Status
Ongoing
June 2009
June 2012
Project Manager
Dr. Jean-Louis Berger
Team
Yannick D'Ascoli
Partner Institutions
Leading House Economics of Education, Bern University
http://www.educationeconomics.uzh.ch/index.html
Project Description
The objective of this national project is to analyze the motivations, socio-demographic characteristics and professional curriculum of those persons electing to become teachers in VET subjects. The aim is to contribute to the development of strategies to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession. Indeed, in Switzerland today, about 4 VET teachers out of 10 are aged 50 or over. Moreover, the teaching profession as a whole is currently suffering from a certain lack of attractiveness, as stressed in a recent OECD report. A shortage of VET teachers could therefore affect Switzerland in the coming years. This project also aims to provide useful indications for the training of VET teachers.
The Expectancy-Value theoretical framework, adjusted specifically to teaching motivation by H.M.G. Watt and P.W. Richardson, serves as a basis for the motivational analysis. Many motivational dimensions are integrated in this theory, including the teaching self-efficacy, the social and personal usefulness values of the teaching profession as well as social influences. The scales Factors Influencing Teaching Choice developed by the same researchers will be translated and adjusted to the VET context in Switzerland. A questionnaire to collect socio-demographic data and information on a number of motivations and attitudes will enable us to obtain the knowledge required for our research. Teachers’ responses (n = ~600) will be compared to responses by persons having obtained a Federal VET Diploma for the same profession in the same year (so-called “paired samples”). The three language regions will be considered in order to investigate differences between linguistic regions. Moreover, a comparison will be made with another sample of teachers undergoing training (e.g. Matura school teachers) as to the motivations leading to the choice of a teaching career and to the perception of the teaching profession.
Method
Computerized questionnaire including open, multiple-choice and “Likert scale” types of questions. Responses to the questionnaires will be analyzed quantitatively. Further to descriptive analyses, dimensional analyses will be developed, followed by prediction models. Additionally, a person-focused analysis will be developed so as to draw up a number of teacher profiles with different combinations of motivations. The composition of these profiles will then be reviewed in terms of experience prior to teaching, gender, teaching field and beliefs about the teaching profession.
Publications
Berger, J.-L., & D’Ascoli, Y. (to be published). Quelles sont les motivations à devenir enseignant de la formation professionnelle ? Folio.
Contact Person
Dr. Jean-Louis Berger