Suppression of Psychological Needs Among Beginning Teachers: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective on the Induction Process in Bedouin Schools.

Haya Kaplan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.621984

Abstract

The study focuses on the emotional-motivational experiences of Bedouin-Arab beginning teachers during the induction period, from the perspective of Self-Determination Theory. A phenomenological study was employed. Seventy-four teachers participated, 62 of whom completed open questionnaires, while semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 other participants. The findings indicate that the beginning teachers reported experiences of coercion, exploitation, and gender-based discrimination (autonomy suppression). They also experienced a judgmental attitude, lack of assistance, and difficulties with students (competence suppression), and their sense of relatedness to the school is impaired due to cultural factors (relatedness suppression). As a result, they expressed controlled motivation, a sense of burnout, stress, impaired well-being and disengagement in school. They also suppressed their students' autonomy. At the same time, the findings also show that when the teachers experience a sense of need satisfaction, they integrate well into the school. These findings indicate the necessity for establishing a need-supportive school environment for beginning teachers during their induction period.

Highlights

“I sat in the corner of the room and tried to make myself invisible
As an educator and researcher who has been active in Bedouin schools for many years, I am not a stranger to the voices of beginning teachers/interns describing their experiences during their induction period
With reference to the cultural aspects of Bedouin schools, and further to claims made by researchers holding a cultural relativism approach (e.g., Iyengar and DeVoe, 2003), and contrary to the assertions of self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci and Ryan, 2000), one could argue that in collectivist, patriarchal societies, the need for autonomy would be of lesser importance to beginning teachers, and the effects of autonomy suppression would be less acute (e.g., Iyengar and DeVoe, 2003; Liu and Flick, 2019)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

“I sat in the corner of the room and tried to make myself invisible. The principal continued berating me in front of everyone; all the teachers in the school were sitting there, and he’s shouting and reprimanding me. . . ” This account, by a teacher in her internship year at the school, expresses a profound experience of suppression. The following questions guide the present study: What characterizes the emotional-motivational experiences of Bedouin beginning teachers/interns, and what conditions at the school can either promote or hinder experiences of needs satisfaction in their culture?. With reference to the cultural aspects of Bedouin schools, and further to claims made by researchers holding a cultural relativism approach (e.g., Iyengar and DeVoe, 2003), and contrary to the assertions of SDT (Deci and Ryan, 2000), one could argue that in collectivist, patriarchal societies (e.g., the Bedouin community), the need for autonomy would be of lesser importance to beginning teachers, and the effects of autonomy suppression would be less acute (e.g., Iyengar and DeVoe, 2003; Liu and Flick, 2019). The study employed a qualitative paradigm within the phenomenological genre (Creswell and Poth, 2017), and sought to investigate the experiences of Bedouin beginning teachers/interns during their induction period (the phenomenon), and the meaning they assign to these experiences

METHODOLOGY

Procedure

Discussion

Limitations of the Study and Recommendations for Future Research

Findings

ETHICS STATEMENT