Teaching as career choice as perceived by technical and vocational education student teachers

There is at present an interesting debate on student teachers choosing teaching as a career specifically on the choices or factors that persuade them into doing so. Student teachers have the option during their education program whether or not to choose teaching as a career. The motivating factors which include perception, expectation and satisfaction significantly contribute in the decision making of student teachers in choosing teaching or other professions. The factors that influence their decision to choose teaching as a career will have a noteworthy impact on the duration of their stay in the profession. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors as perceived by Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) student teachers that led them to choose the teaching as career. This is a quantitative research and to gather the necessary data, a survey was carried out covering 300 final-semester TVE student teachers from four public university institutions in Malaysia. The questionnaire administered to the respondents, was adopted and adapted from the Factor Influencing Teaching-Choice “FIT- Choice Scale” and focused on the student teacher’s motivation factors namely intrinsic, extrinsic, and altruistic, perception,expectation and satisfaction with regard to teaching career. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results indicated that for a majority of the respondents, the level of all motivating factors inducing them towards the teaching career including the intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, altruistic motivation and satisfaction are generally high. In addition, the majority of the respondents had positive perceptions and expectation about the teaching career. There was no significant difference between gender and teaching as a career choice among TVE student teachers, [χ2 = .153, df= 1, n = 300, p >.005]. The chi- square analysis also indicates that there was no significant difference between academic program followed and teaching as a career, [χ2 = 7.661, df= 5, n = 300, p > .005]. In particular, dicriminant analysis revealed that Wilk’s Lamda was significant [h = .73, h2= 61.672, p < .001] and majority of respondents who intended to pursue a teaching career mentioned that motivational factors namely, intrinsic, extrinsic and altruistic are the most popular combination of choices that best distinguish students who choose teaching from those who do not. The perceptions variables did not contribute strongly to the discriminant function yet it is moderately highly (negatively) correlated with the overall discriminant function. In conclusion, this research can contribute vastly to strategies of recruitment and retention of teachers in the teaching profession

Persepsi pelajar terhadap pengajaran pensyarah ekonomi yang berkesan: satu kajian kes di Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Kedah/ Normala Ismail

Objektif utama kajian ini adalah unluk meninjau persepsi pelajar terhadap ciri - ciri pengajaran pensyarah Ekonomi yang berkesan. Kajian ini merupakan satu kajian lapangan berdasarkan kepada kajian rentas. Sampel kajian adalah terdiri daripada dua rat us lapan puluh scmbilan (289) orang pelajar pelbagai bahagian dan program pengajian daripada Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Kedah. Data dikutip dengan mengedarkan borang soal selidik setelah memperoleh kebenaran daripada Pengurusan UiTM Cawangan Kedah. Data dari kajian ini diproses dan dianalisis menggunakan teknik deskriptif. ujian - t. analisis varians dan analisis regresi berganda berasaskan pakej Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) versi 12.0. i Iasii analisis varians menunjukkan persepsi pelajar terhadap pengajaran pcnsyarah Ekonomi yang berkesan di UiTM Cavvangan Kedah tidak dipengaruhi oleh kehadiran pelajar ke kuiiah. sama ada pelajar mempunyai asas Kursus Ekonomi, minal dan program pengajian. Sebaliknya. ia adalah berdasarkan jantina. Kursus Ekonomi yang diambil. kategori pelajar dan bahagian pengajian. Kajian turut mendapati terdapat empat (4) faktor yang mempengaruhi persepsi pelajar terhadap ciri - ciri pengajaran pensyarah Ekonomi yang berkesan, iaitu sikap dan sahsiah pensyarah, personaliti (peribadi) pcnsyarah, hubungan pensyarah dengan pelajar dan pensyarah dalam pengajaran. Bagi ciri - ciri personaliti (peribadi) pensyarah terdapat tiga (3) faktor yang mempengaruhinya, iaitu prihatin. peramah dasi tegas. diikuti dengan empat (4) faktor yang mempengaruhi pensyarah dalam pengajaran. iaitu penilaian pengajaran, pengetahuan dan pcngalaman mengajar. perscdiaan. perancangan dan perlaksanaan pengajaran. dan sensitiviti pensyarah. Seterusnya. bagi ciri ciri hubungan pensyarah dengan pelajar, kajian mendapati terdapat lima (5) faktor yan

Problem-based learning in the English language classroom

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the problem-based learning approach (PBL) on students in language classes in two areas: course content and language development. The study was conducted on 128 students, grouped into the experimental and control groups, and employed an experimental research design. The syllabus, textbook, and instructor were controlled for both groups. The findings of the study showed that in terms of course content, both groups improved but in terms of language the PBL group showed more improvements. The PBL group showed improvements in the post-writing test, that is, their essays were richer in terms of support and arguments for each point, while the non-PBL did not show much difference in their post-writing test. This indicates that students could still acquire the course content with minimal content instruction. The limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are offered at the end of the paper. Keywords: Problem-Based Learning, traditional approaches, Content-Based Instruction, proficienc

