Pre-service teachers’ goals and future-time extension, concerns, and well-being

Human goal-processes are conceptualised in an action-theoretic model of motivation, in line with discourse on self-directed teachers. Eighty-eight pre-service teachers reported ideographic professionally-related goals and concerns, future-time extension of the goals, and well-being (self-esteem and depression). Thirteen goal and fifteen concern categories were identified. When the goals were ordered in a perceived future time-sequence these did not reflect discrete developmental stages of teachers. Goals were related to concerns in six content domains demonstrating the utility of investigating both. Goals and concerns were to some extent related to well-being.

Research highlights
► A general theoretical frame on human actions was adapted to describe teacher’s teaching related goals, concerns and future-time extension, expanding previous studies only on of teachers concerns, or on their goals and concerns.
► A research methodology well-validated with adults and adolescents’ future goals, concerns and future-time extension was successfully adapted to teachers.
► Meaningful content categories emerged reflecting literature on teachers’ transition into the profession.
► Analyses of relationships between goals and concerns, and well-being revealed interesting patterns, suggesting one the one hand that goals and concerns, at a general level reflect objects in mind that teachers both hope to realize and, simultaneously are worried not to realize. On the other hand, not all goals were deemed “good” and all concerns “bad”.