“I was told to find what broke my heart and fix it:” College students explain why they want to become teachers

Abstract

Using the open-ended question from the FIT-Choice scale, this study presents an examination of why college students choose teaching as a career, in their own words. Over 100 responses were analyzed with two coding systems: thematic coding from the text and a coding system generated from the FIT-Choice survey questions. Two raters reliably coded independently. Across the two coding systems, students reported choosing teaching as a career because they want to teach and want to help children. They were motivated by the ability to make a difference in the world through teaching. The coding system based on FIT-Choice provided similar results to the students’ responses to the quantitative FIT-Choice measure, with social utility value and intrinsic career value being ranked highest. Open-ended responses support the survey responses and suggest that these pre-service teachers are choosing teaching for altruistic reasons.

Keywords

• teaching motivations
• fit-choice scale
• preservice teachers
• career choice