As part of the forum of the Journal for Educational Science (ZfE)which took place on December 12, 2025 at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) in Bonn, presented Roman Höhl presented the project "Career choice motivation of prospective nurses".

The forum was dedicated to central questions of career orientation in adulthood and the various transitions in the course of employment. Current empirical findings on career decisions in adulthood, the effects of structural changes in the world of work and educational and career paths in bottleneck and shortage occupations were discussed. It became clear how closely individual motives, institutional framework conditions and social developments interact in the shaping of career biographies.

The project presented here focuses on the question of what motivates prospective nurses to choose their profession and whether and how these motivations have changed in the course of the introduction of generalist nursing training. The analyses are based on two series of interviews conducted with trainees in their first year of training before and after the introduction of the generalist system .

The results show that the generalist approach is viewed as predominantly positive. The newly gained polyvalence of the training course, which opens up a wide range of career options and enables greater flexibility on the labor market, is particularly emphasized. However, many respondents were critical of the fact that generalist training only offers limited opportunities to specialize in the field of paediatric nursing.

The BIBB categorized the findings as follows:

"A complex interplay between personal motives and structural framework conditions is also evident in the field of nursing. Many trainees opt for a career in this field due to positive experiences, a keen interest in interpersonal work or the desire to take on responsibility. At the same time, however, perceptions of stress and demands can lead to the profession appearing less attractive despite its high social relevance."

This assessment precisely summarizes the key findings of the study and underlines the importance of taking a differentiated view of career decisions in systemically relevant occupational fields.

The next step is to analyze the data in greater depth. On this basis, the publication of the findings is currently being prepared. The project thus makes an important contribution to the understanding of professional decision-making processes in nursing and to the discussion about the attractiveness of training occupations in times of far-reaching changes in the world of work.