MOTIVATION FOR CHOOSING TEACHING AS A CAREER: AN INVESTIGATION AMONG PRE-SERVICE AND IN-SERVICE TEACHERS

A brief look in the Romanian media of the last years reveals an unattractive image of the teachers. This profession also seems to look unattractive for the college students. The aims of this study are: 1). to offer a closer look on the students' motivation for choosing a career in teaching and to analyze how this motivation is influenced by media communication and social stereotypes; 2) to compare opinions about the teaching profession between the high school students, pre-service teachers and in-service teachers. An adapted version of the FIT-Choice Scale (Watt & Richardson, 2007) has been utilized as an instrument of investigation. This instrument is based on an analytical model of motivation for the teaching career, developed from the expectancy-value theory (Watt & Richardson, 2007). The FIT-Choice Scale is constructed in a multidimensional manner, investigating the following motivational factors: personal abilities, intrinsic career value, fallback career, job security, job transferability, time for family, easy option, shape future of children, enhance social equity, make social contribution, work with children, prior teaching and learning experiences, social influences. The results are discussed in relation with the expectancy-value theory. Potential applications for enhancing motivation and involvement of pre-service and in-service teachers are also explored.