Students’ Learning motivation and teach...

This chapter outlines the key results of research activities of the IMST project that is presented in chapter 2 in this volume. It also focuses on student learning motivation and teacher motivation to teach on motivational conditions as well.  The research questions, study designs, and instruments are developed based on the background for Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the stage-environment fit theory (SEFT), and the Personality-Systems-Interactions theory (PSI). SDT emanates from three psychological basic needs, namely, the experience of competence, social relatedness, and autonomy, which are essential for the individual’s development of a self-determined form of motivation. SEFT focuses on the higher demand for autonomy support during adolescence and is particularly meaningful for learning at school. PSI reflects a personality theory that is closely related to SDT and self-regulatory processes. Our results confirm that there is a direct and indirect association between teacher motivation and student motivation. The results also point out that the psychological basic needs are important for students’ and teachers’ self-determined motivation. Supplementary teachers’ self-regulation, in contrast to self-control, plays a pivotal role for job-related intrinsic teacher motivation. Further, this paper explores whether there is some evidence that the three basic needs have different relevance for self-determined motivation, also depending on cultural or situational circumstances (e.g., collective versus individual understanding of autonomy). Also, this chapter discusses to what extent bottom up concepts of intervening – with a focus on self-determination - are suitable for societies like India.