Motivation Profiles in the Selection of a Study Program: Why do Physical Education Students Decide to Choose Teacher Education?

Students' motivation to select a study program is an important factor that influences the professional development of student teachers. The exploratory study intended to clarify whether different study choice motivation profiles can be distinguished for PE students and how these profiles can be characterized. The analysis is based on 816 German PE students from 12 universities. The identification of different profiles was carried out by means of latent profile analysis. Among the PE students who were examined, four profiles can be identified concerning the motivation for the selection of a teacher education. The findings differ from most non subject-specific findings, mainly in the number of identified profiles. Further studies need to address whether this finding is subject-specific by comparing different subjects. Furthermore, it is necessary to examine the relevance of the identified profiles with respect to the development of competence of PE students.