Pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and perceptions of teacher morality in China

ABSTRACT

The study examines two types of pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and perceptions of teacher morality in China through the following three research questions: (1) What are pre-service teachers’ teaching motivations and perceptions of teacher morality? (2) What is the relationship between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teaching motivation and teacher morality? (3) What are the differences between the two groups of pre-service teachers, and what factors influence their perceptions? Data are drawn from questionnaires on teacher morality in China and the FIT-Choice Scale, completed by 300 pre-service teachers, and semi-structured interviews with 25 pre-service teachers. The analyses of the findings reveal that pre-service teachers showed a high degree of teaching motivation and generally agreed with the Chinese state’s teacher morality requirements. This study suggests a “moral-motivation-reciprocity” framework for understanding pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and perceptions of teacher morality in China.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching motivation
• teacher morality
• pre-service teacher
• China

Introduction

Motivation can be defined as “a process that activates, orients, reinforces and maintains the behaviour of individuals towards the achievement of intended objectives” (Roussel 2000, 5). It includes both initiating motivations and sustaining motivations (i.e. making an effort to sustain or persist in doing something) (Williams and Burden 1997).

Most studies of pre-service teachers’ teaching motivations concern their initiating motivations – i.e. why pre-service teachers want to be teachers. Influenced by Self-determination theory (SDT) (e.g. Niemiec and Ryan 2009), intrinsic, extrinsic and altruistic are three common teaching motivations in the literature.

Intrinsic motivation refers to inherent satisfaction in the work of teaching. Altruistic motivation is connected with viewing teaching as a socially worthwhile job reflecting the “service theme” (Lortie 1975/2002, 28) has long been associated with teaching and is based on traditional 19^th-century perceptions of “teaching as a special mission” of moral worth (Heinz 2015). Altruistic motivation echoes studies (Oser 1991) on teachers’ moral roles and responsibilities in teaching to care for and help students. In psychological terms, responsibility means the obligation to care and accept accountability in cases of neglect (Oser 1991). Extrinsic motivations include benefits related to teaching but not inherent in the work itself. The three motivations vary greatly in terms of degree of autonomy, ranging from external regulation to autonomous motivation. The latter results from the internalisation of external values and behavioural regulations through socialisation, “such that the external regulation of a behaviour is transformed into an internal regulation and thus no longer requires the presence of an external contingency” (Gagné and Deci 2005, 334).

In addition to the three common motivations, Watt and Richardson (2007) created a factor influence teaching (FIT)-choice model to guide investigations into the factors influencing pre-service teachers’ choice to teach. Socialisation influences, antecedent socialisation, and perceptions of previous experiences are presented in the first part of the model, followed by an examination of the context in which the choice of a teaching career was made, combining such constructs as perceived task demands versus returns (e.g. expertise and high expectations versus social status, teacher morality, and salary), teacher’s self-perceptions (perceived teaching abilities), values (intrinsic value, personal utility value, social utility value), and fallback career (e.g. choosing to be a teacher after having “failed to be accepted into their career of choice or otherwise been unable to pursue their first choice career”) (Watt and Richardson 2007, 174). The FIT-Choice model has demonstrated good explanatory ability when applied to subsequent studies, and provides an integrated approach in comparative studies across diverse samples and settings (e.g. Fokkens-Bruinsma and Canrinus 2012).

In the past two decades, the FIT-Choice scale has been used to survey pre-service teachers’ motivations to teach, not only in Australia but also in numerous international contexts, including Western nations like the United States and Sweden, and Eastern nations like China (Lin et al. 2012). Most studies employing the FIT-Choice scale in Western nations have identified intrinsic and altruistic motivations and intentions as important factors in pre-service teachers’ desire to teach (Heinz 2015). However, Lortie (1975/2002, 30) argued that teachers might underplay the role of material rewards due to normative pressures that require teachers to emphasise their dedication and service role.

In contrast, several studies on teachers’ profession-entry motivation in non-Western societies like China (Su et al. 2001; Lin et al. 2012) and Turkey (Kilinç, Watt, and Richardson 2012) reported extrinsic values were more important to those choosing a teaching career. This may be explained by the fact that teachers in developing states appear to be more extrinsically motivated and can exhibit the impact of socioeconomic determinants on teachers’ intrinsic motivation (Bukhari et al. 2021). Recent studies (intrinsic motivation and work environment) also highlighted that extrinsic variables (e.g. working conditions, salary, etc.) are significant factors in fostering teachers’ intrinsic motivation. Therefore, more research is needed to understand teacher motivation in other different social-economic development contexts such as China. Career choice motivation could be framed by mixed factors in different sociocultural contexts (Watt and Richardson 2008).

