Student Teachers Reasons for Choosing Teaching as

a Career

Lim Suat Khoh, Low Ee Ling, Alan Chng and Goh Kim Chuan
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University
Singapore

ABSTRACT
As the sole teacher education institute in Singapore, the National Institute of Education (NIE) prepares
all new teachers for teaching in Singapores Education System. In the last decade, NIEs enrolment for
initial teacher preparation programmes has grown significantly with peaks in the recession years.
There is also some evidence of attrition taking place when beginning teachers complete their bond with
the Ministry of Education. It is thus important to determine empirically the reasons why student
teachers join the teaching profession.

As part of a longitudinal study on beginning teachers attitudes towards teaching and professional
development, a research survey, the first of three data collections, was administered to whole cohorts of
student teachers entering the three main teacher preparation programmes at NIE in July 2004. This
paper presents the survey findings on student teachers range of reasons for choosing teaching as a
career and discusses those differences between cohorts of different programmes.

Introduction and Background

There has been a considerable amount of research both internationally and locally investigating the
factors motivating young people to opt for teaching as a career. However, this area of research remains
highly topical because previous researchers have reported that the type of motivation a student teacher
enters the profession by has a close relationship with the degree of commitment the teacher displays
towards the job in the future (Wang & Fwu 2001). They found that those who were decisive about their
choice for entering the profession and had a great deal of enthusiasm ultimately outlasted their peers in
staying in the profession. Consequently, studying motivation for entering teaching is important for the
purposes of being able to predict possible retention rates in the profession for specific cohorts of
students. The ability to predict retention rates backed by some form of empirical findings is important
in helping a countrys Ministry of Education plan for possible shortages in the teaching workforce as
ultimately, there hardly exists a one-to-one correlation between enrolment figures and teachers entering
and staying in the teaching service.

Previous research has established that there exists a wide range of reasons why student teachers are
attracted to the profession and these include factors related to interpersonal reasons such as the
opportunity to work with young people, the joy and satisfaction in witnessing a childs learning process
and being able to make a difference to their students and to society at large (Stiegelbauer 1992, Synder
et al 1995, Phillips & Hatch 1999). It has also been established that student teachers are motivated by
intrinsic rewards such as the opportunity to express creative abilities, the enjoyment of the challenges
and responsibilities, the opportunity for continual learning and growth and the chance to fulfill a
lifelong dream (Farrell 1980, Allison 1982, Gordon 1993, Dieterich & Panton 1996, Phillips & Hatch
1999). Edmonds, Sharp and Benefield (2002) studied the recruitment and retention of teachers in the
workforce. Their findings suggest that student teachers opt for teaching generally for intrinsic reasons
such as the perception that teaching makes an important contribution to society. Their research also
suggests that people with different profiles are motivated by different reasons. For example, male
student teachers placed more emphasis on extrinsic factors compared to their female counterparts.

According to Moran et al (2001), based on previous research on motives for entering the teaching
profession, three categories of motives may be derived: Extrinsic, Intrinsic and Altruistic Factors.
Extrinsic motivation includes the benefits and perks offered such as good remuneration and having
holidays in sync with ones own children etc. Intrinsic factors may be understood as entering the
profession for job-related factors like the nature of the job, for example, that it provides an avenue for
life-long learning; the perceived good job fit, the many opportunities that the job appears to offer and
so on. Finally, the third category of motives termed as altruistic factors goes beyond any tangible

benefits that the teaching profession has to offer. Instead, those motivated by altruistic reasons to join
the career have a deep passion to teach, a great love for children and desire to make a difference to the
lives of their students. Moran et als (2001) categorization is broadly in agreement with Wang & Fwus
(2001)s suggestion that there appears to be two broad attractions to the teaching profession: those
related to job factors such as the nature and conditions surrounding the job (intrinsic factors) and
external forces that propel one to select teaching as a career (extrinsic factors). It is important to have a
broad overview of the different types of motives young people have for entering the teaching
profession for at least two reasons: Firstly, this enables us to study the correlation between the type of
motivation and the propensity for staying in the teaching profession in the long run. Wang & Fwu
(2001) found that those motivated by intrinsic factors outstayed their peers who were motivated by
extrinsic reasons. Secondly, as Soh (1998) suggests, it is important to achieve a matching between the
motives for entering the profession and the measures taken by the local public authority to make
teaching attractive as any mismatch would result in shorter than anticipated retention rates in the
teaching workforce.

