Motivation Assess. Resources

Teacher Motivation for Professional Development

Description

Teacher professional development (PD) is an essential feature of instructional interventions in general, and for the improvement of students' math and science learning and achievement in particular. The more motivated teachers are to participate and engage in PD, the more likely they will be to profit from the experience. Teacher motivation in PD is directly linked with classroom enactment of PD approaches, content and skills, and it is indirectly related to increasing the likelihood of desirable student outcomes. Informed by theory and empirical evidence from research on student and teacher motivation, and by a model of teacher motivation to participate in PD (PDM), a national study of teachers (n = 552) examined the level of PDM, teachers' experiences in PD, and their perceived benefits of PD. Also examined were how perceived experiences and benefits were associated with features of PD programs and teacher and contextual factors.