The study of pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation is particularly complex in the context of China. On the one hand, China has a longstanding cultural tradition of respect for teaching, resulting in very high expectations for teacher motivation and teacher morality; the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has continued that tradition, embedding high requirements for teachers’ teaching motivation in national teacher morality codes. However, the high expectations for teacher motivation and morality in teacher ethics codes were made against the background that most Chinese teachers received full financial support in their pre-service teacher education, were assigned jobs by the government, and were guaranteed a lifelong contract in the teaching profession. On the other hand, China’s recent teacher education reforms have challenged teachers’ teaching motivation. First, in recent decades, China reformed its teacher education system, ending its financial support to pre-service teachers, except for bachelor’s students (mostly recruited from less-developed areas) in six leading teacher education universities. While these students received financial support (e.g. tuition fee waivers), they were forbidden to apply for full-time master’s degree study and were required to return to their hometowns to teach for at least six years upon graduating. Second, China encouraged universities to provide for-fee teacher education programmes at the master’s level to enable teachers to upgrade their qualifications. Since 2009, students enrolled in full-time MEd programmes have been free to choose their careers and workplaces after graduation (Zhou 2021). This makes China an interesting case through which to compare the two types of pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation, and its relationship with teacher morality.

Therefore, this study compares two groups of pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and perceptions of teacher morality in China, through the following three research questions: (1) What are pre-service teachers’ teaching motivations, and their perceptions of teacher morality? (2) What is the relationship between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teaching motivation and teacher morality? (3) What are the differences between the two groups of pre-service teachers, and what factors influence their perceptions? The following sections first introduce teacher morality and teaching motivation and the Chinese context, then describe the design and implementation of the study. The study finds that the participating pre-service teachers saw themselves as having high levels of both motivation and teacher morality. It identifies significant correlations between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher morality and items related to teaching motivation and factors – i.e. the education programme the pre-service teachers enrolled in and their teacher certificate/tutor experience. Some explanations for these findings are proposed. This article concludes by presenting a framework for understanding pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and perceptions of teacher morality in China.

Teaching motivation and teacher morality and the Chinese context

Teaching motivation is closely related with teacher morality in China. China has a long tradition of respecting teachers, and of having high expectations of teachers, including related to teaching motivation and teacher morality. Famous scholars/educators such as Confucius (B.C. 551–479), Mencius (B.C. 372–289), and Xun Kuang (B.C. 313–238) developed China’s shi dao chuan tong – a traditional way of doing education and of being a teacher. This tradition highlights the important role teachers play in society, and emphasises the need for society to respect teachers and value education. This tradition placed very high requirements on teachers’ morality and motivation, asking them to model good moral character, master’s knowledge, teach student patiently, do research and studies with passion, be lifelong learners, and love and dedicate to the teaching profession (Huang 2003).

The PRC has likewise made social policies to attract people to teaching and maintain their motivation to teach. China developed the tradition of providing financial support to normal education students to encourage them to stay in the teaching profession. Since its inception (in 1897), China’s modern teacher education system has included some form of tuition waiver system to attract pre-service teachers and ensure they remain in the teaching profession. The PRC continued this tradition and assigned teacher education students in-system sector teaching jobs after their graduation. The teaching profession is considered an in-system sector career, featuring high social status, career security, good welfare provision, etc., making it an “iron rice bowl” and attractive to job seekers (Ye et al. 2021).

On the other hand, the PRC has tightened its control over and imposed very high expectations for teacher motivation in a series of policies on teacher professional ethics codes, teacher certification, and professional ranking. Among these policies, the Primary and Middle School Teacher Morality Codes (Ministry of Education 2008), rather than merely stating teachers’ legal, contractual, and ethical obligations, identified six basic requirements that reflected China’s traditional expectations of teacher morality, of which teaching motivation – i.e. a commitment to love the teaching profession, love and care for students, teach students with patience, become role models to students, be lifelong learners, be willing to dedicate and sacrifice themselves as “ladders for students”, and be loyal to the CCP and PRC – was one. The Ten Norms for Middle and Primary School Teachers in the New Era (Ministry of Education 2018) established clear teacher motivation requirements – be diligent at work, and be willing to dedicate yourself.

However, recent social transition and teacher education reform caused challenges to teacher morality and teaching motivation in China. Due to China’s recent industrialisation, Westernisation, marketisation, implementation of its one-child policy, teachers no longer have sole authority in the teacher-student-parent relationship, and parents have claimed much more power over their children’s education (He 2018). Scholars have reported that, against the background of China’s emerging market economy, parents increasingly view teachers as service providers, rather than unchallengeable authorities (Chang et al. 2003; Ye 2016).

However, against the background of teacher motivation and morality requirements and social transition, China’s teacher education system included two different groups of pre-service teachers.

