Higher Education for Teacher Training Students’ Motivation to
Become Teachers
Mohammad Ali, Vina Adriany and Banrul Hayat
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi 229, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Motivation Study, Motivation of Student Teachers to Become Teachers.
Abstract: Teacher profession deals with giving service to students. Its quality and effectiveness are not only supported
by competencies or hard skills, but also by soft skills, such as caring and patience. The soft skills are
contributed by motivation, particularly the adaptive one. Conceptually, this can be developed through the
curriculum. This study addresses the problem of the extent to which Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
students who are undertaking teacher training programs motivate to become teacher. This study adopted a
quantitative descriptive method by collecting data from the students this university using questionnaires in
the form of Motivation Scales. The sample subjects are randomly selected from six clusters. The data was
analyzed by utilizing simple descriptive statistics, two factors ANOVA, and post-hock analysis using Dunnet-
t
ψ
multiple comparison tests. Findings of the study indicate the students’ motivation of being teachers although
it is high but vary among the six clusters as well as among the motivation category of adaptive and maladaptive
across the six clusters. This implies the needs to review the curriculum, particularly the basic one regarding
the development of teachers’ profession focusing on the cultivation of motivation particularly the adaptive
one.
1 INTRODUCTION
Motivation is a psychological factor which drives an
individual behavior. Theoretically, fulfilling basic
need, such as biological, psychological, social,
esteem, ad self-actualization needs drive an
individual behavior. The basic needs are hierarchical
in their nature. Once an individual satisfies his or her
lower level needs he or she will behave to fulfill his
or her higher level one and then move again until
fulfilling the highest level in the hierarchy of the
needs. This is applied in every aspect of human life,
including motivation to become a teacher.
This study aims to explore university’s students’
motivation in choosing bachelor degree in
educational studies. Motivation can be defined as a
psychological factor which drives an individual’s
behavior. It is derived from an individual’s desire to
fulfill their basic needs whether it is physical or social
needs, as well as vocational needs. Vocational needs
are a motivation which leads a person to choose a
professional career by selecting particular programs
at a university level.
For the past couple of years, it appears that the
motivation to become a teacher has increased among
young people entering a university. However, factors
which drive the motivation vary among individuals.
Bruinsma and Jansen (2010) differentiate motivation
into two categories. They are adaptive and
maladaptive motives. Adaptive motive is the intrinsic
motivation, like a passion for teaching, while
maladaptive motive is the external one, like a status
an individual seeks.
The adaptive motive tends to stay longer and more
permanent comparing to the maladaptive one which
is easier to disappear (Bruinsma and Jansen, 2010).
Among the maladaptive one according to Retelsdorf
et al. (2010), is a motive for salary. However, because
the maladaptive does not stay forever, there is a
concern that despite the fact there has been an
increase in teachers’ salary, the motive will likely to
diminish over time.
In spite of the fact that number of researches have
attempted to explore individual’s motivation to
become a teacher, research conducted on this area in
Indonesia remains very scarce. Most of the research
about this topic is done in Western countries. For
example, studies conducted by Kyriacou et al. (1999)
has illuminated the different type of motivation
among pre-service teachers in America and Norway.
320
Ali, M., Adriany, V. and Hayat, B.
Higher Education for Teacher Training Students’ Motivation to Become Teachers.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 1, pages 320-325
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

Their research demonstrated the extent to which pre-
service teachers chose to become a teacher because of
the salary and flexible working hours. While pre-
service teachers in Norway choose the profession
because of their love toward children. Another study
was done by Kyriacou and Benmansour (1999) in
America and Morocco also yielded the different types
of motivation among pre-service teachers in those
countries.
Research conducted by Skaalvik and Skaalvik
(2011) also unpacks factors that affect one’s
motivation to become a teacher and factors that will
determine one’s likely to stay or leave the profession.
Malmberg (2006) argues that among those important
factors that will influence one’s decision to remain in
the profession is related to goal-orientation behavior.
Based on this background, this study attempts to
fill in the gap in the existing researches and literatures
by exploring motivation of the students of Universitas
Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) who are undertaking
bachelor degree program in several fields of teacher
training to become teachers.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theories and Types of Motivation
Latham and Pinder (2005) define motivation as a set
of energy that can drive individual to achieve certain
goals in life. Similar to them, Santrock (2011) also
defines motivation as “. . . a process that provides an
individual with spirit, directs, and sustains
individual’s behavior.
From a psychological perspective, there are two
theories that explain human’s motivation. They are
behaviorism, humanism, cognitivism, and social
theories (Santrock, 2011). The perspective of
behaviorism perceives motivation as a set of behavior
that is achieved through the learning process. Reward
and punishment are considered to be two determinant
factors in shaping one’s motivation. If a person is
rewarded for what she is doing, she is likely to repeat
the behavior. At the same time, if she gets punished
for what she is doing, she will tend to stop from doing
the behavior again (Pervin and Cervone, 2010).
