Despite research into the factors that motivate prospective teachers and those already in post, relatively little attention has been paid to the perspectives of trainee teachers. This article is based on a survey of 550 undergraduate and postgraduate trainee teachers, using a Likert-type questionnaire, to discover whether particular patterns of motivation could be assigned to specific groups of student teachers. Cluster analysis of data indicated that respondents could be identified as one of three types. "Nurturers" highly valued working closely with children, "diversifiers" valued the flexibility that teaching was perceived to bring, and "indeterminates" had a general interest in teaching but were not especially motivated by the prospect of working with children. Nurturers composed over half of all respondents. The analysis indicated that the government should be cautious about distancing itself from promoting altruism as a motivating factor for prospective teachers.