Goal-orientation and teacher motivation among teacher applicants and student teachers

Abstract

The relationship between goal-orientation, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation for the teaching profession, previous achievement and entrance scores was investigated among teacher applicants (Study 1; $N=230$), and student teachers (Study 2; $N=114$). Utilizing path-analyses the following relationships were found in both studies, between: (a) mastery goals and intrinsic motivation, (b) avoidance goals and extrinsic motivation, (c) previous achievement and performance goals, and (d) intrinsic motivation and entrance scores. In sum the findings suggested that goal-orientation was instrumental for long-term teacher motivation and that teacher motivation, in turn, formed a basis for goal-orientation during teacher studies.

Introduction

Previous research has demonstrated that students who perceive their teachers as supportive of learning, themselves enjoy their studies, feel competent, set mastery goal-orientation and utilize adaptive study strategies (e.g., Ames, 1992; Roeser, Midgely, & Urdan, 1996; Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck, & Connell, 1998), and that teachers who experience their actions as self-determined, i.e., are intrinsically motivated, have a higher sense of well-being, feel higher levels of collegial support, are less controlling and more supportive of their students’ autonomy, than teachers who experience that their actions are not self-determined, i.e., extrinsically motivated (e.g., Pelletier, Séguin-Lévesque, & Legault, 2002; Wild, Enzle, Nix, & Deci, 1997). However, we know less about how these teacher characteristics may be distinguished among applicants to teacher education and how the characteristics evolve during teacher studies. The present study investigates how teacher applicants’ and student teachers’ goal-orientation for their studies, is related to their perception of themselves as motivated professionals, and whether goal-orientation and teacher motivation are related to previous achievement and entrance exam scores. The present studies expand previous studies of teacher development in three ways. Firstly, while quite extensive research has been conducted on teachers’ self-efficacy (e.g., Tschannen-Moran, & Hoy, 2001), teachers’ motivation has received less attention (e.g., Brookhart & Freeman, 1992; Pelletier et al., 2002). Second, while the antecedents and outcomes of achievement motivation and self-determination are well documented (e.g., Elliot, 1999; Ryan & Deci, 2000), these have not previously been applied to teacher studies. Third, while the beneficial effects of teacher's intrinsic motivation and engagement in their students have been shown (e.g., Pelletier et al., 2002; Skinner et al., 1998), we know less about how such teacher characteristics evolve prior to working life experiences of teachers. In light of some previous studies (Brookhart & Freeman, 1992; Pajares, 1992) in which those who study to be teachers have found it difficult to disengage from their own experiences as students, the aim of the present article, in short, is to investigate whether “teachers want to teach as they learn” and during teacher studies “learn as they wish to teach”.