Latent motivation profiles for choosing teaching as a career: How are they linked to self-concept concerning teaching subjects and emotions during teacher education training?

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have explored pre-service teachers' motivation for choosing teaching as a career and the relations of pre-service teachers' motivation profile membership to long-term consequences. In contrast, little is still known about certain predictors and the more proximal consequences of pre-service teachers' motivation profile membership. AIMS: Using the conceptualization of motivation proposed by Pohlmann and Möller (2010, Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 24, 73-84), the present study aimed to identify pre-service teachers' motivation profiles for choosing teaching as a career and to explore the relations of those profiles to certain individual characteristics (i.e., gender, age, specific school type, number of semesters, scholastic grade point average, self-concept concerning teaching subjects) as predictors and emotions pertaining to the teacher education programme (i.e., enjoyment, anger, anxiety) as outcomes. SAMPLE: A total of 559 pre-service teachers from a mid-sized university in the North of Germany participated in this study. METHODS: To identify pre-service teachers' motivation profile for choosing teaching as a career, latent profile analysis (LPA) with one to eight profile solutions was performed. Furthermore, to explore the specific relations of pre-service teachers' motivation profile membership to the predictors and outcomes under study, several multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Results of LPA revealed four distinct motivation profiles labelled 'Educationally Motivated' (26.9%), 'Utility Oriented' (14.9%), 'Motivationally Balanced' (55.4%), and 'Extrinsically Motivated' (2.7%). Higher self-concepts concerning teaching subjects increased almost twice the membership into the 'Educationally Motivated' profile relative to the 'Utility Oriented' and 'Extrinsically Motivated' profiles but decreased the membership into the 'Utility Oriented' profile relative to the 'Motivationally Balanced' profile. The 'Educationally Motivated' profile showed the highest level of enjoyment and lowest levels of anxiety and anger, while the 'Utility Oriented' profile exhibited the least enjoyment and highest levels of anxiety and anger.

Striving to Become a Better Teacher: Linking Teacher Emotions With Informal Teacher Learning Across the Teaching Career.

The importance of informal teacher learning (ITL) to teaching effectiveness and student achievement has been repeatedly demonstrated, but there is limited research into the personal antecedents of ITL. We analyzed the relationships between teacher emotions and participation in five different kinds of ITL activities (learning through media, colleague interaction, stakeholder interaction, student interaction, and individual reflection) among 2,880 primary teachers (85.49% female) with a large range of teaching experience. Regression analysis and structural equation modeling revealed a positive association between enjoyment and engagement in all five ITL activities. Anxiety was found to be negatively related to colleague interaction and self-reflection, and anger was found to be negatively associated with student interaction. Furthermore, anxiety and anger were negatively related to teaching experience, whereas enjoyment was independent from teaching experience. Most ITL activities were positively related to teaching experience, except for stakeholder interaction. Implications for teacher training and intervention programs for in-service teachers are discussed.