The first group, Free Normal pre-service teachers – mainly recruited from less-developed regions of central and western China – received financial support from the state in exchange for agreeing to return to their hometown to teach for at least ten years. Since the late 1990s, due to the increased recruitment of higher education students, China stopped providing teacher education students with financial support and job assignments, leading to such problems as graduates either eschewing the teaching profession entirely or choosing to work only in more developed areas (Shen 2001). Therefore, in 2007, China initiated the Free Normal Education programme, which offered pre-service teachers grants, provided they returned, upon graduation, to their home provinces to teach for more than ten years. The policy mainly targeted students from central and western China and limited tuition waivers to six leading Chinese normal universities¹ (including East China Normal University, hereafter ECNU). Those who breached the contract had to repay all tuition and accommodation fees, plus a penalty of around 80,000 yuan, and had their “dishonesty” noted in their personnel files. Studies reported that Free Normal Education students’ motivation for entry was mainly extrinsic, such as a desire to receive financial support, enter top-ranked universities with lower National College Entrance examination scores, etc. (Wang, Meng, and Xu 2013). Studies showed students worried about their future commitment to the teaching profession, which is an important part of teacher ethic codes (e.g. 2012).

In contrast, the second group, pre-service teachers enrolled in MEd programmes, paid teacher education fees and were free to select their career and workplace after graduation. Studies view these pre-service teachers as having considered the teaching profession and their decisions carefully and having intrinsic motivation to join the teaching profession (Zhou 2021).

Moreover, China’s disparate socioeconomic development context – i.e. its large economic and educational regional divides – informed the two groups of pre-service teachers’ differences in motivation. After 1978, China’s economic reforms sharpened economic inequality and increased the rural/urban and regional divide. Schools in economically developed areas – i.e. China’s eastern provinces – received more financial support, had more teachers with higher professional titles, and more books and computers than those in western and central China (Gong 2019). Moreover, teachers’ wages in the eastern provinces exceeded those in the central and western provinces.

This study

Therefore, this study compared two groups of pre-service teachers in China’s disparate socioeconomic context to examine their perceptions of teaching motivation and teacher morality codes in China. This study adopted a mixed methodology approach, consisting of a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews.

The first data collection method was a questionnaire, consisting of two major sections, each designed based on related existing literature. In the first section, respondents used a five-point Likert scale (from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) to respond to 20 items related to their perceptions of teacher morality in China. These 20 items were adopted from Ye and Law (2019) teacher morality survey questionnaire, which included statements reflecting understandings of teacher morality and teacher professional ethics codes in China, such as “teachers should be moral role models for students” and “teachers should care about students”. The second section contained 60 statements (based on the FIT-scale) (Richardson and Watt 2006) related to teaching motivation and some questions adapted from Lin et al.’s questionnaire (2012), and captured respondents’ degree of agreement with these statements using a seven-point Likert scale (from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). It included the FIT-Choice scale’s four higher-order factors (task demand, task return, personal utility values, and social utility values) and first-order factors (ability, intrinsic career value, fallback career, prior teaching and learning experiences, social influences, social dissuasion, and satisfaction with choice). Items like “cultivate next-generation value”, “make a social contribution”, and “stable income” were included to assess pre-service teachers’ entry motivations.

The second data collection method was semi-structured interviews. Five follow-up focus group interviews were conducted by five research assistants to collect deeper information about participants’ perceptions of teaching motivation and teacher morality in China. Twenty-five students were divided into five focus groups (containing five MEd, five MEd, three MEd, four BEd, and eight BEd students, respectively), with each focus group interview lasting around 120 minutes (see Appendix for interview guidelines).

This article surveyed 300 first-year pre-service teachers (135 MEd and 165 BEd students; see Table 1) at ECNU in Shanghai. All BEd students were enrolled in the Free Normal Education programme, had to return to their hometown to teach for at least six years upon graduation, and were not allowed to apply to a full-time MEd programme during that time. All questionnaires were returned, and no questionnaire items had missing values above 1.3%.

Table 1. Questionnaire respondents’ personal information.

	Education Master (N = 135)		Bachelor (N = 165)
Gender	Male	13.3%	Male	34.3%
	Female	86.7%	Female	65.1%
Ethnicity	Han	96.3%	Han	79.5%
	Minority	3.7%	Minority	19.9%
Teacher certification/ Tutor experience	Yes	91.9%	Yes	43.6%^4
	No	8.1%	No	31.3%
Bachelor’s track	Normal	55.6%	Normal	100%
	Non-normal	43.7%	Non-normal	0%
Birth year	1992	3.0%	1997	2.4%
	1993	4.4%	1998	11.4%
	1994	13.3%	1999	37.3%
	1995	45.2%	2000	42.2%
	1996	25.2%	2001	4.8%
	1997	1.5%	2002	0.6%
Political affiliation	CCP	50.4%	CCP	0.6%^5
	Other	49.6%	Other	98.8%
Rural/urban	Urban	53.3%	Urban	56.6%
	Rural	44.4%	Rural	39.8%
Birth region	Eastern	75.6%	Eastern	31.9%
	Central	17.8%	Central	13.3%
	Western	5.9%	Western	51.2%
Recruitment type	Recommendation^6	56.3%	1^st choice	75.9%^7
	Entrance test	38.5%	2^nd choice	12.7%
			Adjustment	7.8%

The data were prepared and analysed using SPSS version 25. Further analyses (i.e. multigroup confirmatory factor analysis) were conducted using MPlus version 8.2 (Muthén and Muthén 2017).

