Self-determination and its relationship to intrinsic motivation in novice middle-school teachers

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20335150

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore how novice middle-school teachers' feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness affected their intrinsic motivation to remain teaching at the middle-school level. Although almost a third of all teachers leave the profession in their first 3 years, the few studies that have been conducted on middle schools have indicated that middle-school teachers, especially in urban schools, leave at a higher rate than elementary or high school teachers. Self-determination theory was used as a guide to answer the research question: How intrinsically motivated to stay at the middle-school level do novice teachers feel based on how well their autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs are being met? A small sample of 6 teachers in their first 5 years of teaching middle school was used, and analysis yielded 3 major findings: a) novice middle-school teachers felt a strong sense of individual autonomy but reduced feelings of professional and collegial autonomy; b) novice middle-school teachers felt competent in their knowledge of their subject matter but less competent about teaching and classroom management strategies for which they relied on a trial-and-error approach coupled with formal and informal mentor assistance; and c) novice middle-school teachers found relatedness to be essential to persevering at the middle school level.--Author's abstract