Students Motives and Satisfaction with Studies in the Area of Natural Sciences and Their Willingness to Continue Studies in Teacher Education

Natural sciences teachers have a key role to play in creating knowledge and skills. However, Estonian students' interest in studying natural sciences and their willingness to continue studies in teacher education have decreased. This study was designed to assess: 1) how clear the students' motives to study natural sciences was; 2) how the clarity of motives relate to student satisfaction with their studies and 3) how student satisfaction with studies relate to their interest in continuing studies in teacher education. The participants of the study (N=92) were natural sciences students at Tallinn University. The data was collected using an adapted Learning and Studying Questionnaire by Entwistle et al. (2002) and questions designed by the authors of the study. The SPSS programme was used to analyse the data. The results of the study show that carefully planned curriculum selection and positive learning experiences increase student willingness to choose teacher education.