Professional competence of student teachers in Hong Kong: Relationship with professional learning in initial teacher education and teaching motivations

This study aimed to explore the predictive impact of professional learning in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and teaching moti-vations on professional competence. 319 student teachers in their final year of the BEd programme completed the question-naires developed by the researchers and 12 of them participated in a related interview. Factor analysis showed that the three variables are multi-dimensional, with five, seven and three factors extracted for learning in ITE, teaching motivations and professional competence respectively. Regression analyses indicated that while different kinds of professional competence were predicted by different combinations of factors in ITE learning and teaching motivations, all three types of professional competence were directly or indirectly predicted by the intrinsic teaching motivationof interest and efficacy in subject taught. More concrete contribution of this intrinsic teaching motivation to professional competence wasillustrated by interview data. The sign ificanceof subject-oriented identity of student teacherswould be discussed.