Teachers Become More Autonomy Supportive Once They Believe It Is Easy to Do

• In Event: 49.067 - Innovation in Research: Motivation Interventions in Education

Abstract

Intervention programs help K-12 teachers become more autonomy supportive, so that present study asked why these intervention programs work. We hypothesized that experimentally-based interventions change teachers’ beliefs about autonomy-supportive teaching and that these beliefs in turn explain teachers’ post-intervention change toward greater autonomy support. Forty-two full-time teachers (30 males, 12 females) were randomly assigned into either the experimental or control group and measures of motivating style and beliefs about motivating style were assessed longitudinally. The intervention increased teachers’ autonomy-supportive style and their beliefs about how effective and easy-to-implement autonomy-supportive teaching was. Mediation analyses showed that changes in motivating style were fully explained by changes in teachers’ belief about how easy to implement autonomy-supportive teaching was.

Authors

• Johnmarshall Reeve, Korea University

• Sung Hyeon Cheon, Kangwon National University

• Hye-Ryen Jang, Australian Catholic University