Training to Teach: Motivating Factors and Implications for Recruitment

With the decline in applications to teach, this paper examines why teaching is chosen as a career, and considers the extent to which a range of factors identified within a sample of 466 Northern Ireland students was consistent with those identified in the United States, the rest of the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Using analysis of variance, the study also compares the influence of the different factors on sub-groups within the group of teacher trainees surveyed. It is based on the responses to a questionnaire administered to students involved in initial teacher training. The findings showed that, in keeping with earlier research, those in the process of training to teach were attracted to the profession largely for intrinsic reasons, although, to a lesser extent, there was extrinsic motivation too. The implications of these findings are considered in the light of the government's recent teacher recruitment initiatives.