Who is more willing to become labor education teachers? A survey of 6756 pre-service teachers in China

Amid the nationwide shortage of qualified labor education teachers in China, understanding pre-service teachers' intention to engage in labor education has become an urgent prerequisite for policy-making and teacher-education reform. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study explored pre-service teachers' intention to engage in labor education and its contributing factors. Through a survey of 6756 pre-service teachers and interviews with 17 of them in China, this study found that the overall teaching intention of the sample to engage in labor education was at a moderate level. Moreover, pre-service teachers' calling, self-efficacy, perceived demand, perceived benefits, perceived costs, perceived risks, and subjective norms had significant effects on their intention to engage in labor education. Among these, calling and self-efficacy were the most critical internal explanatory factors, while subjective norms were the influential external explanatory factors. Based on the findings above, we recommend optimizing policy instruments, strengthening GUSE (Government, Universities, Schools, Enterprises) collaboration, restructuring curricula in normal universities, and providing targeted career guidance.