As a first step, this study examined the scale reliability for both Motivation and Morality and found both scales showed good reliability, with alpha coefficients higher than .80 (Motivation α = .871; Morality α = .933).

Next, this study modelled Motivation and Morality separately via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). After fitting the CFA model to the entire dataset (including both bachelor’s and master’s students), multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was used to compare the differences across groups. Attention was paid to how bachelor’s and master’s students rated scale items, and the constructs’ average means were compared after establishing measurement invariance.

After examining each construct separately, this study modelled Morality and Motivation together via CFA. We examined the correlation between these two latent variables to explore their relationship and used MGCFA to compare the correlation coefficients across groups.

We used relative fit indices to evaluate the model fit: the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), and the Standardised Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR). This study adopted the following common guidelines: CFI ≥ .90, RMSEA ≤ .05, and SRMR ≤ .08 for an acceptable overall fit of the model. Moreover, ΔCFI < .01 and ΔRMSEA < .015 were adopted as the criteria to test measurement invariance.

The interview data were subjected to thematic analysis. The interview transcripts were first reviewed based on our coding scheme, which focused on a set of categories based on teaching motivation and teacher morality, per the FIT-Choice scale (social influence, task demand, task return, teacher’s self-perception, intrinsic value, personal utility value, social utility value, and fallback career (Watt and Richardson 2007)) and China’s teacher morality codes (be diligent at work, be willing to dedicate oneself, be loyal to the CCP and PRC, love the teaching profession, love and care for students, teach students with patience, become role models, and be lifelong learners (MOE, 2008, MOE, 2018)). For instance, when interviewee S10 reported that she entered the teacher education programme because she wished to influence students’ values, it was coded as “social utility value”. Following individual interview data analysis, cross-case analyses were conducted in which the emerging categories were contrasted, modified, and integrated (Merriam 1998), which shed light on the factors influencing the pre-service teachers’ motivation and morality perceptions. These data were used to respond to research questions and to supplement and clarify the quantitative findings. The data were collected between October 2017 and September 2019. Due to its limited sample size, this study makes no attempt to generalise its findings.

Major questionnaire findings

Pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and perceptions of teacher morality

Generally, pre-service teachers perceived themselves as having high entry motivation. The mean value of 60 items on factors of teaching motivation was 5.07 (where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree). Table 2 shows the ten most agreed-on aspects of teaching motivations, based on pre-service teachers’ responses. Pre-service teachers gave their top three ratings to task demand factors, with personal utility (e.g. teaching provides a steady career path and long holidays) and social influence factors being deemed important entry motivations.

Table 2. The ten most agreed-on aspects of teaching motivations.

Category	Statement of teaching motivation	Mean	Rank
Task demand	Teachers should have higher morality	6.44	1
Task demand	Teachers should have lifelong learning	6.41	2
Task demand	Teaching is not an easy job	6.25	3
Personal utility	Teaching will offer a steady career path	6.22	4
Task demand	Teaching is emotionally demanding	6.21	5
Task demand	Teachers need highly specialised knowledge	6.19	6
Social influence	In my life as a student I met many good teachers	6.16	7
Personal utility	Teachers have summer and winter holidays.	6.06	8
Social utility	Teaching will allow me to influence the next generation’s views and values	5.98	9
Task demand	Teachers should have higher political competence	5.86	10

Pre-service teachers showed a lower degree of agreement with the eight fallback career items, for which the mean value was 3.65. Table 3 shows the 10 least agreed-on aspects of teaching motivations, based on pre-service teachers’ responses. Pre-service teachers gave their seven lowest ratings to fallback career, while other important factors included personal utility (e.g. teachers have a short workday), task return, and social influence.

Table 3. The ten least agreed-on aspects of teaching motivations.