In a study comparing student teachers in Cyprus (University of Cyprus) and the United States
(Pennsylvania State University), Papanasasiou & Papanasasiou (1997) found that intrinsic motives
were more dominant for students from Pennsylvania State University than those in Cyprus. The latter
were attracted to the benefits that they would enjoy after graduation and the job security that their
teacher training provided. The differences in motivation may be a reflection of the different economic
standing between the two countries. There is in fact no guarantee of teaching jobs upon graduation in
the United States and previous studies have shown that most student teachers there are motivated much
more by intrinsic factors rather than extrinsic ones such as expected salaries and the availability of jobs
after graduation (Robertson et al 1983, Hayes 1990, Summerhill et al 1998). The same applies for
student teachers enrolled in the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Britain where 96% of
them asserted that they were largely motivated by altruistic and intrinsic factors such as the joy of
working with children and the high job satisfaction granted by the teaching profession (Reid &
Caudwell 1997).

The study of motives for entering the teaching profession in Singapore began as early as 1968 with the
work of Lau (1968) whose study suggested that the main motives for entering teaching were altruistic
and intrinsic and included reasons such as being able to serve the society and having an interest in
developing the young. Sohs (1981) study confirmed that of Laus and he summarized the motives for
teaching as being linked to the intrinsic nature of the job, the ability to attain self-actualisation (the
highest form of needs under Maslows hierarchy of needs) and a spirit of altruism. In a later study
which Soh carried out on female student teachers (Soh 1989), he found that apart from the earlier
reasons he cited, practical reasons also played a role but that ultimately, a predominant factor remained
that of the fondness for children. Soh (1998) conducted a study on 180 in-service secondary school
teachers and found that with this group of teachers, in-service conditions played an important role in
determining their current decision to be in the profession. Sohs research on different groups of
teachers corroborates the findings made by previous researchers who suggest that student teachers are
motivated by more idealistic and altruistic factors than those already in the service (Bergsma & Chu
1981, Green & Weaver 1992).

Apart from Sohs work, Goh & Atputhasamys (2001) study investigating the motives of student
teachers for entering the different initial teacher training programmes conducted at the National
Institute of Education (NIE) remains to date the most current and comprehensive study on the topic.
The purpose of their study was to investigate whether the governments efforts to introduce incentives
to make teaching an attractive career through salary increases and better career advancement prospects
had a bearing on the motivations behind student teachers opting for the profession. Interestingly, they
found that the top 5 reasons motivating student teachers across the different programmes were altruistic
in nature and included reasons such as the love for working with children, the love for teaching, the
opportunity to influence young lives for the better, the intellectual stimulation provided by the job and
the perception that teaching is a noble profession. In between the rank of preferences lie extrinsic
factors such as the immediate employability afforded by the training and the fringe benefits enjoyed by
teachers. Lowest on the priority list were reasons such as there being no other choice and the perception
that the job was easy.

An interesting and valuable insight offered by Goh & Atputhasamys (2001) study is their attempt to
compare the motives across student teachers from the different primary programmes. The essential

features of these programmes are given in Table 1. The study did not include student teachers from the
PGDE(Sec) programme, only focusing on teachers being prepared to teach in primary schools.

