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Drawing on an existing typology, this study used latent transition profile analysis (LTPA) to examine changes in the striving and wellbeing profiles among teachers from their early until mid-career. Five profiles were identified (Sparing, Good health, Ambitious, Burnout and Wornout) among a longitudinal sample of 414 Australian secondary and primary teachers. LTPA showed that 28% of teachers were movers over time. Most movers from maladaptive types underwent a recovery transition to a more adaptive profile by mid-career, although initial Burnout and Wornout profiles were overrepresented among those who subsequently quit teaching. Perceived excessive work demands and supportive leadership were significant covariates: perceived excessive work demands decreased the likelihood of transitioning to Good health or Ambitious profiles; supportive leadership increased the likelihood of transitioning to Ambitious. Profiles were associated with teachers' professional engagement; the Wornout profile exhibited the lowest, and the Ambitious and Good health profiles the highest professional engagement by mid-career. Implications for theory and policy to support teachers' development and wellbeing are discussed.

Correlates of turnover intent among primary (N = 580) and secondary (N = 675), male (N = 254) and female (N = 999) teachers, were examined through the lens of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model. Multigroup structural equation modelling indicated that job demands (workload, student misbehaviour), and the personal demand of work–family conflict, were positively associated with emotional exhaustion—the core dimension of burnout. All demands indirectly related to turnover intent via emotional exhaustion. Among all teacher groups, no significant differences were found in level of emotional exhaustion or turnover intent, and only mild stress was reported as a result of student misbehaviour. Work–family conflict was the strongest predictor of emotional exhaustion for male and female teachers. Results suggest the JD-R as a promising theory for use in explaining job-related outcomes among Australian teachers, and that personal demands should be examined in addition to job demands within it.

Achievement Goal Theory has been adapted as a useful framework for studying teacher motivation in terms of their different goal orientations. This paper reports findings from an Australian study with 257 teachers, that explored their mastery, work-avoidance, and relational goal orientations and four dimensions of self-reported classroom behaviours: expectation, structure, autonomy support, and relatedness. Structural equation modelling underscored the importance of mastery and relational goal orientations as adaptive goal orientations that positively predicted teachers’ perceptions about their expectation, structure, and relatedness with students. Interestingly neither of these adaptive goal orientations predicted teachers’ self-reported behavior of autonomy support. The only significant predictor was work-avoidance goal orientations, which negatively predicted teachers’ discernments of supporting student autonomy.

Although Bandura had proposed that self-efficacy once established is relatively stable, it remains a topic of debate, as empirical evidence has shown different patterns of changes in self-efficacy across different career stages. The current study presents longitudinal data from 74 beginning school teachers in Victoria, Australia to discern changes during their first five years. Their increase in self-efficacy is discussed with reference to existing (primarily cross-sectional) studies, and policy implications for supporting early career teachers.

Studies drawing on Butler’s (2012) Goal Orientations for Teaching framework show mastery and relational goals are beneficial, ability-avoidance maladaptive and inconsistent effects for ability-approach. We adopt a person-centered approach to discern the extent to which teachers pursue different goal combinations. In two studies of mid-career primary and secondary teachers (Ns = 476 Australian, 507 Israeli) we assessed via self-report surveys: teachers' achievement goals, initial motivations to teach, school contexts, professional engagement and instructional practices. Latent profile analyses distinguished four goal combinations per sample. In both, mastery and relational goals covaried as ‘task’ goals. Profiles with stronger ability than task goals were maladaptive for teachers and teaching, and in the Australian sample linked with poor initial ‘fallback’ career motivation. Profiles with stronger task than ability goals were most adaptive, and linked to more positive school climate. Implications are outlined for theory and practice.

Teacher self-efficacy for classroom management is an important component of teachers' identity with implications for their teaching quality. Theoretically, it has been described that contextual variables play an important role for self-efficacy development and its consequences. However, little is known about the interrelationships of job resources and demands with teacher self-efficacy, and consequences for teachers' professional behaviors. We extend teacher self-efficacy research by drawing on the Job Demands-Resources model in examining contextual influences on developmental dynamics between classroom management self-efficacy and teacher-reported classroom management, from prior to qualifying as a teacher until mid-career. Participants were 395 primary and secondary Australian school teachers. Longitudinal structural equation models showed teachers’ classroom management self-efficacy positively related to aspects of their perceived classroom management, particularly during early career. Between early and mid-career, the positive relationship between self-efficacy and classroom management was moderated by early career excessive demands. Implications are outlined for teacher education and school administration.

