Variation in teachers' daily situational motivation across professional activities

Drawing on self-determination theory, we investigated: How does teacher motivation vary over time? How does motivation vary across activity contexts? What is the association between teachers' motivation and affect?

One hundred sixty teachers in two districts in the Northeastern United States.

Using a day reconstruction method (DRM) instrument, we measured teachers' daily work activities, and their motivation and affect during activities. Because our data had a three-level structure (periods within days within teachers), we used multilevel models to explore variation in teachers' situational motivation across both time and activity type. For each subscale, we fit empty models that decomposed variance in outcomes between teachers, days and episodes. We then used conditional models to examine how these outcomes varied across teaching activities, controlling for years of experience and grade level. Finally, we explored the interplay between emotion and motivation.

We found that teachers' motivation is dynamic within teachers and is associated with both the professional activities in which they are engaged and their concurrent affective state. Whereas we found that positive affect during a period was positively and strongly associated with intrinsic motivation and identified regulation during that period, higher levels of negative affect during a period were associated with lower levels of intrinsic motivation and higher levels of external regulation.

This study provides an understanding of K12 teacher motivation as a dynamic experience and demonstrates the potential of measuring teacher motivation as temporally dynamic and contextually bound.