Table 1: Initial Teacher Preparation Programmes at the NIE
Programme Duration Admission Criteria Level being
prepared to
teach
Degree (comprising BA with
Dip Ed & BSc with Dip Ed)
4 years A Level Holders or Polytechnic
Graduates
Primary
Diploma (comprising
Diploma in Education and
other Diploma programmes)
2 years A Level Holders or Polytechnic
Diploma Graduates or Graduates from
Art, Music and Mother Tongue pre-
diploma programmes
Primary
PGDE(P) 1 year University Graduates Primary
PGDE(S) 1 year University Graduates Secondary

They found that the Degree student teachers were significantly more attracted by extrinsic factors,
namely service conditions compared to their Dip Ed and PGDE counterparts. Dip Ed student teachers,
on the other hand, stood out significantly from the other two groups in terms of being motivated by
altruistic factors. No significant difference in motivation were found between the male and female
student teachers across the different programmes while those who no teaching work experience were
significantly more motivated by altruistic reasons perhaps because of their previous job encounters. In
terms of age-group differences, the oldest group (aged 25 and above) differed significantly from the
youngest group (aged between 18-20) by being more motivated by altruistic reasons compared to their
younger counterparts. The older group was also significantly less attracted to teaching on account of
the job security it provided. The youngest group were also the most influenced to join the profession
upon prodding by their teachers, families and close friends.

As currently the sole teacher education institute of Singapore, NIE has the onerous task of ensuring that
its programmes remain current, relevant and productive. Accountability and continuous improvement
in teacher preparation and professional development remain a central mission. The current study is
meant as the initial phase of a longer longitudinal study into the efficacy of teacher preparation and
professional development programmes offered at NIE. To this end, the paper aims to present data on
why student teachers from four initial teacher training programmes offered at NIE have selected
teaching as a career. Ultimately, the aim is to find out in later years whether there is a correlation
between the motives for joining the profession cited in the present study and the length of service the
teacher has accumulated.

While Goh & Atputhasamys (2001) study remains the most comprehensive on the topic of motives for
joining teaching conducted in Singapore to date, there are 3 important differences between their study
and our present one. Firstly, the sample size as a percentage of the total cohorts studied across the three
programmes was 57.3% for the Dip Ed programme, 84.5 % for the degree programmes, and 65 % for
the PGDE(P) programme whereas the sample size for this study targeted the whole population of the
initial teacher preparation programmes. Secondly, the PGDE(S) programme was not included in Goh &
Atputhasamys (2001) study and as this programme has the largest intake in recent years, it is
important to include participants from the PGDE(S) programme and make distinction between
PGDE(P) and PGDE(S) as done in the present study. Finally, the Degree programme investigated in
the earlier study was the Bachelor of Arts/ Science with Diploma in Education. A curriculum review
was conducted on the Degree programme in 2000 and the modified programme, called the Bachelor of
Arts (Education)/Bachelor of Science (Education) was introduced in 2001. As such, there is a need to
collect data from student teachers enrolled in the new Degree programme.


Method

To determine the student teachers ranges of reasons for choosing teaching as a career, the participants
in this study were administered a questionnaire when they were first admitted into the National Institute
of Education (NIE) in July 2004. The questionnaire was administered to the cohorts of the 4 initial
teacher preparation programmes as given in Table 1 with the degree programmes being the BA(Ed)/
BSc(Ed) instead of the BA/BSc with Dip Ed. Table 2 gives the number of participants in each of the
programmes as well as the mean age of the participants and the gender distribution of each programme.

Table 2: Number of Participants by Programme
Programme Degree Diploma PGDE(P) PGDE(S)
Number of Participants 92 170 197 605
Mean Age 20.73 22.76 25.65 25.65
Gender proportions Male: 33.7 %
Female: 66.3 %
Male: 14.1 %
Female: 85.9 %
Male: 19.8 %
Female: 80.2 %
Male: 40.4 %
Female: 59.6 %

The questionnaire required participants to self-report on their main reason(s) for choosing teaching as a
career. Relevant personal profile data such as gender, age, educational background, previous job were
also collected. Participants were also asked whether their parents were teachers and the persons who
had the greatest influence on their choice of teaching as a career.

Results from the questionnaire were analysed by identifying common themes from the statement
responses of the participants through the questionnaire. A list of these themes was then compiled to be
the main reasons which these student teachers chose teaching as a career. Each of the responses was
then coded according to the identified themes. The coding was then validated by the study researchers,
checking for accuracy and frequency. The frequency counts for each of the reasons were then
tabulated for comparison between respondents of the different programmes.

