Development Processes of Preservice Teachers in Taiwan's Teacher Education Centers: Motivation, Emotions, and Learning Engagement

In Taiwan, preservice teachers mainly come from (1) academic departments affiliated with teacher education and (2) Centers for Teacher Education (Ministry of Education, 2021).This study focuses on the latter group, who must pass a selective admission process to enroll in teacher education coursework.Compared to other pathways, these students are more affected by market demands, come from diverse backgrounds, face scheduling uncertainties, and must complete credits from their original majors-factors that may lead to distinct learning and developmental trajectories.(1) This study constructs a developmental trajectory model for preservice teacher education coursework.Building on the frameworks of Pekrun et al. ( 2007), Membiela et al. (2022), Parr et al. (2021), and Widowati et al. (2023), the model integrates motivation, achievement emotions, and learning engagement.Amid Taiwan's shift toward diversified and reservebased teacher education policies, the shrinking education marketdriven by declining birth rates-has reduced interest in teacher training programs (Chang, 2017), potentially affecting preservice teachers' learning paths and professional growth (Huang et al., 2017; 2022).Cognitive development is closely linked to ongoing learning experiences (Tu, 2022).(2) This study also examines the influence of preservice teachers' original academic disciplines.Students from STEM fields often face greater challenges adapting to education studies than their peers from humanities and social sciences.These include increased cognitive demands and lower extrinsic motivation.Some have noted that "STEM courses rarely involve group discussions" or that "engineering salaries surpass those of teachers," reflecting academic and market disincentives.Huang et al. (2017), using decision tree analysis, found that graduates from Chinese literature, English, and public administration were more likely to secure teaching positions upon graduation-possibly due to fewer career alternatives or lower entry-level pay in their original fields.