Understanding Veteran Teachers' Basic Psychological Needs in Relation to Their Self-Determined Motivation: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

Abstract

Understanding teacher motivation to stay in the classroom can provide insight to teacher retention concerns. The purpose of the study was to determine how veteran teachers’ basic psychological needs related to the veteran teacher’s type of self-determined motivation: autonomous or controlled. 123 Works Task Motivation for Teachers or WTMT (Fernet, Senagal, et al., 2008) survey concerning teaching and classroom management and 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The survey scores determined their type of self-determined motivation, while the semi-structured interviews investigated their basic psychological needs. The veteran teachers were grouped together as either autonomously motivated or controlled motivated and then compared. The findings indicated relatedness were a central basic psychological need that provides the value aspect, or the internalization, for the tasks for teaching due to the interlinking with other basic psychological needs through relatedness. According to the Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), the values aspect typically comes through autonomy from autonomy supportive leadership such principals. The study’s findings did not support this position of the Self-Determination Theory. The main differences between the autonomous motivated veteran teachers and the controlled were the ways they handled challenges to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomous motivated teachers used more reflective and personable strategies), and the type of value they see in their relatedness with students (autonomous motivated teachers are intrinsically regulated, while controlled motivated teachers are identified regulated). This was the observed difference that distinguished between autonomous and controlled. The implication of the study indicated the satisfaction of basic psychological needs are more complex and may be situational to the type of profession.