Findings

Main Reasons for Choosing Teaching
From the questionnaires, nine themes were identified as different main reasons for choosing to become
a teacher. The different themes are listed as Categories of Main Reasons in Table 3, accompanied by
examples of statements made by participants to explain the basis why that theme was identified.

The category Love for Children/Young People captured those statements which described the
respondents expressions of his/her liking for children and youth. Associated with these positive
feelings were also the expressed desires to work with, or teach children.

Interest in Teaching category includes those reasons that described respondents keen interest to teach.
Often, respondents reported that they had some experience in teaching and found it to be fulfilling thus
reinforcing their interest in the career.

Those responses that described some goals to be accomplished were categorised as To Fulfill a
Mission. The statements under this theme tend to describe a desired outcome that is driven by a sense
of mission like developing children, or helping them to achieve success. Others mentioned that they
wanted to contribute to society, having benefited from their own education.

There are a variety of statements that the authors of this study categorised them into Job Factor / Fit.
This category captures those statements that describe the desirability of teaching as a career, which
includes the nature of the job (e.g. the job is challenging, it provides life-long learning or it provides
security), its suitability to the respondent, and the opportunities that the job offers.

Some joined the teaching profession because they were Inspired by Role Models. The role models
reported could be former teachers of the respondents, but may also include parents, and others who had
played the inspiring role to them.

There are responses that seem to describe a need To Answer a Higher Calling that can be achieved
through teaching. Student teachers in this category reported a desire to enter into teaching because it
allows them to be able to respond to that calling.


There are those who reported a keen interest in a subject area which they would like to impart to their
students eventually. Those athletically inclined would like to promote sports and physical education,
and likewise those with a passion for the sciences would wish to teach and develop young scientists.
Hence, those who responded in this manner are categorised under For the Love of the Subject.

Those reasons provided which are related to salary and the financial rewards from the job are
categorised under Financial Reasons. These could include the perceived good salary to be drawn, and
the salary to be drawn while still studying which helped to alleviate financial difficulties.

The study also uncovered that there were some respondents who saw Teaching as a Stepping Stone for
other bigger desires. An alternative career perceived to be better, or a means to learn some desirable
skills and knowledge are some of the provided reasons.

Table 3: Student Teachers Reasons for Choosing Teaching as a Career
CATEGORY Examples of Statements
1.
Love of Children / Young
people
I enjoy and I love to interact with kids. I like to interact with
young people
2. Interest in Teaching
Innate feelings that I would be a great teacher one day.
I have an interest in teaching and had taught before.
3. To Fulfill a Mission
To see students grow up. I like to help weaker students
succeed.
To pull students out of the cycle of poverty.
To give back to society.
4. Job Factor or Fit
It is a challenging job.
Wanted a dynamic career.
It offers high job security
The job offers life-long learning opportunities.
5. Inspired by Role Models
My Beloved primary school teacher had inspired me to be a
teacher.
I am inspired by teachers who loved their subjects and taught
passionately
6. To Answer a Calling
To answer the call of God.
I feel that children are my calling and I would like to
influence children and inspire them to reach for their dreams.
7.
For the Love of the
Subject
Possibility of applying computer (IT) skills to teaching.
I have a passion for wanting to teach math to young people
8. Financial Reasons
I feel that the starting pay is good.
I was offered a scholarship by MOE and accepted it because
my parents cant afford to send me to university.
9.
Teaching as a Stepping
Stone
I like to start my own school.
10. Others
Im not very sure the MAIN reason.
Many small reasons and contributing factors helped in this
choice.
Push factors from previous job.

There are statements which do not fall into any of the themes identified and whose frequency counts
may not warrant a separate category. Such statements are categorised into Others. The frequency
counts in this category are small thus confirming that the other nine themes were comprehensive
enough to capture the varied responses from the sample.

Results and discussion
The data was compiled and compared across programmes to identify trends within and across
programmes. As the data is qualitative, only frequency counts and proportions of respondents giving a
particular main reason are meaningful.


The overall data show that the main reasons for choosing to enter the teaching profession fell rather
evenly among four categories which accounted for nearly 85% of the total responses. This data is
shown in Table 4 and represented graphically in Figure 1.

