Examining teachers' motivation in conducting teacher professional development: A self-determination theory perspective

Abstract

Teacher Professional Development (TPD) plays a vital role in fostering teacher professionalism by providing teachers with ongoing learning opportunities and support which eventually affect students’ learning. This study aims to find out various activities of English Secondary School teachers regarding their teacher professional development and to investigate their motivation in conducting TPD based on SelfDetermination Theory (SDT) as theoretical framework. A qualitative approach with a descriptive qualitative research design was employed in this study in which three English Secondary School teachers were involved as the participants using individual interviews as the data collection technique. Based on the interviews, the findings showed that TPD activities done by the participants were 1) attending workshop and seminar, 2) joining English Subject Teacher Forum, and 3) having informal peer discussions. In addition, the next findings regarding the teachers’ motivation in conducting TPD proves that the three aspects of SDT emerged from the participants, comprising 1) self-awareness, 2) in line with profession, and 3) the need to be competent. These findings imply that various activities of TPD driven by internal motivation can be effective for English Secondary School teachers. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers have internal motivation in order to carry out successful TPD.