The relationship between cumulative grade point average achievement and time management skills among students at higher learning institution / Normala Ismail and Mohamad Kamil Ariff Khalid

Time management skills are one of the key learning skills that students can master in order to help them achieve excellence while studying at universities. However, a thorough study of the extent to which this skill is owned by students and the impact on their academic performance is rarely focused especially among Universiti Teknologi MARA students. Hence, this paper examines the issue based on a study of 200 diploma level students from three faculties in various programs studying at Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang Branch Raub Campus. Data were collected using a set of questionnaires and analyzed descriptively using t-test, ANOVA and Pearson’s Correlation. The findings show that in general, time management skills among students are moderate and these skills differ significantly between gender and program of study. This study also found a significant relationship between time management skills and the students Cumulative Grade Point Average

A preliminary study on the effectiveness of new students’ adjustment to university / Normala Ismail and Mohamad Kamil Ariff Khalid

Adjustment among new students at the university plays an important role in determining their success at university. This study showed one of the reasons students fail to complete their study is due to adjustment problems. Students found to be unable to deal with the challenges and demands on campus and experience a variety of problems that some of them failed to proceed to the next semester. The population of the study consist of 143 First Semester Diploma students in the Faculty of Business and Management studies at Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang Raub Campus. The instrument used is questionnaires. There are four subscales designed to measure the effectiveness of student adjustment to university that are academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal (emotional) adjustment and institutional commitment. The study shows that adaptability on campus has a relationship with psychosocial abilities possessed by the students. Among the psychosocial abilities have a positive and significant impact on student adjustment is emotional intelligence, coping, and social support. All three of these psychosocial capabilities found to play an important role in helping students adjust at the university. Thus, the university must take proactive steps to develop emotional intelligence, coping and social support among new students to improve their adaptability

High school agriculture teachers' career satisfaction and reasons they stay in teaching profession

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the reasons why high school agriculture teachers remain in teaching. A descriptive census study was implemented on agriculture teachers (N=252) utilizing an online validated questionnaire in Iowa. A total of 119 agriculture teachers completed the questionnaire with a response rate of 47%. A four-point Likert-type scale from 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=agree, and 4=strongly agree was used to measure reasons why teachers stay in the teaching. Mean and standard deviation was 2.88(.32) for overall reasons to stay in teaching demonstrating these reasons influenced teachers to remain in teaching. Findings shows more than half teachers (f=54, 45.4%) plan to remain in teaching for 11 or more years. Further crosstabulates analysis on years of teaching experience variable with three different plans to stay shows that substantial number of late-career teachers plan to stay in short time (50%), 33.7% mid-career teachers plan to stay for 11 or more years, and newly teachers plan to stay for less than 10 years (42.9%). Findings are consistent with literature that reported years of teaching experience which was a predictor for teacher retention

High school agriculture teachers' intentions to continue teaching

A descriptive survey study was used to examine factors that influence high school agriculture teachers’ intentions to continue teaching in Iowa. The online questionnaire was administered to 252 agriculture teachers, and 119 teachers completed the survey. A four-point Likert-type scale was used to measure agriculture teachers’ intentions to continue teaching. The overall mean and standard deviation is 2.64 (.64) for the eight influential factors, which indicates that these factors slightly influenced teacher intentions to continue teaching. The multinomial logistic regression model using the stepwise forward method was used to predict the likelihood of individuals’ plans to continue teaching. The model was statistically significant (χ2 = 39.97; p = 0.01), and the following significant, influential factors can explain 31 percent (Pseudo R2=.31) of the variance: teacher recognition (p=.001), teaching as a right career (p=.035), family expectation of staying (p=.035) and teaching makes oneself feel good (p=.040). Findings from this study support evidence from previous research that reported teachers with strong self-esteem and belief that teaching is the right career for them and will remain longer in the profession

Factors that motivate high school agriculture teachers to teach

The purpose of this research was to describe the factors that motivate high school agriculture teachers to teach. The motivation to teach included intrinsic motivations, extrinsic motivations, and altruistic motivations. This was a census study using an online questionnaire that was sent to all (N = 252) high school agriculture teachers in Iowa. The Tailored Design Method with five contacts was used for data collection. The overall response rate was 47% (n = 119). Motivational factors were measured using a four-point Likert-type scale with the following response options: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, and 4 = strongly agree. Confirmatory factor analysis and maximum likelihood factor analysis were used to identify factors underlying individuals’ motivation to teach. Means and standard deviations were 3.24 (0.13) for intrinsic factors and 2.55 (0.19) for extrinsic factors, respectively, indicating these factors influenced individuals’ motivations to teach. In this study, altruistic factors retained through factor analysis aligned with the intrinsic factors. The findings were consistent with previous studies on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations based on self-determination theory. Even though teachers were drawn to the profession more strongly by intrinsic factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are important in motivating agriculture teachers to teach. The study has implications for the design of induction and mentoring programs and for the administrative support of teachers