The impact of perceived autonomy support and autonomy orientation on orientations towards teaching and self-regulation at university

Abstract

This study, focusing on pre-service teachers, assesses the relations between perceived autonomy and autonomy orientation, prospective teaching strategies, and autonomous learning regulation within the domain of the Self-Determination Theory. Results based on a structural equation modelling approach reveal that perceived autonomy support is positively associated with students’ autonomous learning regulation and is positively related to pre-service teachers’ autonomy orientation. Autonomy orientation fully mediates the relationship between perceived autonomy and tendencies for structured and autonomy-supportive teaching behaviour of pre-service teachers. In other words, offering autonomy-supportive environments to pre-service teachers at universities increases the likelihood that they will be willing to foster their future students’ autonomy in class and regulate their own learning process at university autonomously.