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ABSTRACT
Motivating students to graduate and enter into teaching is a challenge in teacher education. We address this challenge by exploring the concept of student teacher interest based on teacher research and teacher education curriculum. The goals of this study were: (1) explore a multidimensional concept of student teacher interest, (2) examine its relation to teaching ambitions and dropout thoughts and (3) investigate possible gender differences. Survey data was collected from Norwegian student teachers (N = 347) and analysed using factor analyses and structural equation modelling. The findings supported that student teacher interest consists of four concepts: pedagogic, didactic, subject, and research interest. Didactic interest related to students’ ambitions to teach, whereas pedagogic, didactic, and subject interest were negatively related to dropout thoughts. Research interest did not influence students’ ambitions. The findings also revealed gender differences in student teacher interest. This study highlights content important for student teachers’ teaching motivation.
Acknowledgments
We thank Eirik S. Jenssen for insightful and helpful comments in the development of the questionnaire applied in this research.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sigve Høgheim
Sigve Høgheim holds a PhD in educational psychology from the Department of Education, University of Bergen. He is currently associate professor in pedagogy at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. His research interests are motivation at different educational levels, competence beliefs, student-content relation, and psychometrics.
Roger André Federici
Roger André Federici is Head of Research at the Nordic Institute of Innovation, Research and Education. He is a former professor at the Department of Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and holds a PhD in Educational Psychology obtained from the same institution. His research interests are motivation, self-efficacy, teacher-student relations, interdisciplinary cooperation in schools, and school leadership, among others.