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Factors influencing choosing teaching as a career: South Korean preservice teachers

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Abstract

This study validated the underlying factor structure of the Factors Influencing Teaching (FIT)-Choice survey in the South Korea context and examined motivations and perceptions of 903 Korean preservice teachers by major demographic characteristics. Secondary preservice teachers reported significantly higher values than elementary preservice teachers for Qualification fit and desire to teach and Task return. Male preservice teachers believed more strongly than female preservice teachers that they chose the teaching profession because of Qualification fit, Influencing others, and Task return. Compared to freshmen/sophomores, juniors/seniors reported significantly higher values for Task demand. Participants with low- to medium-level self-reported income ($12K–$46K) weighted Benefits significantly higher than those with medium-level income ($46K–$88K). STEM majors reported higher values for the Qualification fit and Influencing others than non-STEM majors. As South Korea is one of the few countries which has an oversupply of highly qualified teacher candidates, findings were compared with other countries to provide useful insights to improve recruitment of highly qualified individuals to teaching workforce in many countries where teacher shortage is a chronic problem. Based on these data analyses, we argue that policy makers, politicians, education researchers, and others who care about quality education and student academic achievements need to make efforts to increase task returns and benefits.

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Notes

  1. The graduation rate was calculated based on this formula: (the total graduation number/total entry number to high school three years ago) × 100.

  2. For instance, among many other factors, private secondary teachers have fewer opportunities for teacher training and promotion. While the public school system provides in-service teachers with a variety of in-service training programs, private school foundations tend to make very limited funds available for teacher training. Promotion to various leadership positions is open to public school teachers both at the school and the district/state level, whereas only limited promotion opportunities are available for private school teachers (Yum and Park 2013).

  3. The term “cram school” [hagwon in Korean] refers to a private institute that specializes in helping students achieve better GPAs and prepare for the entrance exams of prestigious high schools or universities.

  4. In South Korea, the academic year begins at the beginning of March and ends at the end of December in postsecondary institutions.

  5. We applied the National Tax Service’s (2017) individual income tax index. The index originally had five brackets including “above $300,000” the highest. We collapsed it to “above $88,000” for data analysis because only limited numbers of participants belonged to the highest bracket.

  6. Because college students in South Korea tend to live with their parents until they graduate from college and/or get married, we asked participants to identify the household annual income instead of their individual income.

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Funding

Funding was provided by Chonbuk National University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Korean Education, College of Education, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, 54896, Republic of Korea

    Jeong-Ae Lee

  2. Department of Elementary Education, School of Education, Utah Valley University, 800 S. University Parkway, Orem, UT, 84058, USA

    Mi Ok Kang

  3. American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, Washington, DC, 20007, USA

    Bitnara Jasmine Park

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  1. Jeong-Ae Lee
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Appendix 1: Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-choice) survey items in English and Korean

Appendix 1: Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-choice) survey items in English and Korean

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Lee, JA., Kang, M.O. & Park, B.J. Factors influencing choosing teaching as a career: South Korean preservice teachers. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 20, 467–488 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09579-z

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