Pre-service management teacher’s motivation to teach

Abstract

The study investigated the factors influencing pre-service management teachers‟ decision to take teaching as a career. The descriptive cross-sectional survey design was adopted for the study. The total population of pre-service management teachers involved in the study was 229. The census method was used to include all the respondents for the study. The FIT-Choice questionnaire was adapted from Watt and Richardson (2012) for the gathering of relevant data for the study. The data gathered was analysed with both descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages, means and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent samples t-test and One-Way Analysis of Variance-ANOVA). The study found that pre-service management teachers‟ were motivated by altruistic factors (shaping the future, enhance social equity), intrinsic factors (prior teaching experience, expert career, high demand, social contribution) and extrinsic factors (job security, social status). Their demographic characteristics such as gender, age and prior teaching experience were not found to significantly influence their decision to take teaching as a career. The study recommended that the Ghana Education Service (GES), which is responsible for teacher recruitments in education, should ensure that teachers are given a better opportunity to enjoy job security, time for their families, transfers and social equity, which are crucial for the sustenance of their personal and social utility values. The government in partnership with Ministry of Education should provide various motivational packages (job security, increased salaries and improved working conditions) to sustain the efforts of practicing teachers. Potential teacher employers should couch their advertisement to reflect these factors