The second theory of motivation is humanism of
which its pioneer is Abraham Harold Maslow who
wrote a book entitled “A Theory of Human
Motivation”. He believes in existence of a needs
hierarchy which needs to be fulfilled step by step.
Meaning that one can only fulfill a higher need if the
previous ones have been accomplished (Santrock,
2011).
He further believes that human being possesses
five basic needs. They are as follows:
 Biological needs that include the need for food,
water, air, and other physical needs;
 Safety need that involves a need for safety,
security, order, law and stability;
 Love and belonging needs. It is a need to be
loved and love in return, to be in a group, to
establish a family, and a need for affection;
 Esteem need that incorporates a need to be
appreciated, a need to master on something, a
need to be in charge with something, and so
forth;
 Self-actualization need. It is one’s need to
actualize one’s potential, to be the best at one
can be. This is the highest need of human being
(Santrock, 2011).
The third theory on motivation is cognitivism.
According to this school, the most fundamental factor
that determines one’s motivation is the way of
thinking (Blumenfeld et al., 2006). Individual’s
perception plays an important role in deciding what
and why she wants to do something (Young et al.,
2012). If an individual thinks positive about
something, He/she will be motivated to do something.
However, if he/she thinks negative about something,
his/her motivation will vanish.
The last theory that attempts to explain human’s
motivation is a social perspective theory. According
to this theory, human’s motivation can only be
developed if he/she is supported by sociological
factors (Andermana and Kaplanb, 2008). A study
done by Wentzel et al. (2010) demonstrate that a
student that receives supports from her teachers and
peers will likely to develop achievement motivation.
Motivation is divided into intrinsic and extrinsic
ones (Pervin and Cervone, 2010; Santrock, 2011;
Young et al. 2012). Intrinsic motivation is an internal
one even though it is not getting an external reward
for doing something Extrinsic one is a type of
motivation which is driven by rewards and
punishment an individual will receive (Deci and
Ryan, 2008).
Besides these two types of motivation, Bruinsma
and Jansen (2010) distinguish it into adaptive and
maladaptive motivation. The adaptive motivation
carries the same meaning as the intrinsic one. while
the maladaptive is associated with the extrinsic one
(Sideridis, 2006). Previous research has confirmed
that the adaptive motivation tends to have more
positive results than the maladaptive (Bruinsma and
Jansen, 2010; Kyriacou and Benmansour, 1999;
Kyriacou et al. 1999).
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321

2.2 Motivation to Become a Teacher:
Indonesian Context
Teacher is a profession just like any other ones, such
as doctor, pharmacist, and lawyer. Since the issuance
of National Law number 14/2014 on Teacher and
Lecturer, teachers and lecturers have been recognized
as a professional workforce (Kementerian Pendidikan
dan Kebudayaan, 2005). This brings certain
implications that in order to become a teacher, one
must have a bachelor degree in education followed by
a training in teachers’ profession (Kementerian
Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 2005). Teachers are
also encouraged to improve their competencies by
undertaking raining and following seminars, and
workshop (Ali, 2003; Ali, 2007; Surapranata, 2015).
This new law also brings financial implication.
Teachers who have been certified will be eligible to
get allowance, in addition to their salary, from the
government. At the same time, the law might also be
perceived as a challenge for teachers to improve their
quality of teaching (Ali, 2014). Therefore, in order to
become a teacher, one must equip him/herself with
certain requirement like academic qualification and
professional competencies, as well as high level of
intrinsic motivation which is very much related to the
adaptive one. When an individual is having this, they
will be likely to stay longer in the profession as a
teacher. Increasing of salary is only seen as additional
motives for this kind of individual, but their passion
for teaching that becomes the biggest source of their
motivation.
University students who study in a teacher
training university are assumed to have a strong
motivation to become a teacher. Yet, studies that
attempt to explore their motivation in Indonesia
context is still very much limited. Therefore, there is
a need to conduct research that tries to seek pre-
service teachers’ motivation and the type of
motivation they possess.
3 METHODOLOGY
This study, by its nature is a case study, which adopts
a quantitative descriptive approach. The approach is
selected because it allows a researcher to gather a
large number of information (Ali, 2014; Fowler,
2014). The research was conducted in several fields
of the UPI’s teacher training program. The study’s
sample was chosen from its population, i.e., all the
university‘s students who were undertaking bachelor
degree in teacher training, by using cluster random
sampling technique. The population was divided into
six categories, and each category was treated as a
cluster, namely, Primary School and Preschool
Teacher education, Mathematics and Science
education, Social Studies education, Language
education, Physical education and Arts education,
and Technology and Vocational education. From
each cluster, 36 students were randomly selected, so
the total number of students participating in this study
were 216.
