Motivations for Entering the Teaching Profession

Perspectives of Preservice Teachers

Authors

  • Eva Fernandes Uminho
  • Diana Pereira
  • Assunção Flores

Keywords:

Motivations for teaching. Preservice teachers. Narratives. Initial teacher education

Abstract

This study examines the factors that influence preservice teachers' decisions to pursue a teaching career, considering current teacher shortages and increasing demands of the teaching profession. Content analysis of 149 narratives from master’s in teaching students at a Portuguese public university indicates that career choices result from the interaction of personal commitment, social influences, and professional aspirations. The results confirm that intrinsic and altruistic motivations are predominant, while contextual factors, including social, family, and professional environments, as well as extrinsic factors, also play significant roles. Identifying these motivations is crucial for attracting new teachers and for developing teacher education programmes that consider their motivations and expectations within the framework of the professional knowledge required for the teaching profession.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

References

ANDRADE, J. A.; NASCIMENTO, I. Ser professor em Portugal: escolha profissional, formação e expectativas de futuros professores. Cadernos de Educação, Pelotas, n. 64, p. 84–107, 2021. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufpel.edu.br/index.php/caduc/article/view/20643. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

ANDRÉ, C. S. F. Motivation for the teaching profession: Conditioning factors. 2024. Tese (Doutoramento) – Instituto Politécnico de Leiria. Disponível em: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

BARROS, S. et al. A escolha de uma carreira no ensino em Portugal: motivos e autoeficácia de estudantes de mestrado. Revista Portuguesa de Educação, Braga, v. 34, n. 1, 2021. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.21814/rpe.18401

CNE. Estado da Educação 2022. Lisboa: Conselho Nacional de Educação, 2023.

CNE. Estado da Educação 2023. Lisboa: Conselho Nacional de Educação, 2024.

DAY, C. A paixão pelo ensino. Porto: Porto Editora, 2006.

DECI, E. L.; RYAN, R. M. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum, 1985.

DECRETO-LEI n.º 79/2014, de 14 de maio. Diário da República, n. 92/2014, Série I, p. 2819–2828.

DECRETO-LEI n.º 80-A/2023, de 6 de setembro. Diário da República, n. 173/2023, 1.º Suplemento, Série I, p. 2–4.

DECRETO-LEI n.º 9-A/2025, de 14 de fevereiro. Diário da República, n. 32/2025, Suplemento, Série I.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION/EACEA/EURYDICE. Teachers in Europe: Careers, Development and Well-being. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021.

FLORES, M. A. Being a novice teacher in two different settings: struggles, continuities, and discontinuities. Teachers College Record, Columbia University, NY, v. 108, n. 10, p. 2021–2052, 2006. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00773.x. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

FLORES, M. A. Feeling like a student but thinking like a teacher: a study of the development of professional identity in initial teacher education. Journal of Education for Teaching, Bath Spa University, v. 46, n. 2, p. 145–158, 2020. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1724659. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

FLORES, M. A.; VIEIRA, F.; SILVA, J. L.; ALMEIDA, J. Integrating Research into the Practicum: Inquiring into Inquiry-Based Professional Development in Post-Bologna Initial Teacher Education in Portugal. In: FLORES, M. A.; AL-BARWANI, T. (ed.). Redefining Teacher Education for the Post-2015 Era: Global Challenges and Contexts. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2016. p. 73-88.

FLORES, M. A. Formação docente e identidade profissional: tensões e (des)continuidades. Educação. Porto Alegre: Brasil, v. 38, n. 1, p. 138–146, 2015.

FLORES, M. A. Person and context in becoming a new teacher. Journal of Education for Teaching, Bath Spa University, v. 27, n. 2, p. 135–148, 2001. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/02607470120067882. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

FLORES, I.; VAJÃO, C.; PERDIGÃO, R.; LOURENÇO, V. Reservas de Professores sob a Lupa: Antevisão de professores necessários e disponíveis. Lisboa: Edulog, 2024a. Disponível em: https://edulog.pt/storage/app/uploads/public/671/66c/167/67166c167ffdb272166690.pdf. Acesso em: 28 nov. 2025.

