Teachers and administrators have different perceptions regarding the importance and validity of various factors that influence veteran teachers' professional practice. Herzberg's 2-factor motivation-hygiene theory was used as the conceptual framework for this basic qualitative study. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of veteran teachers' and administrators' perceptions about motivating and hygiene factors and their influences on veteran teachers' professional practice in a southern California suburban school district. One-on-one semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 veteran high school teachers and 4 high school administrators. The interview responses were audio recorded and transcribed, then coded using open and axial coding and categorized into themes. Administrators perceived 3 prevalent motivating factors for teachers: academic freedom, student-teacher relationships, and feeling effective, whereas administrators' hygiene factors included administrative support with discipline and open and clear communication. Teachers cited students' progress and student-teacher relationships as their primary motivating factors and lack of administrative support as their most important hygiene factor. The hygiene factors provided a foundation and framework for teachers to perform the motivating work of teaching students and developing relationships. Through this study, both veteran teachers and administrators may become more aware of the motivating factors that positively influence veteran teachers' professional practice in the classroom, which may improve the ways in which administrators support and motivate them. Positive social change may result by creating synergetic relationships between administrators and veteran teachers that could not only expand the role of veteran teachers but also increase student academic achievement.

At-risk youth come to school with a variety of challenges that sometimes lead to voluntary or involuntary disengagement from traditional high schools. Alternative education programs are an alternate placement for students who have disengaged from traditional high schools. Although researchers have shown that teacher and staff approaches to the overall educational experience of a student contribute to student success in alternative education programs, they have also highlighted that the lack of teacher-student relationships contributes to student disengagement. These findings may indicate that not all teachers are willing or able to connect with at-risk students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore what educators identified as the personal factors that support their motivation, interest, and eagerness to be an effective teacher in an alternative education setting in a Northeastern U.S. city. Self-determination theory was the theoretical foundation to study the relationship between the motivation of an educator and their effectiveness. Data included semistructured interviews and guided writing assignments with 4 educators from an effective alternative education program. Seven significant themes emerged that educators identified as personal factors that support motivation, interest, and eagerness to be an effective teacher in an alternative education setting: (a) understanding, (b) defining moment, (c) perspective and outlook, (d) personal and/or psychological goal attainment, (e) intrinsic motivation, (f) teacher beyond academics, and (g) internal fortitude. Implications for social change include information to help in recruitment of effective teachers for engaging at-risk students, thereby promoting their chances for academic and nonacademic success.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how the actual implementation of target language use might differ from the theoretical standpoint that is promoted in the curriculum in Swedish and teacher attitudes towards the suggested level of TL use. The paper will also investigate teacher motivations behind these differences. It has long been the tradition in language teaching to promote a sole use of the target language in order to expose students to as much of the language as possible. However, research shows that student’s first language (L1) is frequently used in foreign language teaching. The current study is qualitative and investigates four English teachers from three different schools in the south of Sweden, all teaching in K-3. In order to collect data, observations were conducted and a semi-structured interview with each of the participating teachers. The results present a limited use of the target language and a more extensive use of the L1 in class. The results regarding teacher attitudes and motivations towards the use of the target language emerged into three themes: Teachers’ use of the TL and L1; Facilitating young language learners; and Teacher experience and awareness. The study implicates that teacher language choices are highly affected by students understanding and teachers’ own experience with attitudes reflecting inclusion of the L1 and an enjoyable learning environment as the main target.

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Excessive teacher turnover has considerable financial, logistical, and academic implications for public education. The purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory (GT) that conceptualized the experiences of former Georgia public school teachers in order to better understand voluntary teacher attrition. Informed by Ryan and Deci's self-determination theory, this GT study provided insight into the process by which teachers arrive at the decision to leave public schools. Interviews with 12 former Georgia public school teachers were conducted. A constant comparative analysis was used to develop the theory of navigating the cycle of decline, which accounts for the general trend of declining motivation, well-being, and fulfillment among teachers who choose to leave the public school system. The cycle of decline consists of 4 stages: (a) embarking, in which new teachers initially experience concerns about authenticity and support in the public school context; (b) resolving, in which teachers attempt to resolve these concerns; (c) weathering, in which teachers attempt to endure or tolerate the conditions causing these concerns; and (d) opting out, in which teachers opt to leave the public school context entirely. The theory provides a useful framework for identifying and implementing strategies for retaining public school teachers. Stakeholders and policymakers in education may be able to minimize the impact of early attrition by ensuring opportunities for teachers to do authentic work in a supportive environment. The study supports positive social change by providing new insight into factors that lead to teacher turnover, and could thus help improve systemic and educational outcomes of public schools in Georgia and across the nation.

Teacher motivation factors prominently in the sustainable development of educational institutions, and relate to self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and retention. Prior motivational research in education has addressed factors relating to teacher motivation, but there is a dearth of research into the impact of performance management on motivation. This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 5 teachers in relation to the performance management process in the selected school. The project study was guided by Bandura's social cognitive theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory. In-depth, semistructured interviews were used to extract the essence of the lived experiences as expressed by teachers. Interviews were transcribed, reduced, coded, and analyzed for common thematic elements and essences regarding the impact of performance management on motivation. The findings revealed demotivational elements in the performance management process of the school that impacted job satisfaction and retention. This study also included developing a professional development project to enhance the capacity of school administrators in understanding teacher motivation and how the delivery of performance management can be used as a developmental tool to improve teacher motivation. The study and project facilitate positive social change by providing a deeper understanding of teacher motivation and by developing a performance management model that promotes capacity building and motivation. The study findings will be beneficial to teachers, school administrators, and human resource personnel.

This mixed-methods sequential explanatory study explored the causes of teachers' resistance to evaluation reform. Teachers in this study demonstrated both resistant and compliant behaviors in response to a particular evaluation policy, which also started a process for teachers to express concerns over the implementation of a new law governing teachers' careers. This research study utilized quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and analysis, including surveys, interviews, and program documents. The responses, insights, and perspectives of 433 public school teachers provided the primary data in this study. The results indicated that the process by which the government of Peru implemented evaluation procedures negatively affected teachers' motivation toward compliance and thus impaired the success of the reform. This study also revealed that although teachers opposed evaluation, they agreed with the idea of an evaluation policy. Further, when given the opportunity to voice their opinions about evaluation procedures and the inclusion of merit pay plans into the career ladder, teachers cited overriding problems with the organizational structures in which they worked. The nullification of teachers' tenure and rights was the most important cause of teachers' resistance to evaluation-based pay plans; responses did not differ greatly between less and more experienced teachers. Finally, throughout this study it was clear that simply mandating change was not enough to successfully and effectively implement it or to achieve advances in teacher quality and student achievement. / text

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Motivational research has recently shifted focus to include what role teachers, and the motivational strategies they use, play in the language learning classroom (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007; Dörnyei & Csizer, 1998). Motivational research has traditionally gathered data from either teachers or students. However, researchers have recently been calling for a shift in focus from this individualistic perspective to evaluating motivation more holistically (Dörnyei, 2001a; Oxford, 2003; Ushioda, 2006). Nevertheless, few studies have included the opinions of both the students and teachers. This study has elicited the opinions of both students and teachers to find out which teaching practices both groups believe foster motivation in the foreign language classroom. The results indicate that students and teachers alike find teaching practices related to Teacher, Rapport, and Climate as the top three most motivational conceptual domains. Furthermore, only 3 conceptual domains, out of 17, were statistically different between groups: Task, Effort, and Comparison.