The instrument used for this study is adapted
from the instrument developed by Kyriacou et al.,
1999). This instrument was originally designed in
order to measure pre-service teachers’ motivation in
language education. The instrument consisted of 23
items. For the purpose of this research, the numbers
of the items are retained but the researchers adapted
some of the items to make it more general, not
specific to pre-service teachers in language education.
The items were grouped into two categories namely
those included in the category of adaptive (intrinsic)
motivation and those included in the maladaptive
(extrinsic) one.
The data was analyzed by using descriptive and
inferential statistical methods. The former method
was used to generate descriptive statistics presented
in form of mean, standard deviation, minimum and
maximum scores. The later one was used to test
hypotheses whether there were significant differences
in each cluster of the students’ motivation scores
means and each of their scores means in each of their
motivation categories across the clusters. The test
used two factors ANOVA by applying an alpha level
of 0.05 followed by post-hoc analysis by using
Dunnet-t
ψ
multiple comparison tests.
4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Descriptive statistics of students’ motivation, the total
(generic), the adaptive, and the maladaptive ones
across the sample clusters are descripted bellows.
The scores mean of the students’ adaptive and
maladaptive (generic) motivation to become teachers
is M=4.152, which is interpreted as they are
motivated to become teachers. The standard
deviation, S=1.007, indicates that their motivation is
heterogeneous. This is denoted by their scores range
between 3 and 5. The mean of adaptive motivation is
lower than its maladaptive one, as indicated by the
adaptive’s M=3.961, S=0.997, and the range of 2–4.
while the maladaptive’s M=4.341, S=1.017, and
scores range between 2 and 5.
The scores mean of the primary school/preschool
teachers education students’ motivation to become
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
322

teaches is M=4.786, S=1.014, the scores range
between 2 and 5. This can be interpreted that their
motivation as slightly heterogeneous but highly
motivated to become teachers. Their adaptive
motivation is M=4.896, S=1.112, the scores range
between 1 and 5 (slightly more heterogeneous). The
mean is slightly higher than its maladaptive one,
M=4.737 but slightly more homogeneous for its
S=0.876 and the scores range between 2 and 4.
Students who are undertaking mathematics and
science education programs indicate lower generic,
adaptive, and maladaptive motivation to become
teachers comparing with those undertaking primary
school/preschool education program. Their generic
motivation M=4.103, S=1.342 and the scores range
between 1 and 5 which is considered heterogeneous.
This is also indicated by their adaptive and
maladaptive statistics which indicate those of the
adaptive motivation M=3.862, S=1.786 and the score
range between 1 5 (more heterogeneous); and the
maladaptive motivation M=4.234, S=1.002 and the
score range between 2 and 4 which can be interpreted
as relatively more homogeneous.
Social studies education students’ generic
motivation scores mean is almost similar with those
in the mathematics and science education program
but more homogeneous. It's M=4.048, S=0.953 and
the range between 2 and 5. The adaptive’s mean is
lower than the maladaptive’s and the former category
is more heterogeneous. These are indicated by its
M=3.898, S=1.231, the range is between two and 5;
while the maladaptive’s M =4.223, S=0.075, and the
range between 2 and 5.
The Language education students’ generic
motivation scores M=4.021, S=1.006 and range
between 2 and 5. Thiers adaptive motivation
M=4.002, S=1.135 and range between 1 and 5. Their
maladaptive motivation M=4.035, S=0.927, and
range between 2 and 5. These can be interpreted that
the situation is almost similar with that of those of the
social studies education students.
To some extent, the physical and art education
students’ motivation is not quite different. Their
generic motivation indicates M=4.163, S=1.002, and
range between 2 and 5. However, their adaptive
motivation’s M=4.456, S=1.023 and range between 1
and 3 can be interpreted as less heterogeneous. Their
motivation’s M=3.867 is lower than the adaptive’s.
Its S=1.032 and its range between 2 and 5 which is
slightly more heterogeneous than the adaptive one.
The generic motivation of the technology and
vocational education students are indicated by
M=4.098, S=1.040, and range between 2 and 5. The
adaptive’s statistics are M=3.867 which is considered
lower than the generic means and the maladaptive
motivation one which indicates M=4.323. The
adaptive’s S=1.234 and its range between 1 and 4
indicates more heterogeneous than those of the
maladaptive one which indicates S=0.846 and range
between 2 and 5. This situation is not different from
the situation of the students of physical and arts
education.
