Motivations, Approaches to Teaching and Teacher Efficacy of Different Types of Preservice Teachers

The aim of this study was to explore if different types of pre-service teachers regarding their motivation for teaching and perception of teaching career differ in approaches to teaching and perceived efficacy in the future teaching career. The sample consisted of 217 first-year students of teacher education programs for classroom teachers at three Croatian universities. The average age of participants was 19.45 years and 93.4% of the sample was female. We assessed motivations for the teaching profession using FIT Choice as a theoretical framework. We also assessed approaches to teaching and sense of efficacy in future teaching. Our study provided insight into the clustering of various motivations for the teaching profession in first-year student teachers. Three clusters of preservice teachers were statistically and theoretically supported based on the participants’ motivation for teaching and their perception of the teaching career. The first type of students was labeled “Pragmatically motivated student teachers” (16.5%), the second “Averagely motivated student teachers” (23.8%), and the third “Highly motivated first-choice student teachers” (59.8%). The differential motivation for teaching profession was meaningfully related to the differences in students’ perceived efficacy in future teaching and in their approaches to teaching. Lower motivations for the teaching profession at the beginning of teacher studies seem to be associated with lower perceived efficacy in future teaching as well as with lower scores in student-centered approaches to teaching.