Chinese Migrant Parents and Complementary Schooling in Germany. A Sociolinguistic Ethnography

Abstract

The focus of this paper is the investigation of personal and environmental conditions of intrinsic teacher motivation. Teacher motivation and particularly underlying condi- tions for intrinsic teacher motivation still constitute a peripheral issue in educational and psychological research. The question whether relatively stable personality dispo- sitions predict intrinsic teacher motivation has been largely neglected, too. Following self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985b; Ryan & Deci, 2002) and Kuhl’s Personality-Systems-Interaction Theory (PSI Theory; Kuhl, 2001), we investigate whether perceived support of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and social relatedness), as well as the personality aspects self-regulation (self mainte- nance) and self-control (goal maintenance) are related to intrinsic teacher motivation. The sample of the survey study consists of 136 Austrian secondary school teachers. Structural equation modeling supports a model in which self-regulation serves as a mediator between the perceived support of basic needs and intrinsic teacher motiva- tion, whereas self-control does not play a signifi cant role for the prediction of intrin- sic teacher motivation