The Motivation, Learning Process, and Career Development of Education-Majored Students

• Main Authors: Shih-Ken Wang, 王士肯
• Other Authors: Jeng Liu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/24228649325711060139

碩士 === 東海大學 === 社會學系 === 96 === Since Taiwan’s higher education expanded in the last two decades, the teacher-training programs have been setting up widely and the graduates from education-related departments have no advantages anymore. In this paper, first of all, we try to figure out if the composition of the education-majored students has changed over time. Secondly, the reasons why make students choose education as their major, and then transfer to other majors will be explored. Thirdly, we will investigate the interactions among personal factors and governmental policies. The history of the education reform is reviewed. We collect the literature about the education institution and related law, according to the critical years, rearranged the important reform periods. As a result, the context is presented clearly. We adopt two kinds of research methods, quantitative statistical analysis and qualitative In-depth interview. The data we analyzed is surveyed by official institutions, the special character is nationwide and good representative. As for the later, we interview students in education-related department, according to the principle of purposeful sampling. The type of students set in our research including freshman, senior students, graduates and students who ever converted his major. Our empirical results indicate that, the education-majored students have similar social and economic status: most of them came from families with middle and low income. More than 40% students claim that education-related departments are not their first choice. The proportion and degrees of dissatisfaction of education-related students are significantly worse than those who from other departments. Specifically, the key factors include the quality of curriculum, faculty, and department overall. We also find that with the help of administrative management, the degrees of satisfaction of students could be increased. It implies that policies of multiple levels, i.e., department, university, and the Ministry of Education, should all be reconsidered simultaneously. However, the incentives which make students decide to transfer to other departments are not background factors, rather, are self-interests, personal ambition, and career goals. About the In-depth interview, the results responded to the outcome of statistical analysis partially. The main different is more female samples express their dissatisfaction, the issue of teachers’ profession is mentioned in the process. Personal interest is still the main factor that affect students’ career arrangements. Using data from Taiwan Higher Education Survey, our empirical results show that the proportion and degrees of dissatisfaction of education-related students are significantly worse than those who from other departments. Specifically, the key factors include the quality of curriculum, faculty, and department overall. We also find that with the help of administrative management, the degrees of satisfaction of students could be increased. It implies that policies of multiple levels, i.e., department, university, and the Ministry of Education, should all be reconsidered simultaneously.