This study explored student teachers views of factors influencing them to choose teaching as a career. A total of 600 student teachers completed a questionnaire. They were asked to rate the importance of 25 factors in influencing their choice of teaching as a career. Using Factor Analysis, we categorized the 25 factors into three main factors (Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Altruistic). We found that of the three factors, altruistic motivation seems to be more dominant (Mean=6.07) than intrinsic (Mean=5.72), and extrinsic motivation (Mean=5.4). We compared the views expressed by those who were not considering teaching and those who were considering teaching as a career option in relation to factors important in influencing their decisions. We also compared the importance of the factors based on gender. For all the groups regardless of gender or career option, altruistic factors were rated more important than intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
The aim of this study was to examine ICT readiness and the effects of demographic characteristics, educational background, and support factors on the ICT readiness of technical and vocational teachers in Malaysia. The questionnaire was administered to 329 technical and vocational teachers who are teaching engineering subjects in Malaysian technical and vocational schools. The questionnaire consisted of items related to ICT knowledge, ICT skills, and attitudes toward ICT. The findings in this study indicated that the teachers' ICT knowledge was above average, the teachers' ICT skills were at a moderate level, and their attitudes toward ICT were positive. There was a significant effect of gender on teachers' ICT readiness in terms of ICT knowledge, ICT skills, and attitudes. No significant effect of teachers' educational background and support factors on teachers' overall ICT readiness was discovered.
This study was performed to identify the employability skills of technical students from the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and Indigenous People's Trust Council (MARA) Skills Training Institutes (IKM) in Malaysia. The study sample consisted of 850 final year trainees of IKM and ITI. The sample was chosen by a random sampling procedure from a population of 2520 students from both institutions. Trainees' employability skills were measured using a 40 item questionnaire adapted from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report. In general, the majority of the trainees possessed a moderate level of employability skills (Mean= 3.88, S.D= .49). Their basic skills were at the moderate level (Mean= 3.83, S.D= .9); thinking skills (Mean= 3.73, S.D= .56); source skills (Mean= 3.83, S.D= .57); informational (Mean= 3.61, S.D= .76); interpersonal (Mean= 3.92, S.D= .57); technical and system skills (Mean= 3.81, S.D= .67); and self-qualities (Mean= 4.14, S.D= .55). There were no significant differences of employability skills between trainees from IKM and ITI in term of gender, work experience, and between courses.
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