Motivation and personality of preservice teachers in Croatia

Abstract

The study presents results founded upon the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale validation and the relations between personality traits and motivation for teaching in Croatia. A sample of 374 first-year preservice teachers from three universities participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis of the items comprising the Croatian version of the FIT-Choice scale provided support for its construct validity following the omission of six items with low factor loadings. Personality dimensions of the five-factor model provided a set of theoretically meaningful relations with the specific motivational factors determining the choice of teaching profession. In line with previous studies, our results showed that personality traits better predicted intrinsic motivation compared to extrinsic motivation. Two interpersonal dimensions, extraversion and agreeableness, were significant predictors of intrinsic career value, but also of satisfaction with the choice of this profession. Extraversion also predicted ability, whereas agreeableness demonstrated positive relations with social utility value motivations for a teaching career.

Keywords:

• motivation for teaching
• five-factor model
• FIT-Choice scale

Notes

1. See the Appendices for the Croatian adaptation of these items.

2. Calculation of the scale results are based on the confirmatory factor analysis of the Croatian FIT-Choice scale. The scale scores were calculated by taking an average of the items comprising the higher order and the first-order factors.