What Career Success Means to You? Teachers' Own Definitions

• In Event: Teacher Motivation and Implications for Teacher Outcomes: Diverse Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

Abstract

Objectives, Theoretical Framework
Teacher motivation is crucial for teachers' well-being and instructional practices, as well as student outcomes (Richardson, Karabenick, & Watt, 2014). Predominant series of motivation such as Achievement Goal Theories (AGT; Butler, 2007) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Jang, Kim, Reeve, 2016) have been frequently used as guiding frameworks for in-service teacher motivation research. Despite their strong predictive utilities to explain important outcomes, many questions remain unanswered. Neither AGT nor SDT are specifically developed to explain teacher motivation. Accordingly, extrapolating these theories to the area of teacher motivation might leave out unique but important aspects of teacher motivation (Butler, 2012). Further, past research examined teachers' responses to questionnaire items which assess pre-determined sets of motivational constructs, guided by a single theory. Such practices might yield an incomplete picture. How frequently do teachers report the motivational constructs from AGT and SDT when not being prompted? Teacher motivation is accessed in terms of personal goals (AGT) and reasons (SDT) for engaging in a task. However, in interpersonal endeavors such as parenting or teaching, is motivation (i.e., goals and reasons) expressed in relation to self or beneficiaries (e.g., children for parents or students for teachers)? Such conjecture begs for re-examination of the way that teacher motivation is assessed. Following Nicholls (1984)'s assessment strategy of achievement goals, we asked teachers to respond to an open-ended question (i.e., what career success means for them personally and provide some concrete indicators of success), tapping into their long-term goals and desired end state without hinging on a particular theory.

Method, Results, Significance
The data (144 K-12 teachers in the Midwestern United States; 63% female) were coded. As we suspected, many responses were framed in terms of student outcomes rather than teachers' own outcomes (see codes 1-5 in Table 1). Teachers' mastery goals for teaching were not explicitly mentioned but there were many responses emphasizing students' mastery and growth. Similarly, a small group of teachers (11%) indicated their own intrinsic motivation but a comparable number of teachers described student intrinsic motivation as a marker of career success. The results present the possibility that teachers' motivation might be better assessed by asking about students' outcomes. This proposition might hold true for research in certain helping professions (e.g., social workers, nurses). Alternatively, career success framed in terms of oneself vs. students itself might represent some important qualitative difference in motivation. The data suggested that researchers should not jump to the conclusion that the desire for social recognition reflects performance goals or extrinsic motivation for teaching, as social recognition seems to substantiate their broader impact for some teachers. When entered as predictors (dummy codes) in stepwise regression, significant predictions were found for "teacher extrinsic" on autonomy need satisfaction, "student' mastery/growth" on relatedness need satisfaction, and "student intrinsic" on the perception of enhancing student motivation as teacher's responsibility (see Table 2). In sum, the study suggests that teacher motivation can be better explained by applying multiple theories simultaneously, and the need to consider motivation involving teachers themselves and their students.

Authors

• Sungok Serena Shim, Ball State University

• YoonJung Cho, Sungshin Women's University