‘To Teach or Not to Teach’: Reasons Motivating Students to Embark upon the Teaching Path

Abstract

The paper presents and analyses factors motivating pre-service teachers to choose to teach. The reasons motivating students to enter the teaching profession are attested to be 'positive, altruistic and professionally sound' (Barnes 2005:349). Ewing and Smith (2003:22) state that young people are attracted to the profession because they perceive teaching as a satisfying career that offers opportunity for professional development, want to help others and contribute to society or wish to work with children. Taking Poland as a case in point, a large-scale study by Duraj-Nowakowa (2011:129) identified three main factors that motivate students to become teachers: fascination with the subject, eagerness to work with children and social status of the profession. This paper presents and discusses our own findings obtained through a questionnaire administered among philology students concerning their reasons for choosing the teaching career. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into why students majoring in English decide to embark upon the teaching path. What is more, the study reports upon factors deterring students from pursuing the teaching career and driving new recruits away from this path.