Using an Expectancy-Value Model to Understand Teaching Motivation among Nontraditional Preservice Teachers: A Phenomenological Study Approach

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study used a phenomenological methodology and an expectancy-value framework to understand nontraditional preservice teachers’ motivations for choosing a teaching career. Nontraditional preservice teachers in the current study are described as teacher candidates for whom teaching was not their first career choice. Ten students enrolled in a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program in the United States participated in in-depth, semistructured interviews about their decisions to become teachers. Analyses revealed five thematic concepts that illustrated how participants described their entry to the teacher education program. These themes related to participants’ ability beliefs and expectancies, personal utility values, intrinsic values, social utility values, and the costs associated with choosing a teaching career. Implications for teacher education and mentoring programs are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• teacher beliefs
• motivation
• values

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margareta Maria Thomson

Margareta Maria Thomson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. Her research expertise is in the area of teacher motivation, teacher beliefs and professional development. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Educational Psychology and Motivation.

Corey J. Palermo

Corey J. Palermo, Ph.D. is the Vice President, Performance Assessment Scoring at Measurement Incorporates where he oversees the management of all MI’s major scoring contracts. He assists the clients in establishing scoring criteria, conducting range finding meetings, refining scoring guides, selecting training materials, and supervising the training and scoring process. Additionally, he is involved in research, particularly in the area of teacher development, assessment and self-regulated learning.