Mathematics Teachers' Motivational Beliefs: The Effects of the School-Work Environment

• In Event: Content Areas and the Lives of Teachers

Abstract

It is critical to examine the effects of the school-work environment on teachers’ motivation for teaching, given the high attrition rate of teachers working in high-poverty urban schools (Ingersoll & Merrill, 2012). Therefore, we investigated the extent to which principal autonomy support, person-organization fit, and perceptions of large-scale assessments related to teachers’ general and domain-specific teaching self-efficacy, locus of control, and teaching interest. Participants were 83 mathematics teachers from mostly high-poverty urban school districts in Texas. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that person-organization fit significantly predicted interest in mathematics teaching. Moreover, principal autonomy support moderated the negative relation between perceptions of large-scale assessments and instructional self-efficacy. Results may inform administrators of how to foster adaptive motivational beliefs among teachers.

Authors

• Danya Marie Corkin, Rice University

• Adem Ekmekci, Rice University

• Anne J. Papakonstantinou, Rice University