Student Teachers' Attitudes towards the Teaching Profession: A Case Study of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Justice Samuel Adjei
College for Community and Organisation Development (CCOD), Ghana.
Jacob Aaworb-nang Maabobr Kor *
Catholic University of Ghana, Fiapre, Sunyani, Ghana, P.O. Box 363, Sunyani, Ghana.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The purpose of this work was to find out student teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching profession using data from the University of Cape Coast. The major conclusion is that student teachers in the eight selected education programmes in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cape Coast have a negative attitude towards the teaching profession, notwithstanding the significant differences observed between the programmes. It has also been established that students feel that salaries paid to teachers are not commensurate with their workload and that they are more likely to leave than to remain in the teaching profession.
However, trainee teachers ironically believe that they have prospects and given the chance to undertake further studies, trainee teachers will not hesitate to study education.
Keywords: Student teachers’ attitudes, job satisfaction, teacher workload, school environment, teacher motivation, education programmes