The Long Walk to Quality Teacher Education in Indonesia: Student Teachers’ Motives to become a Teacher and Policy Implications

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this mixed methods study, within the altruistic, intrinsic, or extrinsic motives framework, was conducted in order to document the motives of English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers to become a teacher by choosing a teacher education program at one public university in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia. A sample of 285 student teachers who were enrolled at EFL teacher education program at one public university in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia was investigated. Data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The frequency of each statement was computed and expressed as percentage of its total score and all of the interview data were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and carefully analysed. The findings of this study revealed that the Indonesian EFL student teachers' interpretations of their motives for embarking on a journey to become a teacher were various and unique. Although, altruistic motives seemed to be predominant, the kinds of motives on their career choice were likely to involve an interaction among altruistic, intrinsic, and extrinsic motives across participants quantitatively and qualitatively. Implications policies to create good standards of teacher education programs in order to attract and recruit quality student teachers should be made before, during, and after entering the program. Keywords. Motives, Indonesian Student Teachers, Teacher Education SUMMARYPurpose and Significance: Interest in entering teacher education has been growing in Indonesia. Understanding student teachers' initial motives or reasons to become a teacher by entering a teacher education program is necessary as a foundation to develop teacher education policies and programs intended to increase the quality of teachers and teaching practices. Information on their motives is very important for teaching institutions to obtain in order to help prepare the quality student teachers during their education and training, to train them with better skill, knowledge, and attitude, and to socialize them with the teachers' roles so that they will take teaching as a more challenging and rewarding profession. However, much of the research is from developed countries and schooling there differs in many significant respects from Indonesia, including governance, financing, and policies on curriculum and assessment while research on student teachers' motives to enter the teacher profession in Indonesia is still rare. The focus of this study was to document English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers' motives to become a teacher by choosing a teacher education program at one public university in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia.Methodology: This study employed a mixed methods design, in which both students' questionnaire and semistructured interviews were used to gather the data within the altruistic, intrinsic, or extrinsic motives framework. A sample of year 2, 3, and 4 EFL student teachers who were enrolled at an EFL teacher education program at one public university in Jambi, Sumatra, Ind...

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“…Our interview findings also revealed that loving to work with children has driven our participants to choose teacher education programs. Our finding is in line with what Mukminin et al (2017b) found that loving to work with children was one of the major motives attracting student teachers to embark a journey to become a teacher by choosing teacher education programs. The last rank (66.3%) was the motive of "It is like to answer a calling" in which 89 participants (15%) chose "strongly agree" and 304 participants (51.3%) "agreed" with the motive.…”

“…The rise in the number of senior high school graduates entering teacher education programs in Indonesia has raised a question: What has driven this population to enter four years undergraduate teacher education programs? The existing works indicate three major motives that have driven people for entering or choosing teacher education to be a teacher including altruistic, intrinsic, or extrinsic motives (Fokkens-Bruinsma and Canrınus, 2012;Kılınc et al, 2012;Kyrıacou et al, 2003;Laı et al, 2005;Lın et al, 2012;Low et al, 2011;Manuel and Hughes, 2006;Mukminin et al, 2017b). However, it is surprising that few prior studies have documented student teachers" motives and explanations to become a teacher by entering teacher education programs in Indonesia except for Mukminin et al (2017a) and Mukminin et al (2017b) whose studies focused on year 2, 3, and 4 EFL student teachers" motives to become a teacher through entering an English teacher education program.…”

“…On the other side, the rise in the number of student teachers studying at teacher education programs has raised a question: What motivates young people to enter four years undergraduate teacher education programs? The existing literature indicates that a wide range of motives (e.g., altruistic, intrinsic, and extrinsic motives) have attracted student teachers to enter teacher education or teaching profession (Fokkens-Bruinsma and Canrınus, 2012;Johnston et al, 1999;Kılınc et al, 2012;Kıng, 1993;Kyrıacou et al, 1999;Kyrıacou and Coulthard, 2000;Kyrıacou et al, 2003;Laı et al, 2005;Lın et al, 2012;Low et al, 2011;Manuel and Hughes, 2006;Mukminin et al, 2017b;Pop and Turner, 2009;Rıchardson and Watt, 2006;Schutz et al, 2001;Yong, 1995); Such previous studies on student teachers" motives to enter teacher education indicate three major motives for entering or choosing teacher education including altruistic, intrinsic, or extrinsic motives.…”

“…Additionally, the last motives that become the focus of this study are the extrinsic motives which are related to the aspects of the job which are not inherent in the work itself (Kyrıacou and Coulthard, 2000;Mukminin et al, 2017b). To put it another way, people"s motives to choose teaching profession is done for the sake of some external outcome or for earning external rewards such as "being a teacher offers more time for family, being a teacher offers good salary, being a teacher offers long holidays, and I have no other choices.…”

“…However, Mukminin et al (2017b) studies have only focused on Indonesian undergraduate English as foreign language (EFL) student teachers. Despite the fact that their studies provide readers with useful information on EFL student teachers" motives to enter English teacher education programs, they might not be able to identify unique and individual motives of student teachers across programs, thus obscuring our understanding of their various motives.…”