When “past” meets “present”: effects of preservice teachers’ initial career choices and current plans on teaching values, self-efficacy, and person-vocation fit

Journal article

This mixed-methods study examined how preservice teachers' career choices may change during training and their associations with teaching motivation, including utility values, self-efficacy, and person-vocation fit. Results from structural equation modeling analysis with 1,143 survey responses, followed by 14 interviews, identified four teacher profiles with distinct motivational patterns: committed teachers, reconsidering teachers, emerging teachers, and consistently non-teachers. The results indicate a significant interaction between initial career choice and current career plans, showing that preservice teachers with committed career plans reported high utility values and a strong perceived fit in teaching. Conversely, those who had initially aspired to teach but later reconsidered their teaching path exhibited the lowest levels of utility values and perceived fit. The findings imply that the teacher education program plays a crucial role in developing strategies to enhance preservice teachers’ motivation and strengthen their commitment to teaching careers.

Authors: Cahyawulan, W; Wang, H; Klassen, RM

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Teaching and Teacher Education
• Volume: 176
• Article number: 105477
• Publication date: 2026-03-19
• Acceptance date: 2026-02-26
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2026.105477
• EISSN: 1879-2480
• ISSN: 0742-051X
• Language: English
• Keywords: career choice; teaching motivation; teaching self-efficacy; person-vocation fit; mixed methods; interaction analysis; thematic analysis