How early pedagogical experiences relate to teachers’ career motivations

Abstract

Early pedagogical experiences are known to influence teaching career choice, yet research on their relations with motivational beliefs remains limited. Applying the FIT-Choice model, we investigated how the amount and type of early pedagogical experiences relate to career motivations in a diverse, urban sample of teacher education students (N = 901). ANOVAs and multigroup path analyses revealed smaller effects of socialization on motivational beliefs and larger effects of intrinsic value on career choice satisfaction and planned persistence for participants with lead teaching experience. Findings illuminate how types of teaching experience are differentially associated with career motivations among teacher trainees