Demographics and priorities in teacher education program selection

Introduction It is shortage of qualified teachers in Norway as in countries all over the world. Insights into how demographic and experiential factors influence teacher education choices are important. The present study examines differences between the teacher education programs at Nord University in terms of students' demographic and experiential characteristics, the factors they perceived as important for their educational choice, and whether these perceptions differ between education programs. Methods The sample consisted of teacher education students evenly distributed across teacher education programs 1–10, 5–10, and 1–7 at three different campuses. These students were given a questionnaire on the first day of their studies, and 108 students (90% of those present) completed the survey. Results The results showed no significant differences between programs according to gender, place of residence, confidence in securing a permanent teaching position, or the perceived importance of content-related factors, geographic location, and social recommendations. However, significant differences were observed in age, region of origin, prior experience working with children and youth in schools, and current employment as teachers. Students in the 1–7 program tended to be younger, whereas students in the 1–10 program were relatively older and reported more prior work experience and higher percentage of job as teacher at the time. In addition, students in the 1–10 program rated program organization as significantly more important than students from the 1–7 program. Discussion Overall, the findings indicate that differences in program choice are associated with demographic and experiential factors, whereas content-related priorities appear to be largely shared across programmes.