To investigate what keeps teachers motivated on a day-to-day basis, we traced the importance of routinely encountered affective episodes. Significant research on emotions already highlights the relative importance of positive versus negative episodes, the importance of perceived origins of events and the need to differentiate between the frequency and affective intensity of episodes. Survey reports from 749 recently qualified primary teachers in Ireland strongly suggest the absence of positive experiences undermines commitment and efficacy rather than the occurrence of negative events. Furthermore, while remote structural factors may heavily influence teaching, it is the perception of events at micro-level that impinge most strongly on motivation. Finally, the importance of particular experiences was, crucially, more related to their frequency than intensity. A major implication for teachers' job satisfaction is the suggestion that while adverse episodes may be inevitably experienced, positive events (that occur independently of negative ones) fortify motivation and resilience.
IntroductionChildren showed greater understanding of the concepts involved in recycling and composting…some told how they got their parents to recycle…I felt that their learning was worthwhile and how teaching can really make a difference.A child completed a sentence scrambling exercise, recalling words learned since last September, completely and independently. I felt the work was paying off.In the staff-room, a teacher made a remark that some of my previous class cannot read…I feel so worried that I didn't do enough for them…was my teaching good enough? Is it good enough at the moment? Are children losing out by being in my class?*Corresponding author. University College Cork, Department of Education, Cork, Ireland. Email: k.kitching@ucc.ie An earlier version of this paper was presented at the AERA annual meeting, Chicago, April 2007. We did some standardised tests to identify children needing learning support. I did play down the importance of the tests but…one child got really upset as she couldn't do it all. I felt terrible that I would put a child in a situation where they felt stressed or inadequate. (extracts from diary of teacher satisfaction/dissatisfaction of SP, a 2nd grade teacher, for a week in late January 2006)The extant literature goes to great lengths to document the reasons why people enter teaching-as well as on the important factors influencing teacher retention-but gives very little information on the influences that sustain teachers on a daily basis. There is considerable evidence from the US that teachers enter teaching for reasons to do with the intrinsic nature of the work: including 'making a difference', 'doing work they will enjoy' and 'enhancing lives of children ' (Shipp, 1999;Farkas et al., 2000). With regard to teacher retention, US data indicate that the absence of support structures (Johnson & Birkeland, 2003), low influence on their work and poor leadership (Stockhard & Lehman, 2004) and low earnings (G...