the demand-supply gap drawing the attention of expatriates with the right skills and expertise. Finally, the research attempts in this study are seemingly unique in the sense that no previous study on teaching motivation had a combined focus on ‘in-service’, ‘expatriate teachers’ and UAE using FIT-Choice scale.

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.

Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Motivations to Become a Teacher and its Relationship with Teaching Self-efficacy

This study investigated 341 pre-service elementary teachers’ motives to become a teacher using Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) theory as a basis. It then investigated how these motivations change as candidates follow their training and these motivations’ relationship with teaching self-efficacy. The results suggests that Altruistic motives (make social contribution, shape future of children and enhance social equity) were the most influential followed by prior teaching and learning experiences, work with children/adolescents, and job security. Intrinsic motives (perceived teaching ability and intrinsic career value) came next. ANOVA results suggest that the motivations for choosing this profession remain stable between Freshman, Sophomore and Junior candidates. Teaching self-efficacy was positively related to intrinsic motives and negatively related to “fallback career” motives of elementary teacher candidates. Implications of the results are further discussed.