Abstract

With the research reported on here we investigated the motivation of pre-service special education teachers to choose special education as major. The participants were 332 pre-service teachers from 10 universities in Chile. A latent profile analysis with 5 motivational factors of the factors influencing teaching (FIT)-choice scale was carried out to determine the motivational profiles of special education pre-service teachers. Findings show 3 profiles solution as the best model. The disenchanted profile shows low scores for all the motivational factors included in the study. A group of pre-service teachers displayed the highly engaged profile with very high motivational variables. The conventional profile had high scores in the social utility value, intrinsic value, and self-perceptions factors, although the performance in all of them was like that of the other profiles. Knowing the motivational profiles to choose a special education teaching programme can inform policies to attract and retain special education teachers in the field.