Category	Statement of teaching motivation	Mean	Rank
Fallback career	I chose teaching as a last-resort career	2.70	1
Task return	Teaching is well paid	3.27	2
Fallback career	I was unsure of what career I wanted	3.29	3
Fallback career	I was not accepted into my first-choice career	3.49	4
Fallback career	It’s easy to transfer to other careers after working as a teacher	3.63	5
Fallback career	Working in an education training company is a choice as good as a school.	3.75	6
Personal utility	As teacher I will have a short working day	4.09	= 7
Social influence	The distrust in the society had negative influence on my motivation to teaching	3.72	= 7
Fallback career	I thought about to choose other lines rather than teacher after graduation	4.23	8
Task return	A teaching qualification is recognised elsewhere	3.90	9
Social influence	My family will provide enough financial support to me after graduation	4.11	9
Fallback career	I thought about to choose other lines rather than teacher after graduation	4.23	10

Pre-service teachers also showed positive attitudes towards the state’s regulated teacher morality requirements. Per the questionnaire data, they highly agreed that teachers should be moral role models for students (M = 4.53, with 4 and 5, respectively, representing “agree” and “strongly agree”); and should be careful about their behaviours both in and out of school (M = 4.56). They also generally supported state policies (M = 4.45) and related laws (M = 4.69). They agreed that teachers should be fair to all students (M = 4.62); be serious about and devoted to their work (M = 4.55); improve their teaching all the time (M = 4.72); and not seek private profit from their positions (M = 4.57).

We also compared the average means for both constructs across groups via MGCFA. Before that, a measurement invariance test evaluated whether items measured the same attributes for different respondent groups, which was the prerequisite for a meaningful comparison. With changes in CFI and RMSEA smaller than .01, metric invariance was established for both Morality (ΔCFI = .002 and ΔRMSEA = .001) and Motivation (ΔCFI = .005 and ΔRMSEA = .000). By relaxing several items, partial scalar invariance was also achieved for both constructs.

When Morality was constructed via MGCFA, the model fit was good (RMSEAR = .059, CFI = .967, TLI = .950, SRMR = .034). The master’s groups rated Morality lower (M = −.182, SE = .123, p = .138) than the BA groups. The model fit was acceptable for motivation (RMSEAR = .047, CFI = .912, TLI = .893, SRMR = .064). Similar to the Morality ratings pattern, the master’s students had significant lower ratings on Motivation (M = −.351, SE = .151, p = .002) than the bachelor’s students. In sum, master’s students tended to rate lower than bachelor’s students in Morality and significantly lower in Motivation.

Relationship between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teaching motivation and teacher morality

To explore the relationship between motivation and morality, we examined both constructs via CFA. The model fit was acceptable, with RMSEA = .042, CFI = .912. First, the CFA model was applied to the entire dataset, with a moderate correlation being found between morality and motivation (r = .564, SE = .044, p = .000). Next, MGCFA was used to compare the correlation coefficients across groups. For the bachelor’s groups, the correlation coefficient was moderate (r = .539, SE = .059, p = .000), while the correlation between motivation and morality was stronger for the master’s groups (r = .645, SE = .060, p = .000).

Factors correlated with pre-service teachers’ perceptions

It was found that the education programme in which pre-service teachers were enrolled correlated with their perceptions of teacher morality (e.g. my subject is suitable to carry out moral education η = .34, p = .00) and motivations (e.g. I want to be a teacher to made the society more fair η = .16, p = .01; I want to be a teacher to influence next generation’s value η = .13, p = .02).

Extant studies’ suggest that teachers in developing states appear to be more extrinsically motivated, and that their intrinsic motivation can exhibit the impact of socioeconomic determinants (Bukhari et al. 2021). However, this study found that, though 64.5% of BEd students came from less-developed western and central China and would return to their hometown after graduation, they were more likely to have positive attitudes towards teacher morality and to strongly agree with teaching motivation (including intrinsic, altruistic motivation) than MEd students, 75.6% of whom come from developed eastern China (e.g. “I want to be a teacher to make society fairer” 64% BEd, 50% MEd; “I want to be a teacher to influence the next generation’s values” 88% BEd, 81% MEd).

Moreover, BEd students also more often strongly agreed with fallback career teaching motivation items (e.g. working in an education training company is as good a choice as a school, 48% BEd, 22% MEd; it’s easy to transfer from teaching career to other jobs, 30% BEd, 23% MEd), but weaker agreement with items related to decisions about and commitment to being a teacher (e.g. I wanted to be a teacher all my life, 57% BEd, 63% MEd).

Besides, pre-service teachers with no teacher certificate/tutor experience more often strongly agreed with personal utility teaching motivation items such as “teachers have long summer/winter vacations” (no certificate/experience 90%, with certificate/experience 88%), “teachers’ working hour is not long” (no certificate/experience 45%, with certificate/experience 29%), “in-service teachers found their social status high” (no certificate/experience 55%, with certificate/experience 44%), and “teaching is well paid” (no certificate/experience 29%, with certificate/experience 17%). They also more often agreed statements relating teaching motivation to fallback careers – “working in an education training company is as good a choice as a school” (no certificate/experience 50%, with certificate/experience 30%), “I wanted to be a teacher all my life” (no certificate/experience 55%, with certificate/experience 62%).

