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“I Wanted a Profession That Makes a Difference”—An Online Survey of First-Year Students’ Study Choice Motives and Sustainability-Related Attributes

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Oberrauch

    (Department of Research and Development in Teacher Education, University College of Teacher Education Tyrol, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria)

  • Helga Mayr

    (Department of Research and Development in Teacher Education, University College of Teacher Education Tyrol, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria)

  • Ivan Nikitin

    (Department Entrepreneurial Management, University of Applied Science of the Grisons, 7000 Chur, Switzerland)

  • Tanja Bügler

    (Department Alpine Region Development, University of Applied Science of the Grisons, 7000 Chur, Switzerland)

  • Thorsten Kosler

    (Department of Research and Development in Teacher Education, University College of Teacher Education Tyrol, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria)

  • Christian Vollmer

    (Department of Research and Development in Teacher Education, University College of Teacher Education Tyrol, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria)

Abstract

Higher education institutions are obligated to facilitate students in the development of sustainability competencies, which enable them to act as “change agents” in their future profession-specific environment. Therefore, students’ study motives, prior knowledge, attitudes, and experiences regarding sustainability should be considered when designing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) programmes. The present study compares first-year students in teacher training with first-year students in other study programmes and explores their study choice motives as well as sustainability-related conceptions, engagement and self-efficacy beliefs using a semi-standardised online questionnaire. Results show that the choice of study is dominated by intrinsic factors and the relevance of extrinsic factors differs by degree programmes with lower extrinsic values for the teacher training students. Regarding sustainability, we find simple and often unelaborated concepts. Teacher training students show significantly higher scores than non-teacher training students regarding the sustainability-related behavioural domain and self-efficacy beliefs. In addition, a gender gap increasing with age and with lower sustainability scores for older males could be identified but only for teacher training students. In conclusion, the results show valuable starting points as well as challenges that should be considered when designing target-oriented learning processes in (inter)disciplinary sustainability courses at higher education institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Oberrauch & Helga Mayr & Ivan Nikitin & Tanja Bügler & Thorsten Kosler & Christian Vollmer, 2021. "“I Wanted a Profession That Makes a Difference”—An Online Survey of First-Year Students’ Study Choice Motives and Sustainability-Related Attributes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-28, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8273-:d:600521
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fábio Albuquerque & Ana Isabel Dias & Alexandra Domingos, 2023. "The Students’ Intrinsic Motivation for Learning Non-Financial Information Matters from Their Self-Identification as Global Citizens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Gemma Tejedor & Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo & Jordi Segalàs, 2022. "Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education-Introduction to a Special Issue," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-6, August.
    3. Xiangyun Du & Aida Guerra & Bente Nørgaard & Youmen Chaaban & Adrian Lundberg & Niels Erik Ruan Lyngdorf, 2022. "University Teachers’ Change Readiness to Implement Education for Sustainable Development through Participation in a PBL-Based PD Program," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Aida Guerra & Dan Jiang & Xiangyun Du, 2022. "Student Agency for Sustainability in a Systemic PBL Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.

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