The push and pull factors of teaching as a profession – The perceptions and expectations of student teachers

Abstract

Research has shown that despite the teaching profession being labelled an unattractive career, student teachers’ enrolment in South Africa continues to rise annually. This study seeks to investigate why student teachers enrol for teaching in South Africa today. 222 first year student teachers enrolled for education in a South African university participated in the study, which looked at the perceptions and expectations of student teachers in South Africa. A 91-item questionnaire was used to collect data, and the results indicate that these student teachers have more positive perceptions and expectations on the teaching profession than expected. The study recommends improvements in the education and training environment in South Africa in the form of introducing tax relief measures for teachers; intensified capacity building, and skilling of educators; re-imagining educators’ professional identity through improved professional virtue; improving safety and security in schooling environments; lessening what the author regard as pure administrative functions of teachers which add to the teaching workload; and having in place effective and sustainable infrastructure development programmes.