In New Zealand the Ministry of Education is committed to attracting and retaining "high quality individuals" to the teaching profession who represent the diverse cultural and socio-economic communities in the country. One way to achieve this has been through the provision of multiple pathways into initial teacher education (ITE). Such pathways provide access for students significantly underrepresented in Teacher Education. This research sought to investigate and compare the motivation of students enrolled on the Certificate of Introduction to Early Childhood Education (ECE) or the Bachelor of Education (BEd) Primary and ECE specialism. As other research has suggested, there is a correlation between student motivation to teach and their success in ITE programmes, through to being qualified and working in the teaching profession. Qualitative and quantitative data was gathered from a questionnaire and focus groups, using semi-structured questions to expand on questionnaire responses. Findings from data sources highlighted that, despite the differences in academic achievement on entry between both groups, motivations for pursuing teaching as a career were remarkably similar, showing comparable responses in relation to altruistic, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.