Table 4: Main reason for choosing to join the teaching profession
Reason Frequency Percentage (%)
Love for children/young people 208 19.55
Interest in Teaching 267 25.09
To fulfill a mission 210 19.74
Job factor or job fit 215 20.21
Inspired by role models 55 5.17
To answer a calling 19 1.79
For love of the subject 42 3.95
Financial reasons 22 2.07
Teaching as a stepping stone 12 1.13
Others 11 1.03
No response 3 0.28
Total 1064 100.00


Figure 1: Main Reason for Joining Teaching Profession Overall Percentages for each Reason
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The category with the largest portion of respondents was the category Interest in Teaching, cited by a
quarter of the student teachers. There were 212 respondents who had teaching experience through
relief teaching or untrained teaching stints in schools or through teaching at private schools or giving
private tuition. Among them, 60 respondents (28%) gave Interest in Teaching as the main reason for
coming into the programmes and the influence of teaching experience in developing an interest for
teaching is significant. Conversely, the remaining 207 respondents among the 267 (77.5%) who gave
Interest in Teaching as the main reason were thus not influenced by their own immediate teaching
experience prior to joining teaching.


The other three main reasons were Love for children/young people, To fulfill a mission and Job factor
or job fit. Each of these reason categories were given by about 20% of the respondents. The other
reasons were given by less than 5.2% of the respondents.

As the PGDE(S) formed the largest group among the 4 programmes, the overall data was largely
affected by the respondents from this programme. The data was also analysed in separate programmes.
The proportions of respondents of each programme giving the different reasons are given in Table 5
and together with the ranking of that reason from the most common reason to the least common reason.
The percentages of different programme respondents who gave the different reasons are also
represented graphically in Figure 2.

Table 5: Frequency and Percentage of Respondents for Different Reasons by Programme
Degree
n = 92
Diploma
n = 170
PGDE(P)
n = 197
PGDE(S)
n = 605
Reason
%
Degree
Rank
order
%
Dip
Rank
order
%
PGDE
(P)
Rank
order
%
PGDE
(S)
Rank
order
Love for children/
young people 21.74 1 21.18 2 28.43 1 15.87 4
Interest in Teaching 20.65 2 32.94 1 24.87 2 23.64 1
To fulfill a mission 18.48 3 16.47 4 16.75 4 21.82 2
Job factor or job fit 15.22 4 19.41 3 19.29 3 21.49 3
Inspired by role models 13.04 5 4.12 5 1.52 7 5.45 5
To answer a calling 1.09 7 2.35 7 2.54 5 1.49 8
For love of the subject 6.52 6 2.94 6 1.02 9 4.79 6
Financial reasons 1.09 7 0.00 9 1.02 9 3.14 7
Teaching as a stepping
stone 1.09 7 0.00 9 1.52 7 1.32 9
Others 1.09 7 0.59 8 2.03 6 0.83 10
No response 0.00 - 0.00 - 1.02 - 0.17 -
TOTAL 100.0 - 100.0 - 100.0 - 100.0 -

Figure 2: Main Reason for Joining Teaching Profession Percentages for each Reason by Programme
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Percentage Degree
Percentage Diploma
Percentage PGDE(P)
Percentage PGDE(S)



From Table 5 and Figure 2, it is clear that the first 4 most common reasons were the same four reasons
for each programme although the rank order may be different for different programmes. The reasons
Love for Children and Interest in Teaching were ranked either first or second for all the three primary
programmes. This is consistent with the findings in Goh and Atputhasamy (2001). Interest in Teaching
ranked either first or second in all the 4 programmes. This is a positive finding given the importance of
intrinsic motivation as a major factor to job satisfaction and effectiveness.

For the Degree student teachers, the two most common reasons of Love for Children (21.7%) and
Interest in Teaching (20.6%) were far higher than reasons pertaining to Job Factor or Job Fit (15.2%).
For the Diploma student teachers, the most common reason given was Interest in Teaching (32%)
which was far higher than the second most common reason of Love for Children which was still high at
21.2%. For PGDE(P), Love for Children was the most common reason cited and the percentage of
respondents giving this reason was highest among the programmes.

