A Decade of Teacher Motivation Research: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

About a decade ago, educational researchers discovered that whereas much research had focused on student motivation and its educational implications, teachers’ motivations had remained largely neglected. This symposium features four examples of current research on teacher motivation from the perspectives of achievement goal theory (Paper 1), expectancy-value theory (Paper 2), socio-cognitive theory (Paper 3), and attribution theory (Paper 4). All four papers focus on three guiding questions: (1) What have we learned about teacher motivation within each of these theoretical frameworks over the past decade? (2) What adaptations of each framework have been necessary in order to study teachers’ (as opposed to students’) motivations? and (3) What are some of the current challenges and open questions within each framework?

Sub Unit

• SIG-Motivation in Education

Chair

• Fani Lauermann, University of Bonn

Papers

• Achievement Goals for Teaching: Concepts, Findings, and Challenges - Ruth Butler, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Limor Shibaz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Teachers' Motivations to Teach: An Expectancy-Value Theoretical Framework and Longitudinal Empirical Findings - Helen M.G. Watt, The University of Sydney; Paul W. Richardson, Monash University

• A Review of Teacher Efficacy Research in the Last Decade - Rob Klassen, University of York; Tracy Lyn Durksen, University of New South Wales

• Teacher Responsibility From the Perspective of Attribution Theory - Fani Lauermann, University of Bonn; G. Michael Evers, University of Bonn; Daria Katharina Benden, University of Bonn

Discussant

• Stuart A. Karabenick, University of Michigan