If why Does choosing to become a teacher determine how successful you will be in that role?
It’s always been interesting to society to know what motivates famous athletes, entertainers, and politicians and how they got into their profession. We think about their career trajectories and how it relates to ourselves and others we know. In the same way, what if we knew what motivated people aspiring to become K-12 teachers and used that to predict how effective they will be and how long they will stay in the profession?
Persistent concerns are repeated Nationwide teacher shortageRecent evidence suggests that Declining interest Becoming a teacher reduced Industry specialization, prestige, and rewardsBut honorable people go ahead and choose to educate children anyway. Why do they become teachers despite the headwinds?
As professors and researchers in university teaching and learning programs, we are fascinated by this question. We believe that learning more about teacher motivation can help us better understand the teacher pipeline and find ways to diversify and improve the quality of the nation’s teachers. study To gather more information.
Between 2012 and 2018, approximately 2,800 pre-service teacher students from one of the largest teacher preparation programs in Texas responded to the essay question, “Explain why you decided to become a teacher.” We used natural language processing algorithms to review their responses.
HistoricallyThe reasons why people become teachers are relatively simple: they wanted a stable career, they enjoyed summer vacations, they had teachers in their family, etc. However, across the essay responses, we found that these motivations were neither the most common nor related to teacher outcomes, although other motivations were.
A study of motivation in teacher training courses
To date, researchers have primarily studied the motivations of in-service teachers. We have not learned from those who are already in the profession. still Ways to get into teaching, which will give you a better understanding of how to get and recruit people interested in teaching.
Using machine learning to process thousands of open-ended essay responses, we identified roughly 10 reasons why teacher preparation students want to become teachers.
The two most frequently cited motivations were altruism (the desire to do selfless good deeds) and intrinsic motivation (the enjoyment of teaching, helping and interacting with students/children).Other interesting motivations included the influence of previous teachers, attachment to the subject and family ties to being a teacher, which were mentioned less frequently.
Interestingly, motivations varied by teacher preparation students’ characteristics, including race/ethnicity, gender, family income, and certification.
For example, people pursuing primary school qualifications are more likely to enjoy working with children, while middle and high school teacher training students are more interested in teaching specific subjects. Men are also less likely than women to say they’ve always wanted to be a teacher, suggesting that background characteristics may shape motivation to become a teacher.
Additionally, and more importantly, we found that some teacher motivations were related to improved teacher outcomes: altruism was the most frequently cited answer, but it was not the one most strongly correlated with efficacy.
Specifically, students in teacher training courses I am intrinsically motivated to teach. and Experienced adversity at school They were found to be more effective educators and less likely to leave the classroom early. Individuals with these two motivational factors were significantly and positively correlated with clinical teaching observation scores and were less likely to leave the K-12 public school system within the first few years of enrollment.
Although these were modest effects, the fact that written self-reports of motivation to teach had some significance in these results is noteworthy: motivation is no longer merely an interest; it may have important implications.
From motivation to marketing
By gaining a deeper understanding of what motivates teachers, we can learn more about who can succeed in the profession. More precisely, we want to find people who are intrinsically motivated to teach or who have overcome adversity in education.
These future teachers may be like the following study participant who stated that adversity and the influence of previous teachers motivated him to become a teacher.
“The statistics are not favorable for someone with my background – the daughter of Mexican immigrant parents who grew up in a poor neighborhood, struggled to learn English as a second language, and never finished elementary school. I was fortunate to have many teachers who were role models for me, and I want to give back to others what they did for me.”
How can we get these people into our classrooms?
First, states should consider long-term solutions to teacher shortages, including identifying and recruiting motivated individuals to participate in teacher preparation programs. Policymakers can invest in early education opportunities, such as explicitly designed tutoring and summer programs that encourage individuals to consider a career in education or teaching. Breakthrough Collaboration As an example).
Second, teacher preparation programs need to prioritize strategic marketing, especially in settings where intrinsic motivation to teach comes more naturally (e.g., high schools, college campuses, and preschools).
Third, school districts should consider teacher motivations as part of their hiring process. All else being equal, gaining insight into applicants’ interest in the teaching profession may be valuable because our research shows that some motivations are more effective than others and lead to longer-tenured teachers.
Through these recommendations, classrooms across the country can begin to leverage teacher motivation to enhance student learning.