A developmental perspective on teacher identity and motivation leads us to expect processes of adaption and dynamism that are responsive to context. Critical to our understanding is the consideration that identity is a multidimensional construct in which the personal and social are interwoven. We explore how extant motivational theories offer insights into the nature and correlates of teacher motivation and identity formation including self-efficacy, expectancy-value, achievement goal, and self-determination theories. We propose that these provide lenses that fruitfully highlight aspects of identity development at different points across the lifespan of a teaching career. Drawing from the canvass of lifespan developmental psychology, we propose the SOC (Selection, Optimisation, and Compensation) model of successful ageing as an overarching theoretical lens to provide new insights and a potentially integrative framework, within which diverse theoretical perspectives on teacher motivation and identity development could be coherently further explored.

Many studies of teacher motivation have been conducted in different contexts over time. However, until fairly recently there has not been a reliable measure available to allow comparisons across samples and settings. This has resulted in an abundance of findings which cannot be directly compared or synthesised. The FIT-Choice instrument offers the opportunity to examine motivations across settings. The various studies in this book suggest that people who choose teaching as a career are motivated by a complex interaction of factors embedded within communities and cultural expectations, but seem generally to embrace a desire to undertake meaningful work that makes for a better society. Unlike some careers, where rewards are in the form of salary and status, by and large these factors are not strong drivers for people who want to become teachers. They want to work with children and adolescents, and believe they have the ability to teach.

Future teachers have been found to exhibit different profiles of professional engagement and career development aspirations (PECDA) even at the very outset of their teaching career (Watt & Richardson, 2008). Highly engaged persisters, highly engaged switchers, and lower engaged desisters differed in their initial motivations for having chosen teaching as a career, perceptions about the profession, career intentions, and demographic characteristics. The present study builds upon and extends this line of research by exploring profiles with a sample from the United States, a culturally similar, yet different setting. Among 246 elementary and secondary preservice teachers from 2 midwestern universities, 3 distinct clusters were identified: highly engaged persisters, lower engaged desisters, and classroom engaged careerists. Teaching motivations and perceptions were compared for the 3 types, as well as changing satisfaction ratings from the start until completion of their teaching qualification; patterns were enriched using qualitative responses from open-ended survey questions. Explanations are advanced in terms of cultural differences in teaching career structures.

While there is considerable literature concerning the relationship between student motivation and achievement, few studies have examined the relationship between student motivation, course experiences and academic achievement at the postgraduate level. This paper is based on the findings of the initial correlation analysis of the relationship between motivational beliefs and course experiences of 368 postgraduate students in five different subject areas enrolled in day and afternoon classes at a highly-ranked public university in Pakistan. A questionnaire was developed using scales from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and the Course Experiences Questionnaire to measure the motivational beliefs and course experiences of students. Academic achievement was measured using the achievement score in the courses in which the data were collected. The results of the study indicated that students' achievement scores were positively correlated with their self-efficacy for learning and negatively c...

Teachers constitute a large, heterogeneous workforce which has been the subject of policy measures designed to raise the quality of the pool of those seeking to enter, and remain, in the profession. The essence of these recruitment and retention interventions has been the desire to attract academically able and committed people who will be inspirational, effective teachers of children and adolescents (Schleicher A, Building a high-quality teaching profession: lessons from around the world. International Summit on the Teaching Profession. OECD Publishing, Paris. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264113046-en, 2011). Across several decades, educators and public policy-makers have been faced with the recurring issue of how to attract and retain the highest quality teachers as a vital resource in the advancement of student learning and achievement (Greenwald R, Hedges LV, Laine RD, Rev Educ Res 66(3):361–396, 1996). Yet, identification of this need has not meant the problem has been easily addressed.

The FIT-Choice program of research (Factors Influencing Teaching Choice; http://www.fitchoice.org) began in 2001, prompted by two questions that had been forming for Richardson over the course of a...

