The Factors Influencing the Process of Deciding Whether to Become a Computer Science Teacher

Choosing a future profession is an important step in life, and the decision to become a teacher is widely discussed in the literature. However, pre-service computer science teachers hold a unique position, as they are highly employable in the information technology job market, and this may have an impact on the decision to choose teaching as a career. The present research aims to clarify the decision-making process of becoming a computer science teacher and the factors that influence it. The qualitative research inspired by the constructivist grounded theory involved semi-structured interviews with 18 first-year pre-service computer science teachers. Through a questionnaire developed for this sample, the findings from the qualitative research were quantitatively verified on 69 respondents. The key choice is whether to become a teacher. Pre-service teachers are motivated by external factors (length of holidays, job stability, flexibility and salary) and the desire to work with children. In contrast, they are demotivated by the negatives of being a teacher, particularly by concerns about pupils (especially their behaviour) and parents. After deciding to study teaching, pre-service teachers need to make a decision about their specialisation. This is influenced by the high school they attended, their relationship to computer science, their former teachers, strategic reasons (believing this specialisation to be an easy way of getting the degree or a job after graduation), gender stereotypes (especially among women), and their expectations about teacher education in computer science.