This article explores the question, 'what motivates the choice of teaching as a profession?' Availability of adequate teachers, professionally qualified in institutions of higher education to meet the curricular and structural challenges of school education, is a critical policy concern. This article is based on a study of 54 student-teachers enrolled in a teacher education programme at a multi-disciplinary university. Student-teacher responses to a survey reveal that teaching was the first choice for almost three-fourths of the participants. Based on a three-fold categorisation of motivation as intrinsic, altruistic and extrinsic, participants are found to be strongly motivated in intrinsic and altruistic terms, further influenced by four demographic factors namely, gender, social category, type of school attended and discipline at the level of graduation. Extrinsic motivation is found to be related to social category and medium of instruction at the graduation level. Participants from marginalised backgrounds demonstrate stronger intrinsic and altruistic motivation compared to those belonging to general categories. They exhibit high levels of extrinsic motivation as well. These results are examined in the broader structural context of teacher education; implications for research, policy and practice are discussed.