Abstract:
The study investigated the factors influencing pre-service management
teachers‟ decision to take teaching as a career. The descriptive cross-sectional
survey design was adopted for the study. The total population of pre-service
management teachers involved in the study was 229. The census method was
used to include all the respondents for the study. The FIT-Choice
questionnaire was adapted from Watt and Richardson (2012) for the gathering
of relevant data for the study. The data gathered was analysed with both
descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages, means and standard
deviation) and inferential statistics (independent samples t-test and One-Way
Analysis of Variance-ANOVA). The study found that pre-service
management teachers‟ were motivated by altruistic factors (shaping the future,
enhance social equity), intrinsic factors (prior teaching experience, expert
career, high demand, social contribution) and extrinsic factors (job security,
social status). Their demographic characteristics such as gender, age and prior
teaching experience were not found to significantly influence their decision to
take teaching as a career. The study recommended that the Ghana Education
Service (GES), which is responsible for teacher recruitments in education,
should ensure that teachers are given a better opportunity to enjoy job
security, time for their families, transfers and social equity, which are crucial
for the sustenance of their personal and social utility values. The government
in partnership with Ministry of Education should provide various motivational
packages (job security, increased salaries and improved working conditions)
to sustain the efforts of practicing teachers. Potential teacher employers
should couch their advertisement to reflect these factors
