Teacher motivation, responsibility, pedagogical knowledge and professionalism: a new era for research

Abstract

The key objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of current research on teacher motivation and its relevance to the instructional process and to teachers’ professional competence. The chapter begins with a brief review of different approaches to the conceptualisation of teachers’ professional competence, with a special focus on high-leverage teaching practices and dimensions of teaching quality. Next, the chapter focuses on teacher motivation as an element of teachers’ professional competence and describes different theory-driven conceptualisations of teacher motivation, including perspectives grounded in socio-cognitive theory, expectancy-value theory, self-determination theory, achievement goal theory and research on teacher responsibility. The chapter concludes with a discussion of open questions, methodological and theoretical challenges for teacher motivation research, as well as directions for future research.