Motivation for the Choice of the Teaching Profession: The Role of Prospective Teachers’ Personality Traits, Emotional Competence, and Life-Satisfaction

Abstract

Interest in the motivation for the choice of the teaching profession has been growing in the last few decades. Although the literature recognizes the importance of exploring non-academic factors that affect the quality of teaching and teachers’ well-being, studies exploring these factors within the context of the teaching career choice are rather underrepresented. The aim of this study was to explore the predictive value of personality traits, emotional competence, and life-satisfaction of prospective teachers in explaining prospective teachers’ motivation for the choice of the teaching profession. A total of 591 prospective teachers participated in this study. The data were analyzed by the hierarchical regression analyses, and the results indicated that almost all personality traits and the ability to regulate and manage emotions predicted the importance of intrinsic value and the social utility value of teaching, whereby neuroticism was a negative predictor of these motives. Also, life-satisfaction was predictive of the importance of both of these motives and the importance of the personal utility value of teaching.