Major interview findings

First, in the interviews, MEd pre-service teachers reported more deeply considering their profession selection than Free Normal pre-service teachers, who made hasty decisions after their National College Entrance Examination (NCEE). As one reported:

In the summer, I got my NCEE scores. It only allowed me to apply universities like ECNU … it is in Shanghai, a prosperous city I like … enrolling in a Free-Normal programme will ensure me a stable in-system sector job after graduation … I and my family found this attractive and thus made the decision to join ECNU in the coming September (S01).

In contrast, MEd pre-service teachers reported thinking more deeply about their career entry. Some reported comparing the teaching profession with many professions their peers had selected, such as being doctors, IT engineers, and public servants. One reported that:

Compared to other careers, the teaching profession brings me a feeling of happiness. Generally, it is a respectable job and I work with students and have an important influence on their values.

Second, both Free Normal pre-service teachers and MEd pre-service teachers reported perceiving teachers as respectable and role models for their students. However, MEd pre-service teachers developed a more mature understanding of teachers’ morality in China. Most Free Normal pre-service teachers only summarised teacher morality based on their respected teachers and how these teachers changed their study and life or influenced them to enter a teacher education programme. In contrast, MEd pre-service teachers’ reports went beyond their respected teachers and their influences to include reflections on what kind of teacher morality they should have. One reported:

When I was young, I respected my teachers. They were knowledgeable and cared about students. When I grew older, especially after I entered my teacher education programme, I started to realise my respected teachers were normal people, like me. It is morality and responsibility that makes us teachers different. So, I always remind myself about teacher morality (S07).

Third, Free Normal pre-service teachers and MEd pre-service teachers reported different perceptions to fallback career interview questions (e.g. “What would you do if, after graduation, you failed to find a job in a good school?”). Free-Normal pre-service teachers generally reported they would accept reality if they failed to find a job in a good school. One explained, “If no one wants to work in weak schools, what happens to their students? I will do my best to serve students no matter whether their school is good or not (S02)”. Another added, “I may think about finding a job in junior middle or even primary schools [whose requirements are lower than high schools]” (S03). In contrast, MEd pre-service teachers were less supportive of having selfless dedication:

To work in better schools means better professional development opportunities for the teacher. To serve students in weak schools is important. But a teacher should balance students’ needs with their own development, rather than just selflessly sacrifice themselves (S04).

MEd pre-service teachers also reported basing their career decisions on many other aspects, such as

whether I would like to live in that city, whether my future children could access good educational resources there, how good the transportation system is, etc. After considering that, I will select a school in the city I prefer (S05).

Another MEd added that

I will not join a school if the school environment is unfriendly, or if the school leaders did not treat other teachers democratically and fairly. If I can’t find a teacher job in a satisfactory school, I will quit. No one says I must work in the teaching profession (S06).

Possible explanation and discussion

First, echoing the international literature’s concerns about teachers’ altruistic motivation to fulfil service roles, care for students, and take on responsibilities in teaching (Lortie 1975/2002; Heinz 2015; Oser 1991), Chinese culture and context emphasise pre-service teachers’ morality and motivation.

On the one hand, pre-service teachers’ high degree of agreement with teacher morality can be explained by their social learning of teacher morality in the Chinese context. Most of the pre-service teachers in this study had no working experience, meaning their perceptions of teachers and teacher morality were mainly based on their prior learning, and their observations of and reflections on their primary, middle school, and university teachers. This is reflected in the interviews, in which all interviewees discussed their perceptions of the teaching profession by giving good/bad examples of their experiences in their life as a student. Social learning theorists account for the acquisition of morality in essentially the same way as most laypeople do – in terms of the internalisation of social values (Bandura 1991). Socialising agents inculcate a sense of morality in children by teaching them cultural norms, rewarding them when they obey the rules, punishing them when they disobey them, setting good examples, etc. Pre-service teachers internalised social expectations of teacher morality from their observations of their own teachers. Pre-service teachers started to see themselves as future teachers, and to realise their need to be moral, saying “I suddenly realised that I’m a pre-service teacher, thus I started to view myself a teacher” (S06) and could “feel people’s ‘heavy’ expectations of me” (S07).

On the other hand, pre-service teachers’ high degree of teaching motivation can be explained by China’s tradition of respecting teachers and the difficulties/career expectations pre-service teachers had on entering ECNU’s pre-service teaching programmes.

Regarding the former, Chinese teachers are generally highly respected and viewed as knowledgeable authorities. Teachers are generally ranked above corporate managers and mid-level military officers (Ding and Sun 2007), hold an important role in society, and often shoulder heavy responsibilities for the nation’s educational mobilisation. This tradition can influence pre-service teachers’ decision to become teachers is reflected in this study. When answering the interview question, “Compared to your friends’ career selections, how do you view your future career as a teacher”, most interviewees highlighted that teaching is a sacred, highly respected job.