Why choose to become a teacher in Turkey? The authors examined motivations and perceptions among preservice teachers (N = 1577) encompassing early childhood, primary and secondary education. The Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) instrument was translated into Turkish and its construct validity and reliability assessed. Altruistic 'social utility values' were the most influential, followed by the desire for a secure job. Intrinsic value and perceived teaching abilities came next, contrasting with higher ratings in Western studies, alongside prior positive teaching and learning experiences. Family flexibility, job transferability and social influences were moderate, and the negative 'fallback career' motivation lowest, although not far below the scale midpoint. Science-related teacher candidates scored more highly on fallback career, had chosen a teaching career the most recently, and were lower on almost all other teaching motivations, demonstrating a less positive motivational profile. Findings are interpreted in light of the economic development and role of the teaching profession in Turkey. Less adaptive motivations belonging to preservice teachers in scientific fields highlight potential risks and recruitment strategies to optimise teacher quality in those priority fields which further research could fruitfully examine. © 2012 Copyright 2012 Australian Teacher Education Association.

Motivations for preservice teachers’ choice of teaching as a career were investigated using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (FIT-Choice scale; Watt & Richardson, 2007). This scale was initially developed and validated in the Australian context; our study applied it across international samples from Australia, the United States, Germany, and Norway. Support for strong factorial invariance implied the scale functioned similarly, and could fruitfully be employed in different contexts. Sample comparisons revealed that motivations for teaching were more similar than they were different across these samples; whereas, perceptions about the teaching profession tended to reflect country differences.

The professional plans, satisfaction levels, demographic characteristics, perceptions and motivations of different teacher types distinguished by cluster analysis were investigated among graduate-entry primary and secondary teacher education candidates ( N = 510) from three Australian universities in an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants provided quantitative and qualitative survey data at two time-points: at their entry to teacher education, and immediately prior to completion of their qualification. Teacher types were classified via cluster analysis on the basis of their exit levels of planned effort and persistence within the teaching profession, and their professional development and leadership aspirations. Three distinct types were identified: “highly engaged persisters”, “highly engaged switchers”, and “lower engaged desisters”. Differences in motivations for having chosen teaching as a career, perceptions about the profession, and career intentions were contrasted for the three types, and demographic characteristics compared.

The authors apply current influential models from the motivational literature to develop the comprehensive factors influencing teaching choice (FIT-Choice) scale, to measure factors influencing the choice to teach for beginning preservice teacher education candidates. They validate the scale using 2 large cohorts (N = 488; 652) and describe the factors that teacher education candidates identified as most important in their decision to teach. Furthermore, the authors examine longitudinal relationships for participants who have now completed their teaching qualification (N = 294) to determine how entry motivations relate to exit levels of teaching engagement and professional development aspirations. The study makes several important theoretical contributions: The authors extend the values component of the expectancy-value motivational framework, go beyond high school students to examine career choices of adults, and specifically examine the domain of teaching as a career choice. The new FIT-Choice measure p...

In this large‐scale Australian study, we profile the background characteristics and teaching motivations for individuals entering teacher education across three major established urban teacher provider universities in the Australian States of New South Wales and Victoria. Our recently developed and validated “FIT‐Choice” (Factors Influencing Teaching Choice) Scale determines the strength of influence for a range of motivations from individuals choosing teaching as a career. Findings build upon and extend previous literature relating to reasons for teaching as a career choice, which have not systematically applied current motivational models to developing explanations. Participants were the entire cohorts (N = 1,653) of first‐year pre‐service teacher education candidates at three universities in Sydney and Melbourne. Results provide a profile of a large sample of pre‐service teachers whose decision to enrol in a teacher education program has been made at a time when the mass media and the general public ha...

For Malaysian adolescents, writing in English covers various forms and serves a range of purposes. Outside the formal school context, students engage in more personalized forms of writing. This paper examines one such form, namely, the writing of short messages, using a sociocultural perspective of literacy as a social discursive practice that implicates identity construction. This paper draws on a larger qualitative study which looked at school and personal writing by a class of Form 4 (Year 10) students in an urban school in Malaysia. Data were taken mainly from student interviews and students’ written products during six months of fieldwork. Findings from the study showed students’ informal writing involved new hybrid forms of English and included the use of a mixture of short forms, ‘‘Penang English’’ and Net English. This study has implications for the English literacy education of Malaysian high school students learning ESL while immersed in a contemporary digital and Internet culture. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The present study explored reasons behind graduates’ decisions to pursue teaching as a career, in a 1-year pre-service teacher education program at an Australian university, located in Melbourne ( N = 74 ) . A survey collected data about respondents’ reasons for choosing teaching as a career, with open-ended questions eliciting rich qualitative data to elaborate on rating-scale responses. Five factors relating to social status, career fit, prior considerations, financial reward and time for family were identified through factor analyses. Respondents’ ratings were independent of previous level of qualification and having children or not, with little evidence for gender differences. Three distinct clusters of students showed that different combinations of reasons were relevant to each group's choice of teaching as a career, and these reasons were further illustrated and discussed in relation to qualitative data from open-ended survey questions.

