Why do you want to be a teacher? What makes a good teacher? Ideas for teacher training in higher education

This article focuses on teacher training in higher education, specifically on the education students studying the Catalan Bachelor’s Degree in Teacher in Primary Education. It reports on the results of a survey asking students why they wanted to be teachers and what they thought made a good teacher. It also reflects on the current state of teacher training at universities today. To complete the research, quantitative data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire containing open-ended, pre-coded questions completed by a representative sample of students. Drawing from the results, the researchers created three main categories of teacher: the first was the personable and authentic teacher, the professional who exerts an influence on students by virtue of their character or personality; the second was a narrator of stories, meaning the person who teaches lessons in a such way that they become memorable; and the third was a motivator for learning, meaning the teacher that is able to organise spaces and times in ways that help students learn with ease and enthusiasm. These and the other findings should offer food for thought for the teacher trainers in higher education.