FLORES, M. A.; OLIVEIRA, H.; DA PONTE, J. P. From teacher surplus to teacher shortage and its effects on teacher education: the Portuguese case. European Journal of Teacher Education, Oxfordshire, v. 48, n. 1, p. 26–44, 2024b. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2024.2443668. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

FLORES, M. A.; CRAIG, C. J. Reimagining teacher education in light of the teacher shortage and the aftershock of COVID-19: adjusting to a rapidly shifting world. European Journal of Teacher Education, Oxfordshire, v. 46, n. 5, p. 772–788, 2023. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2023.2294697. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

FLORES, M. A.; DAY, C. Contexts which shape and reshape new teachers’ identities: a multi-perspective study. Teaching and Teacher Education, Vancouver, v. 22, n. 2, p. 219–232, 2006. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2005.09.002. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

FLORES, M. A.; NIKLASSON, L. Why do student teachers enrol for a teaching degree? A study of teacher recruitment in Portugal and Sweden. Journal of Education for Teaching, Bath Spa University, v. 40, n. 4, p. 328–343, 2014. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2014.929883. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

FOKKENS-BRUINSMA, M.; CANRINUS, E. T. Motivation for becoming a teacher and engagement with the profession: evidence from different contexts. International Journal of Educational Research, University of Oxford, v. 65, p. 65–74, 2014. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2013.09.012. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

HARALDSTAD, Å.; KRISTIANSEN, A. Building bridges – between the pre-service teachers’ school experiences and the teaching of an educational content: a narrative approach. Journal of Curriculum Studies, London, v. 52, n. 5, p. 608–619, 2020. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2019.1658229. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

HEINZ, M. Why choose teaching? An international review of empirical studies exploring student teachers’ career motivations and levels of commitment to teaching. Educational Research and Evaluation, University of Oxford, v. 21, n. 3, p. 258–297, 2015. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2015.1018278. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

LEITE, C.; RODRIGUES, S. V.; TEIXEIRA, D. N. Razões da escolha da profissão docente e perceções que dela têm estudantes da Universidade do Porto (Portugal), Práxis Educativa. Ponta Grossa, v. 19, e23411, 2024. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.5212/praxeduc.v.19.23411.068. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

LIEBLICH, A.; TUVAL-MASHIACH, R.; ZILBER, T. Narrative research: reading, analysis and interpretation. London: Sage, 1998.

LUTOVAC, S.; FLORES, M. A. Conceptions of assessment in pre-service teachers’ narratives of students’ failure. Cambridge Journal of Education, Cambridge, 1–17, 2021a. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764x.2021.1935736. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

LUTOVAC, S.; FLORES, M. A. “Those who fail should not be teachers”: pre-service teachers’ understandings of failure and teacher identity development. Journal of Education for Teaching, Bath Spa University, v. 47, n. 3, p. 379–394, 2021b. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2021.1891833. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

MANUEL, J.; HUGHES, J. ‘It has always been my dream’: exploring pre-service teachers’ motivations for choosing to teach. Teacher Development, London, v. 10, n. 1, p. 5–24, 2006. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530600587311. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

MARSHALL, D. T.; PRESSLEY, T.; NEUGEBAUER, N. M.; SHANNON, D. M. Why teachers are leaving and what we can do about it. Phi Delta Kappan, Arlington, v. 104, n. 1, p. 6–11, 2022. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1177/00317217221123642. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

MENTER, I.; TATTO, M. Comparative teacher education research in turbulent times. In: TIERNEY, R. J.; RIZVI, F.; ERKICAN, K. (Eds.). International encyclopedia of education. 4. ed. Elsevier, 2023. p. 740–750.

