The aim of this dissertation is to explore, through the lens of self-determination theory, teacher experiences with leadership support through the various career stages – novice, competent, and expert. While existing literature has addressed teacher expertise and growth, as well as leadership for teacher learning, there is little evidence about the ways in which leadership should support educators differentiated by varied career stage of development. The study’s purpose is to understand, based on teacher career stages, a) how teachers’ psychological needs are or are not met, b) how experiences with leadership have aided in their growth, and c) whether and how expert teachers recognize leadership’s role in their growth.

A mixed-methods study was conducted with survey and interview data gathered from 94 teachers and 12 administrators in a Midwestern school district. The questions included in the surveys served to differentiate teachers according to career stage (novice, competent, expert), and to determine perceptions of support for their psychological needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness) at work and leadership’s support of those needs. Interview questions targeted expert teachers alone and asked them to reflect on the course of each career stage regarding support from their leaders with respect to their psychological needs. Competence was mentioned as a best met need at work across all stages, and relatedness was the most provided for need from leadership. Experts indicated direct support of autonomy and relatedness to be of importance. Results suggest that K-12 schools should consider the following: low autonomy support provision for novice teachers, high autonomy needs support during the mid-career years, and high relatedness support for expert teachers.