Test of significant difference of the student's
clusters’ motivation means (A) and the difference of
means between adaptive and maladaptive motivation
across the clusters (B) using two factors ANOVA has
been done. The test results indicate FA=9.8972 which
is significant at α=0.05 and α=0.01 since its p-value =
0.0009. FB=6.3274 is also significant at α=0.05 and
α=0.01 since its p-value = 0.0036. The significant of
FA implies at least one mean of the student's clusters’
motivation out of the six ones is significantly
different. On the other hand, the significant of FB
implies at least one mean different between adaptive
and maladaptive ones across the student's cluster’s
motivation is different.
Post-hoc analysis using Dunnet-t
ψ
multiple
comparison tests to examine the significant difference
of the Factor A and Factor B means at α=0.05 has also
been done. There are 15 combination pairs of the
sample clusters’ means. The results indicate that
among the 15 pairs there are 5 pairs that are
significantly different. Those are the means pairs of
primary/preschool vs mathematics and science,
primary/preschool vs social studies,
primary/preschool vs language education,
primary’preschool vs physical and art education, and
primary/preschool vs technology and vocational
education. Taking a look into the means of motivation
categories, the primary/preschool and the physical
and art education students adaptive motivation means
are higher than their maladaptive means. The other
three clusters mean indicate the maladaptive
motivation means are larger than their adaptive ones.
Each of their Dunnet-t
ψ
tests is significant at α=0.05
since each of their individual p-values is much lower
than 0.05. The other 10 combination pairs of means
are not significantly different since each of their
individual p-value is more than 0.05.
Regarding Dunnet-t
ψ
multiple comparison tests to
examine the significant difference of means in Factor
B there are 6 pairs of means which is in line with the
number of the sample clusters. The tests indicate each
of the six means pairs is significant α=0.05 since each
of their p-value is lower than 0.05. This indicates that
the difference means of adaptive and maladaptive in
each of the six clusters is significantly different.
Looking into each of the means, the students of
Higher Education for Teacher Training Students’ Motivation to Become Teachers
323

primary/preschool education clusters as well as the
physical and art education cluster’s adaptive
motivation means are larger than their maladaptive
motivation means. The students of mathematics and
science education, social studies education, language
education, and technology and vocational education
clusters’ maladaptive means are larger than their
adaptive means.
Findings of the study denote to the facts that the
students of UPI’s various education programs, who
are assumed as the prospective teachers, although
they considered motivated and highly motivated to
become a teacher but their rate levels of motivation
vary. The variation also occurs in their category of
their motivation. The primary/preschool education
students show their high motivation to become a
teacher, and their adaptive motivation is higher than
their maladaptive one. The other five clusters students
show that they are motivated, instead of highly
motivated, to become a teacher. Among these
clusters, the physical and art education students'
adaptive motivation is higher than their maladaptive
one. The clusters of mathematics and science, social
studies, language, and technology and vocational
education clusters show their maladaptive motivation
higher than their adaptive ones.
Teacher profession requires those who involve
having not only hard skills or competencies but also
soft skills, such as motivation. This means, every
teacher should not only have qualified and competent
but also should have the motivation to become a
teacher. An individual is motivated to become a
teacher either affected by the intrinsic one, such as
loving and caring of the students, or the extrinsic
factor, such as good salary and convenient work
comparing with other professions. When the
motivation is affected by intrinsic factors the teacher
has the dominant adaptive motivation, otherwise he
or she has maladaptive motivation. The adaptive
motivation to become a teacher is considered much
conducive in supporting the success of teacher
profession. According to the data, the students of
primary/preschool teacher education tend to have
higher adaptive motivation. This situation is
considered conducive to become a teacher in this
particular level of education, because this level of
education needs more friendly, patient, and caring
teachers.
This study was conducted to the sample of UPI
students who are undertaking the education or teacher
training program as the subject’s population. This
means, a major limitation of this study is its limited
scope of generalization. In regard to justifying a
broader scope of its generalization it needs to involve
larger target population in the future study on the
equitable focus.
5 CONCLUSIONS
 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia students who
are undertaking teacher training program are
reasonably motivated to become teachers.
Their motivations vary across the categories of
generic, adaptive, and maladaptive ones; as
well as across the program fields categories of
primary/preschool education, mathematics and
science education, social studies education,
language education, physical and art education,
and technology and vocational education;
 It is identified that the students who are
undertaking the programs of primary/preschool
education and physical and art education have
stronger adaptive motivation than maladaptive
one. Those who are undertaking the programs
of mathematics and science education, social
studies education, language education, and
technology and vocational education have
stronger maladaptive motivation than an
adaptive one.
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