Personal responsibility is a key construct in multiple theoretical frameworks in psychology. These include attribution theory (Weiner, 1995), the job characteristics model (Hackman & Oldham, 1976), personality frameworks (Bierhoff et al., 2005; D. G. Winter, 1992), and, to some extent, self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987, 1997) and self-determination theory (Bacon, 1991; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Deci, Spiegel, Ryan, Koestner, & Kauffman, 1982). Collectively, research from these perspectives provides overwhelming support that one’s sense of personal responsibility is associated with an individual’s psychological well-being and performance. Examples include links between personal responsibility and professional success (Hackman, 1980; D. G. Winter, 1991), goal commitment, achievement motivation and self-efficacy (Bierhoff et al., 2005; Guskey, 1988), and self-regulation and emotional vulnerability (Higgins, 1997; Higgins, Bond, Klein, & Strauman, 1986; Higgins, Roney, Crowe, & Hymes, 1994). Thus, considerable evidence suggests that responsibility has important implications for motivation and emotion.

Teaching is increasingly recognised as a complex, demanding career. Teachers experience higher levels of stress and burnout than other professionals. The career is subject to heightened levels of public scrutiny and yet offers only modest rewards in the form of social status and income. Drawing on a typological model of coping styles among a diverse sample of German health professionals, we identified six types of emotional coping (Good health, Sparing, (healthy) Ambitious, (path to) Burnout, Diligent, and Wornout) among a longitudinal sample of 612 Australian primary and secondary teachers. A significant outcome of our study was the empirical differentiation between burned out and wornout teachers. This extends the literature on teacher burnout and offers new directions to the study of ‘at risk’ beginning teachers.

Disturbing evidence documenting some teachers’ aggressive classroom management (mis)behaviour is growing. Relative to the importance of this issue, the level of research activity into the area is small (Sava, 2002). Writing about teacher aggression is widespread in the non-English literature: in France, Romania, Russia, and Spain (Sava, 2002). Reports have also appeared in Australia (Lewis & Riley, 2009), China and Israel (Lewis, Romi, Katz, & Qui, 2008), Poland (Piekarska, 2000), Scotland (Munn, Johstone, & Sharp, 2004), and Japan (Treml, 2001). In Europe, the term didactogeny has been coined for the experience of “a faulty education that harms children” medically, psychologically, or educationally (Sava, 2002, p. 1008).

Educational psychologists have, over the last half century or so, directed their attention to the study of student motivation. While teachers have not entirely been ignored, there has been little inquiry into teacher motivation that has been systematic and theory-driven. The concentration on students has tended to overlook the centrality of teacher motivations as integral to teachers’ goals, beliefs, perceptions, aspirations, and behaviours, and thereby to student motivations and learning. It is perhaps not surprising that those motivation researchers who have developed robust theories in relation to student learning in educational contexts would begin to turn their attention to teachers, to see whether those same theories might have explanatory power with regard to teacher motivations. Teacher self-efficacy research (e.g., Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2007; Woolfolk Hoy & Burke-Spero, 2005) has made important contributions to the study of teachers. Motivation researchers are now beginning to turn their attention to other aspects of the complex of motivational factors which demand greater attention and exploration. Robust theoretical frameworks already exist in the motivation literature, which can be applied to guide future research in this area. There has recently been a surge of interest, or what we have elsewhere described as a “Zeitgeist” (Watt & Richardson, 2008a) in applying well-developed theories in motivation research, to the domain of teaching.

Why are there empty seats in my lecture theatre? Are we driving our students away? Do work or family commitments prevent them from attending? Or, on a more positive note, have we designed our courses in such a way that we have provided all the tools necessary for them to learn independently? The latter is a very comforting thought, although we suspect that only a small percentage of students are self-learners — those who are able to achieve good results by engaging fully with the material, if this is carefully and adequately provided. This paper reports on a study that examined student attendance across a law degree — what motivated student attendance; why students did not take the opportunities provided to them to facilitate their learning; and what methods they used to learn. Our study involved courses (subjects) which required students to physically attend classes — it did not consider courses which were off-campus or primarily electronically delivered. We do not suggest that attendance alone results in student learning. However, we argue that there is evidence to show that it is an important ingredient of student engagement, particularly when the learning opportunities are predicated on physical student presence in classes.