Preservice Teachers' Motivation and Adoption of 21st- Century Skills

Abstract

In the current challenging educational landscape, institutions are evolving and changing to deliver high-quality education that nurtures 21st-century skills. Institutions that train teachers know the many challenges of nurturing these skills to meet new demands. Available research findings highlight the need to examine characteristics that motivate preservice teachers to incorporate essential 21st-century skills into their teaching practices. Hence, this study investigates Malaysian preservice teachers’ intentions to adopt 21st-century skills, specifically, the relationship between motivation and the adoption of 21st-century skills. This study employed a sequential explanatory research design to collect survey data from 150 preservice teachers at two public universities and interview 10 participants. The findings revealed a positive relationship between the preservice teachers’ motivation and the adoption of 21st-century skills in teaching. School mentors also played a facilitative role in the acquisition and adoption of 21st- century skills. These findings imply that schools can implement policies that equip preservice teachers with much-needed 21st-century skills. Action taken can be the catalyst for change in the development and promotion of the skills in students. In addition, the findings also provide clear directions for teacher training institutions to teach not only 21st-century skills but also collaborative skills that will facilitate the adoption of these skills to enable teachers to navigate the challenges of teaching in the 21st century.