Looking at the different reasons, it is noteworthy that the PGDE(P) had the highest percentage giving
the reason of Love for Children (28.4%) with the Diploma and Degree student teachers having around
21% giving this reason. Of the PGDE(S) participants, only 15.9% gave Love for Young People as a
main reason. This is probably to be expected since there would be more class management problems at
secondary level than at primary level and it is easier to feel warmth for children rather than for youths.
The demographic data also show that the PGDE(S) programme had the highest proportion of male
student teachers. As caring for the young could be seen to be a more feminine trait, this may also be a
contributing factor for the high ranking of this reason among the primary programmes.

The reason of Job Factor or Job Fit was one of the common reasons given but it was less common
among the degree student teachers (15.2%) when compared to around 20% for the other 3 programmes.
Possibly, teaching as a job was further from the minds of the student teachers who were only in the first
year of their 4-year programme whereas the other student teachers were considering job factors which
were not too far in the future. Also, it could be that those who are in programmes seen to be
professional diplomas view the prospective job fit to be more important than those who are in a
programme which is more academic in nature.

It is also noteworthy that the reason Inspired by Role Models was ranked 5
th
by student teachers from
all but the PGDE(P) programmes. Also, the three programmes had more than 20% of the respondents
(28.3% for Degree, 22.8% for Diploma and 20.8 % for PGDE(S)) giving the strongest influence for
their decision to come into teaching as teachers, principals and lecturers. However, this was the case
for only 8.6 % of the PGDE(P) respondents. The influence of positive role models is thus
considerable in motivating entrants to the teaching profession.

The findings also showed that few respondents cited Financial Reasons as the main reasons for coming
into teaching. Of the 22 who gave this reason, 2 were from the PGDE(P) programme and 1 was from
the Degree programme while 19 came from the PGDE(S) programme. Of these 19 student teachers, 13
of them were scholarship or teaching award holders during their undergraduate degree and the financial
support of teaching scholarships/awards was inducement for them to take up teaching as a career.

Another positive finding is that only 1.3 % of the respondents saw Teaching as a Stepping Stone to
other careers. This means that student teachers are inclined to be dedicated to their roles and work as
teachers and are not using teaching and teacher preparation for other purposes subsequently. These last
two findings are also in accordance with other research findings where extrinsic motivation for joining
teaching is not prevalent.

Conclusion

Theories of motivation all testify to the complexity of motivation itself and that an individual, in
deciding to work, is influenced by a host of motives. As Maslow (1954) puts it, the study of
motivation must be in part the study of the ultimate human goals or desires or needs. (p22). He
elaborated by showing that motivation is governed by a hierarchy of needs physiological which,
when satisfied, leads to safety needs, followed by the need for love and belongingness, self-esteem and
the need for self-actualisation. His theory postulates that an employee could not pursue the next higher
need until his currently recognized need is satisfied.


This present study shows that the need to fulfill basic needs (extrinsic factor) did not feature high in the
order of reasons for coming into teaching. Rather, the altruistic and intrinsic factors account for most of
the statements from the respondents in the four programmes. Perhaps, in the Singapore context, the fact
that all student teachers are paid to study and their tuition fees taken care of by the Ministry of
Education and that starting salaries and increments during ones career are reasonable erases any
serious concern about basic needs, and the intrinsic motives surface as more important. The results
have important implications at two levels.

First, at the recruitment level, the intrinsic and altruistic reasons for candidates to join teaching are a
positive aspect that needs to be recognized and nurtured during the pre-service training.

Second, there is a need to ensure that their motives for coming into teaching are realized during their
teaching career. In other words, there must be a good match between expectations before coming into
teaching and reality when in the profession. Factors that correspond to extrinsic reasons should be
taken care of for all teachers and only in such a situation when basic needs are met could teachers then
concentrate on what they love most the children under their charge and their love for teaching.

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Acknowledgement

This paper is made possible by the funding obtained from the Education Research Fund EP 2/04 GKC:
A Longitudinal Study of Teacher Preparation and Professional Development: Pre-service to Beginning
Teacher awarded by the Ministry of Education, Singapore.