Pre-service teachers’ difficulties and career expectations on entering ECNU also explain their high degree of teaching motivation. The competition to enter ECNU, a “985” university,² is fierce, and to gain entry to the BEd programme requires very high scores in national college entrance exams. In 2017, for example, ECNU’s lowest admission score (liberal arts track) for students from Shandong Province was 613 of a possible 750; in comparison, the lowest liberal arts track admission score for China’s top university (Peking University) was 647 (Sohu News 2017).

As such, an ECNU education graduate can generally find a teaching position at a good school; per the 2016 ECNU graduates’ job quality report, more than 30% of graduates working in Shanghai’s schools found teaching positions in provincial-level key schools.³ The pre-service teachers interviewed in this study suggested getting an MEd from a prestigious normal university would facilitate their teaching-job hunting; as one stated, “when I was a just BEd, one of the best schools in Chengdu [her hometown] gave me an offer but I declined. I want to work in better schools [after I get an MEd from ECNU]. I believe working in better schools will provide me better professional development opportunities” (S09).

Second, different from extant studies’ suggestions that teachers in developing states appear to be more extrinsically motivated (Bukhari et al. 2021), this study found though 64.5% of Free Normal pre-service teachers came from less developed regions, they scored higher in teaching motivation than MEd pre-service teachers, 75.6% of whom came from developed areas in China. However, Free Normal pre-service teachers also scored higher in fallback career items. There are two possible explanations for this.

First, Free Normal and MEd pre-service teachers showed different degrees of independence in considering teaching as a profession and different degrees of freedom in their future career choices.

Compared to pre-service teachers enrolled in MEd programmes, BEd-level pre-service teachers had less independence, and their motivation to become teachers was more strongly influenced by such important people as parents and teachers. Most interviewed BEd-level pre-service teachers suggested their decision to enter ECNU’s teacher education programme was a result of the combined influences of parents, teachers, and their own performance in national college entrance examinations. In addition to their less independent consideration of teaching as a profession, bachelor-level pre-service teachers were also restricted in their future career selection (i.e. they had to work as a teacher in their hometown school for at least six years). This could help explain their higher degree of agreement that teaching is a fallback career (e.g. “I do not plan to work as a teacher”) and lower degree of agreement with the statement, “I have wanted to be a teacher all my life”.

In contrast, MEd-level pre-service teachers were more independent when considering teaching as a profession and were allowed freedom in future career selection. Around half of the surveyed MEd-level pre-service teachers had previously enrolled in teacher education programmes in other universities. Rather than being pushed by parents or teachers, these students generally were much more independent in deciding to apply to teacher education programmes at ECNU. Moreover, having had four years’ BEd learning experience, they were much more certain their choice to enter the teaching profession fit their abilities and desires. The remaining MEd level pre-service teachers came from non-education bachelor’s programmes, and had around a year to decide whether to become a future teacher and to apply to ECNU’s MEd programme. Accordingly, MEd students developed deeper and more independent motivation, leading to their generally lower motivation scores and greater commitment to being a teacher, compared to BEd students.

Second, students’ contact with the teaching profession also impacted their perceptions of teacher morality and teaching motivation. As first-year students, BEd students’ perceptions of the teaching profession were mainly based on their observation of their primary and middle school teachers, from the standpoint of a student. One BEd interviewee stated, “in my hometown, teachers are the most knowledgeable people we meet in everyday life, they are respected by the society, they are people we adored” (S18). This also explains BEd students’ higher degree of agreement that teacher morality and personal utility motivated them to become teachers.

For MEd students, they had teacher certificates provided them opportunities to experience the teaching profession as a teacher. Additionally, ECNU’s MEd programme puts students in direct contact with frontline teachers, through a three-credit “teaching and practice” course in the second semester of the first year, in which excellent frontline teachers are invited to give lectures and guide pre-service teachers’ mock teaching, and students are required to visit schools and attend local teaching and research activities; in contrast, BEd students do not have such courses until the programme’s third year. This pushes Med pre-service teachers to realise their transitional role and think about teacher morality as a personal requirement, rather than only a teacher virtue. This explains why the correlation between motivation and morality was stronger in the master’s groups. This also echoes existing studies’ findings that exposing prospective teachers to the realities of teaching can be helpful in teacher preparation, by helping pre-service teachers develop appropriate career goals, healthy expectations, and a deep appreciation for the important work they will be doing (Darling-Hammond 1998).

Conclusion

Based on current studies, this study has explored 300 pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and perceptions of teacher morality in China. It has reported that the participating pre-service teachers saw themselves as having high levels of both motivation and teacher morality, and found significant correlations between pre-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher morality and items related to teaching motivation, and factors – the education programme the pre-service teachers were enrolled in, and their teacher certificate/tutor experience. This can be attributed to pre-service teachers’ social learning of teacher morality in the Chinese context, the influence of China’s tradition of respecting teachers, and pre-service teachers’ difficulties/career expectations on entering ECNU, high moral motivations, independent consideration of restrictions of future career selections, and contact with the teaching profession.

