Interessieren sich Lehramtsstudierende für bildungswissenschaftliche Studieninhalte?: Eine Längsschnittstudie vom ersten bis zum vierten Semester

At the beginning of their studies, students in teacher training are often strongly interested in pedagogical contents. However, whether this strong interest remains stable throughout the course of studies has as yet hardly been examined empirically. On the basis of a sample of N = 1169 students enrolled in teacher training, the present study investigates how the interest in educational-scientific contents develops over a period of four semesters. In addition, enrollment characteristics of students are included as predictors for the explanation of inter-individual differences. A key result of latent growth curve models is that, on average, the interest in educational sciences remains stable over time, however, significant variance is revealed in the change value. This can be explained by the certainty of the choice of studies and the type of teaching post aimed at, namely, it can be shown that students who are to a high degree sure that they made the right choice and students choosing an academic track program tend to build up interest.