What makes teachers tick? Sustaining events in new teachers’ lives

Abstract

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...

Raising the Curtain: Investigating the Practicum Experiences of Pre-service Drama Teachers

“…The importance for pre-service drama teachers having an effective mentor teacher is highlighted in this research, and supports earlier research claiming that an effective mentor is vital in developing pre-service teachers' professional efficacy (Flores & Day, 2006;Harrison, 2008;Langdon, Alexander, Dinsmore, & Ryde, 2012;Morgan et al, 2009). The experiences and perspectives provided by participants, led to the identification of six attributes of an effective mentor teacher for pre-service drama teachers.…”

“…Mentor teachers are also key to a positive practicum experience (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011;Moody, 2009;Morgan, Ludlow, Kitching, O'Leary & Clarke, 2009). K. Anderson, Walker and Ralph (2009) suggested that mentor teachers not only play an integral role in building self-efficacy in pre-service teachers, but recommended that mentors adjust their level of support so that it was in harmony with pre-service teachers' confidence and competence to meet challenges.…”

The role of relational resilience in teachers’ career-long commitment and effectiveness

“…In his research on teachers working in inner-city high schools in the United States, Brunetti (2006) defined teacher resilience as 'a quality that enables teachers to maintain their commitment to teaching and teaching practices despite challenging conditions and recurring setbacks ' (2006, p. 813). Over time research has also consistently found that teachers' self-efficacy beliefs as to whether they have the capacity to effectively help children learn and achieve are one of the most important factors influencing teachers' resilient qualities (Kitching et al, 2009;Morgan et al, 2010;Hong, 2012). In this sense, resilient teachers are not survivors in the profession because they 'do more than merely get through difficult emotional experiences, hanging on to inner equilibrium by a thread ' (O'Connell Higgins, 1994, p. 1; see also Gu and Li, 2013).…”

Developing and Validating Model of Teacher Quality Using Structural Equation Modeling (Sem) Technique

“…To develop a research instrument for the study, the researcher needed to adapt some questionnaires from eminent scholar in the field of teacher quality (Adedoyin, 2011;Hacicaferoglu, 2014;Ihmeideh et al, 2010;Smith, 2009;James, 2013;Solomon, 2007;Sowell, 2013 andMorgan, et al, 2010). In this study, teacher knowledge; communication skills; teacher commitment and classroom management are referred to as teacher quality (TQ).…”