Do Involuntary Enrollees in Teacher Training Courses Aspire to Teach?

A Survey of First-Year Students at a Japanese National University

Abstract

This study examines whether students who entered a teacher training university in Japan as a second or subsequent choice still aspire to become teachers. Specifically, the study conducted a questionnaire survey that targeted first-year students in the teacher training course at a national university with multiple campuses. The study analyzed the association between admission categories, university or campus preferences, and career aspirations using a log-linear model. The analysis of 675 responses showed significant associations between admission categories and university preferences, and between university preferences and career aspirations. Parameter estimation showed that students who were admitted through recommendation selection had a lower rate of involuntary enrollment, whereas those who were admitted in the second round in the general selection had a higher rate of involuntary enrollment. More importantly, involuntary university-level enrollees showed a lower rate of teacher aspirations than voluntary enrollees, whereas involuntary campus-level enrollees showed a rate of teacher aspirations that was similar to those of voluntary enrollees. These results suggest that by designing an entrance examination that discourages involuntary enrollment from other universities, it is possible to select a higher rate of students who aspire to become teachers.