Pakistani pre-service teachers’ initial motivation in teaching choice

ABSTRACT

The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) scale measures pre-service teachers’ understanding of initial motivations for choosing teaching as a career. A sample of 95 primary and 247 secondary pre-service teachers from Pakistan reported their reasons for choosing teaching as a career. This study used principal component and confirmatory factor analyses to test the validity and reliability of the FIT-Choice scale from a cross-cultural viewpoint set within a Muslim, Asian context. The results showed different gender preferences toward job security. Findings showed the different constructs that may be influenced by Pakistani culture and the educational context.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs)
• motivation
• career choice
• FIT-Choice scale
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sadia Shaukat

Sadia Shaukat teaches Educational Psychology, Learning Theories and Psychological Testing in the Faculty of Education, University of Education, Pakistan. She has a Masters degree in Education and a PhD in Teacher Education, and has published widely in areas of teacher efficacy, higher education, teacher education and professional standards for teachers. She is interested in educational issues by conducting cross-cultural studies to determine the generalizability of the results as a result of research findings.

Shaoan Zhang

Shaoan Zhang is a Professor of Teacher Education at the Department of Teaching and Learning, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research focuses on pre-service and in-service teacher development. He has published more than 30 articles on teacher self-disclosure, teacher education pedagogy, preservice teacher development, new teachers’ professional development, secondary curriculum, comparative education, doctoral studies, and STEM learning. He is the past co-editor of Action in Teacher Education.

Tibero Garza

Tiberio Garza is an Assistant Professor of Research Methodology in the Department of Counseling, Recreation and School Psychology at Florida International University. He is nationally recognized for evaluation awards from the American Evaluation Association and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. He is passionate about utilizing evaluation and statistical approaches in uncovering ways for helping young people, regardless of language and culture barriers, become resilient and succeed in their life and educational pursuits.

Emily Lin

Emily Lin’s professional and scholarly agenda focuses on teacher education reform with a concentration on international studies and comparative teaching and learning. Her work extends beyond the United States to Canada and Asia. She was previously the co-editor of the Journal of Teacher Education and Action in Teacher Education. She is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, and serves currently as an Associate Dean of the Graduate College at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.