Career Perspectives of Teacher Education Students: Choice, Satisfaction and Expectations

The aim of this study was to examine the perceptions of the teaching profession, satisfaction with the choice of a study programme, and desirable work values in students in their final years of various areas of teacher education studies. The study participants were 443 students in their final year of teacher education studies in the Republic of Croatia. The participants filled out the questionnaires designed to examine their intentions of finding a job in their professional field, their satisfaction with the chosen study programme, the perception of the support received from their surroundings, their satisfaction with a study programme, and the perception of the teaching profession and desirable work values. The findings have shown that students tend to rank highly expert career and high demand of the teaching profession, while they give the lowest ranking to the social status of teachers and their salary. Statistically significant differences were found in almost all of the examined variables with regard to the area of study (interdisciplinary, humanistic, STEM, social). The perceptions of students who intend to find employment in schools are statistically different in comparison with those of students who do not intend to or who are not sure whether they would work in schools, with regard to their satisfaction with the chosen study programme and studies, and their perceptions of the important work values. The logistic regression analysis results indicate that satisfaction with the chosen study programme is the most important factor contributing to students’ intentions to find employment in school. The findings highlight the importance of strengthening professional orientation and providing support to students during their studies, while future research should further examine the factors underlying satisfaction with the choice of a study programme.