Developing Excellence Leadership and Autonomous Motivation among Beginning Teachers in the Arab-Bedouin Community in Israel: A Self Determination Theory-Based Intervention Program

Abstract

Heights in the Negev is an innovative program for promoting leadership and excellence among Arab-Bedouin beginning teachers (BTs). The program was designed to meet the needs of teachers during their induction period, to enhance their leadership skills and to help achieve change in the Bedouin education system. The intervention is based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017), which highlights the role of the psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy in promoting autonomous motivation and optimal functioning. The article presents a qualitative case study that followed three cycles of the program during its first four years. The participants were 35 BTs (11 men, 24 women) and nine school principals. Semi-structured interviews, observations, and feedback questionnaires were used as research tools. Data analysis revealed that participants’ motivation to choose a teaching career was mostly autonomous, and that they experienced need-support both in the program’s workshops and at their schools, where organizational intervention took place. Participants demonstrated an autonomy-supportive leadership style, for example by leading educational initiatives for the school and the community and were positioned as influential figures in their schools. According to school principals, the teachers demonstrated proactive leadership, active engagement in school activity, and autonomous motivation, taken together as teaching excellence. The research shows that BTs can be leaders despite their struggles. It also shows how change can be generated in an authoritative and centralized education system such as the Bedouin-Arab one.