Moscow School Intellectual Contests Participants: Rationale for Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career

The paper is aimed at exploring motivations for selecting teaching as a career as described by students who have won intellectual contests. For the research data was collected on high-ranked university students who teach in Moscow schools. Based on the data collected, quantitative and qualitative analysis was conducted in order to explore the reasons for this career choice. The author concludes that the initial grounds for making this decision are common: financial incentive and prospect of competitive advantages for further career. Nevertheless, the motivation for being a teacher is transforming with experience. The work describes the structure of self-explanation made by Moscow students and compares it with the explanation made by participants of the program «teach for America». The study concludes that there are both similarities and certain differences in the structures. Different role of community is described and new elements (enlightenment and agent problem) in the structure of self-explanation are manifested. The work explores how motivation differs depending on pedagogical experience and course taught. In the conclusion of the study discourse analysis is used to describe 6 types of high achieving university students who teach in Moscow schools. Keywords: professional trajectory, student career choice, high achieving students, students of selective universities, student employment, combining work and study