Do lectures matter? Exploring students’ situational interest in two learning arenas in teacher education

Motivating students to endure teacher education and enter teaching is a pressing challenge in many countries. We address this challenge by exploring the concept of situational interest (SI) in teacher education and students’ interest in teaching. Survey data was collected from Norwegian student teachers (N = 347) using a cross-sectional design and analysed using factor analyses and structural equation modelling. The findings indicated that SI in on-campus lectures explained variation in students’ interest in subject matter, pedagogy, didactics, and research, whereas SI in practicum related to interest in subject matter. The findings also revealed higher levels of SI in practicum compared to on-campus lectures. We discuss the results and their implications in relation to interest development in teacher education.