Exploring the circumplex model of motivating and demotivating teaching styles: The role of teacher need satisfaction and need frustration

Abstract

This study explored the relationships between teacher satisfaction/frustration of the three basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness, and adoption of motivating and demotivating teaching styles. Nine hundred and forty-nine Italian teachers filled in self-report questionnaires. The results showed that competence and relatedness satisfaction were associated with the participative, attuning, guiding, and clarifying motivating subareas. Although competence frustration was associated with all the demotivating subareas, relatedness frustration was only associated with the domineering and abandoning subareas. Autonomy frustration was associated with the demanding, domineering, and awaiting subareas. The theoretical and practical implications for fostering teachers' motivating style are discussed.