Motives of Masters for the Teaching Profession: Development of the MMTP Questionnaire

Abstract

Increasing teacher shortages provide incentives for conducting research into the motives of future teachers aspiring to work in education. The present study builds on previous research into motivation for entering the teaching profession. Given the shortage of studies carried out with direct empirical foundations, multiphase factor analyses, and large respondent groups, the present research focuses on developing the questionnaire Motives of Masters for the Teaching Profession (MMTP) while meeting these methodological criteria. Master’s students N=1200 described their motivations for entering the teaching profession. Confirmatory factor analysis N=707 was carried out in order to confirm the factor structure produced by the exploratory factor analysis N=145 . On the basis of content and statistical arguments, a 7-factor solution was obtained and a 35-item questionnaire was produced. Future cross-contextual research on the MMTP should attempt to improve the generalizability of the questionnaire.