NEVES, M. de L. G. A motivação dos professores em Portugal: estudo de caso de um agrupamento de escolas. Revista Prâksis, Vila Nova, n. 2, e3792, 2024. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.25112/rpr.v2.3792. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

NUNES, L. C.; REIS, A. B.; FREITAS, P.; NUNES, M.; GABRIEL, J. M. Estudo de diagnóstico de necessidades docentes de 2021 a 2030. Lisboa: Direção-Geral de Estatísticas da Educação e Ciência, 2021. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

NUNES, L. C.; REIS, A. B.; FREITAS, P.; NUNES, M.; GABRIEL, J. M. Estudo de diagnóstico de necessidades docentes de 2025 a 2034. Lisboa: Direção-Geral de Estatísticas da Educação e Ciência, 2025. Disponível em: https://www.dgeec.medu.pt/artpub/68e4f43b09ef6c29d2205bc1. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

PALMER, P. J. The courage to teach: exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.

PEREIRA, D.; FERNANDES, E.; LUTOVAC, S.; FLORES, M. A. Looking at assessment through critical incidents written by preservice teachers: a study conducted in Portugal. Reflective Practice, CA, v. 26, n. 3, p. 476–495, 2025. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2025.2459433. Acesso em: 8 out. 2025.

RÄDIKER, S.; GIZZI, M. (Eds.). The practice of qualitative data analysis: research examples using MAXQDA. v. 2. Berlin: MAXQDA Press, 2024.

RICHARDSON, P. W.; WATT, H. M. G. Who chooses teaching and why? Profiling characteristics and motivations across three Australian universities. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Abingdon, v. 34, p. 27–56, 2006. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/13598660500480290. Acesso em: 13 out. 2025.

RICHARDSON, P. W.; WATT, H. M. G. Why people choose teaching as a career. In: RICHARDSON, P. W.; KARABENICK, S. A.; WATT, H. M. G. (Eds.). Teacher motivation: theory and practice. New York: Routledge, 2014. p. 3–19.

SAITO, A. “I chose to receive teacher training because …” Motivations for teaching and career aspirations among teacher education students in Japan. International Journal of Educational Research, University of Oxford, v. 6, n. 100330, 2024. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2024.100330. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

SCHATZ-OPPENHEIMER, O.; DVIR, N. From ugly duckling to swan: stories of novice teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, Vancouver, v. 37, p. 140–149, jan. 2014. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.10.011. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

SIMONSZ, H.; LEEMAN, Y.; VEUGELERS, W. Beginning student teachers’ motivations for becoming teachers and their educational ideals. Journal of Education for Teaching, Bath Spa University, v. 49, n. 2, p. 207–221, 2022. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2022.2061841. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

STRUYVEN, K.; JACOBS, K.; DOCHY, F. Why do they want to teach? The multiple reasons of different groups of students for undertaking teacher education. European Journal of Psychology of Education, Netherlands, v. 28, n. 3, p. 1007–1022, 2013. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-012-0151-4. Acesso em: 14 out. 2025.

WATT, H. M. G.; RICHARDSON, P. W. An introduction to teaching motivations in different countries: comparisons using the FIT-choice scale. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Abingdon, v. 40, n. 3, p. 185–197, 2012. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2012.700049. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

WATT, H. M. G.; RICHARDSON, P. W. Motivations, perceptions, and aspirations concerning teaching as a career for different types of beginning teachers. Learning and Instruction, Oxford, v. 18, n. 5, p. 408–428, 2008. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2008.06.002. Acesso em: 28 out. 2025.

Downloads

Published

2026-05-27

Issue

Volume 11, 2026 – publicação Contínua

Section

Artigos

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Revista Internacional de Formação de Professores

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Motivations for Entering the Teaching Profession: Perspectives of Preservice Teachers. Revista Internacional de Formação de Professores, Itapetininga, p. e026003, 2026. Disponível em: https://periodicoscientificos.itp.ifsp.edu.br/index.php/rifp/article/view/3043. Acesso em: 14 jun. 2026.

Most read articles by the same author(s)