Why Teacher Education? Documenting Undocumented Female Student Teachers’ Motives in Indonesia: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this paper, within the altruistic, intrinsic, or extrinsic motives framework, was to report the qualitative findings on the undocumented motives of English as a foreign language (EFL) female student teachers to become a teacher by choosing a teacher education program at one public university in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia. The data were collected through demographic profiles and semi-structured in-depth interviews with 21 EFL female student teachers. Whereas personal interests and aptitudes undoubtedly act an important role to embark on a journey to become a teacher, our findings indicated that the female student teachers’ desire to enter a teacher education program was driven by a strong mixing of altruistic motives (idealistic and social mission such as helping society become better in future, helping rural and remote areas, shaping future educated generation, and loving to work with young generation), intrinsic motives (intellectual mission, role models’ continuation, and personal fulfillment), and extrinsic motives (compatible work schedules and a hero status at school and in society). Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.