STUDY FINDS FEWER FRESHMEN IN COLLEGE LOOK TO TEACHING

College freshmen today are less interested in becoming teachers than at any time in the last 17 years, according to a national survey sponsored by the American Council on Education and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Further, the survey indicates that freshmen are more materialistic and show less social concern than in past years, consistent with a trend that began in the middle 1970's. At the same time, an increasing percentage of freshmen say they approve of sex if ''people like each other,'' believe abortion should be legalized and favor a national health care plan.

The profile of the freshman class is produced annually by the education council and researchers at U.C.L.A., providing a yardstick against which changes in the attitudes and characteristics of college students can be measured.

Providing Reflection on Values

Information on career interests is considered especially important because it reflects the values of students and predicts rises and declines in the popularity of certain professions.

''Since 1966, when 21.7 percent of the entering freshmen were planning careers as schoolteachers, student interest has declined steadily to the point where only 4.7 percent of the 1982 freshmen aspire to teaching careers,'' says the report on the survey, ''The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 1982.''

The eroding interest in teaching seems to hold unfortunate consequences for elementary and secondary education in the country, coming at a time when education officials say that fewer and fewer good candidates are entering teaching programs.