Initial teacher training for secondary education in spain: Profile and motivations of the future teaching staff

Abstract

Initial teacher training is a key element for improving educational quality. The need to improve the skills and abilities of the new teaching staff, and in particular, the motivations that lead the future teacher to choose the masters degree in secondary school teachers are particularly relevant. The importance of knowing these motivations lies in their potential as a predictor of future performance in teaching. In an incipient way, the literature highlights the need to study the motivational profile in the professional development of teachers. However, we consider that the attention given has been scarce so far. In this sense, the objective of this work is to delve further into the motivational analysis of the students of the teacher training masters. To that end, a survey of 512 students of various specialties was carried out in three Spanish universities (Burgos, Córdoba and Jaén), who answered a questionnaire about motivations and vocation for teaching. A factorial analysis was carried out in order to simplify and to learn their main motivations. In addition, a cluster analysis classifies the students according to their main motivation. The data reveals the existence of a negative relationship between both the intrinsic motivation for teaching and the age of the respondent. Moreover, it has also been found that the students of areas of knowledge related to Arts and Humanities show a higher level of intrinsic teacher motivation. On the other hand, the fact of having an earlier postgraduate degree is related to a lower vocation. Thus, understanding the motivations to be a teacher may be of interest to both the educational authorities in charge of the selection of students and those who have the power to plan teacher training from the point of view of curricular design.