This study supplements the extant literature on teaching motivation by identifying a “society-morality-motivation-individual” model through which to understand the dynamic relationship between pre-service teachers’ teaching motivation and their perceptions of teacher morality in China, and to highlight the influence of cultural variations on shaping teaching motivation.

First, Chinese culture and society integrate teacher motivation and morality; teachers’ altruistic motivations, such as caring for students and being responsible in teaching, are viewed as teacher ethics. On the other side of the coin, Chinese society, via financial supports, enhances teacher job status as an in-system sector to show respect for the job and attract people to the profession.

As reflected in this study, individuals perceived these culture and social influences when developing their motivation and morality. Pre-service teachers in this study based their positive perceptions of the teaching profession on their experiences as students, based on which they internalised the societal expectation that teachers should be moral creatures. They also reported that the respected status of teachers and attractiveness of an in-system sector job influenced for their entry decision.

Second, due to their being enrolled in different teacher education programmes, individuals showed different degrees of consideration and freedom in their career selection, and different degrees of contact with the profession, all of which influenced their development of teaching motivation and morality. For instance, Free Normal pre-service teachers, who reported less independent thinking about the profession, were more motivated but less committed to the profession than MEd pre-service teachers. In turn, MEd students, due to their deeper contact with the profession, had started their role transition from students to teachers, which pushed them to developed deeper understandings of teacher morality. They no longer viewed teacher morality as a code applying only to their earlier teachers, but also to themselves.

Some implications can be drawn from this study for the design and improvement of pre-service teacher selection and education. First, given the important role teacher morality plays in shaping teaching motivation, teacher education programmes, which currently lack teacher morality education provision (Tan et al. 2010; Pantić and Wubbels 2012), should explicitly focus on exploring teacher morality, especially by presenting pre-service teachers with moral dilemmas as opportunities to learn how to solve challenging situations in a changing society (Ye and Law 2019; Oser 1991). Secondly, despite of the marketisation, privatisation happened in education system in recent years, a respecting teacher culture is important to teachers’ motivation. Echoed the global attention to teacher morality and motivation studies (Pantić and Wubbels 2012), this study suggested that the exploration of respecting teacher culture may be another important task. Thirdly, Chinese teacher education universities should introduce their teacher education programmes to high school students, parents, and high school teachers earlier, rather than waiting until high school graduates have made their college applications, to ensure high school students have sufficient time and information to independently consider whether to enter pre-service teacher programmes. Finally, teacher education programmes should provide formal and informal opportunities for pre-service teachers to experience the teaching profession early. After students are admitted to pre-service teacher education programmes, being given early and frequent opportunities to contact frontline teachers or work as tutors will help them transition their status from students to pre-service teachers (Darling-Hammond 1998).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Teacher Ethics in The New Era: Case Teaching Studies. The National Philosophy and Social Science Fund [21FJKB007].

Notes on contributors

Wangbei Ye

Wangbei Ye is an associate professor of the moral-political education section, School of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. Her teaching and research focus on China’s moral-political education curriculum and instruction, and moral-political education teacher education (Grades 1-12). email address: [email protected]

Yingying Ding

Yingying Ding is a moral–political education teacher, Number 2 Middle School attached to East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. email address: [email protected]

Xiaomeng Han

Xiaomeng Han is a master student of moral–political education, Meng Xiancheng College, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. email address: [email protected]

Wangqiong Ye

Wangqiong Ye is a doctoral research fellow of the Centre for Educational Measurement, University of Oslo, Norway. email address:[email protected]

Notes

1. China has more than 150 normal colleges/universities in 2016.

2. The 39 most prestigious universities in China.

3. Schools were evaluated and those that reached standards were ranked by this order: provincial level, city level, district level.

4. According to China’s teacher certification application requirements, bachelor’s students could only register for teacher certification exams until the third year.

5. According to the CCP constitution, people were not eligible for CCP membership until age18. It takes time to be accepted.

6. Post-graduate student recruitment in China mainly includes two types. First, recommendation: universities can compose a list of good students who can enter post-graduate study without taking post-graduation tests in their or other universities. Second, students can be recruited based on their performance in the post-graduate entrance exams and face-to-face interviews.

APPENDIX

Interview Guidelines for Pre-service Teachers

1. Why did you choose this teacher education programme in ECNU?

2. Why do you want to be a teacher?

3. How do you view the teaching profession?

4. Do you think your experience in ECNU will help you to be a good teacher? Please give examples why or why not.

5. What would you do if, after graduation, you failed to find a job in a good school?

6. What do you think about the recent news regarding teachers’ violations of teacher morality? Are there any implications for you becoming a teacher in the future?