Student Teachers’ Motives of Becoming Mathematics Teachers: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Recruiting and retaining mathematics teachers is a matter of concern in many countries especially in South Africa. So far distance education in South Africa has been identified as the system that could assist in training more mathematics teachers. This paper therefore explores student teachers motives of becoming future mathematics teachers. A qualitative research design was employed to investigate what motivates students to choose mathematics as an area of teaching. The findings revealed that most students choose to teach mathematics because of the passion, enjoyment of teaching mathematics and the fulfilling love of mathematics that they have which in turn they want to pass to their learners. These teachers value the potential contribution of mathematics and appreciate the nature of mathematics from their school career. Suggestions are formulated to provide insights which could assist in recruiting motivated mathematics teachers to the now seemingly dwindling profession.