Working with children and adolescents is in the top three of most important motives to become a teacher, whereas social
influence is one of the least important motives. This finding is in line with previous studies (Fokkens-Bruinsma & Canrinus,
2011; Roness & Smith, 2010; Watt & Richardson, 2007). These results hold for both the preservice teachers in the secondary
school context and in the primary school context, although there are differences in the sizes of results. Preservice teachers in
the primary school context score significantly higher on working with children and adolescents. However, for both contexts,
this motive is in the top three of most important motives. This finding is surprising since other studies have found differences
in most important motive to become a teacher between preservice teachers in training to become a secondary school teacher
and those in training to become a primary school teacher. For example, Krecˇicˇ and Grmek (2005) found differences in reasons
for choosing the teaching profession; they found that students in art education mentioned material reasons, such as job
security, for choosing the teaching profession much more often than students in the Department of Elementary Education.
And even in our own study (Jansen & Bruinsma, 2007) we noticed that preservice teachers who wanted to become secondary
school teachers were motivated by their love for their subject-domain, whereas preservice teachers in the primary school
context were more motivated to work with children. In future studies it would be interesting to investigate whether our
secondary school preservice teachers are more motivated by factors such as love for their subject than by factors such as
working with children.
Our finding is an important finding as working with children and adolescents is related to the intrinsic worth of teaching.
Malmberg (2006) suggested that there are at least three reasons why teacher education would profit from students with more
intrinsic types of motivation. Malmberg indicated that (1) intrinsic motivation positively affects teaching strategies and job
satisfaction, (2) students taught by an intrinsically motivated teacher enjoy their tasks more and are more interested in learning,
(3) intrinsic motivation is an important part of accessing teacher studies, staying on the job, and commitment to the trade.