Exploratory survey on academic motivation and career intentions among Students in Special Psychopedagogy

Abstract

The purpose of the present survey is to examine the extent to which students at the University of Bucharest (UB), Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPES), enrolled in the Special Psychopedagogy (SPP) program, genuinely intended to pursue this major and to what degree their chosen specialization aligns with their professional aspirations. The first objective is to determine whether the interviewed students had initially chosen this specialization, or they were redirected to it through the redistribution process. The second objective is to identify their professional and career options, as well as to determine how many of the students intend to continue their academic journey and to what level. A total of 71 students took part in the research, aged between 19 and 51 y.o., 95.8% of whom were female and 4.2% male. All participants are students of the FPES, SPP program, University of Bucharest. The main findings indicate that although less than half of the respondents have selected SPP as their first option upon admission, over 85% of them expressed a desire to work in the field of Special Psychopedagogy. A better understanding of how students choose their specialization and how this correlates with their career intentions can help to improve several aspects such as the quality of teaching, the relevance of practical activities, opportunities to work with people with disabilities, and the sense of belonging to a real professional community.