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Motivating Teachers to be Motivating Teachers

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Mary Burns
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 Motivating Teachers to
be Motivating
Teachers
Posted on October 5, 2016

by Mary Burns, Education Development Center

Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.

Norman Ralph Augustine

Why should we care about teacher motivation?

Talking with policymakers about the importance of
motivating and motivated teachers can sometimes be
met with blank stares. In many instances, thinking
about teacher motivation may seem a luxury that
education systems can ill afford; and many education
leaders have adopted a default mindset that teachers
are—almost by nature—unmotivated. This article
discusses teacher motivation—what it encompasses,
why teacher motivation matters, and what educational
systems can begin to do to address teacher
motivation.

“Teacher motivation” is a catalogue of intrinsic and

extrinsic factors that encourage teachers to engage in
certain practices and behaviors. To list a few,
motivation includes a teacher’s job satisfaction; agency
and well-being; sense of professionalism; degree of
self-efficacy; feelings of worth and being valued;
willingness and ability to complete all professional
requirements; and receptiveness to reforms and

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 innovations. Teacher motivation is often a function of
expectancy (perceptions that their efforts will lead to
student learning), instrumentality (the perception that
they will be rewarded for their efforts) and valence (the
desire of attaining those rewards) (Vroom, 1964, cited
in Kelley & Finnigan, 2003).

Teacher motivation matters for several reasons.

Policy implications
Teacher motivation is critical from a policy perspective.
Motivated teachers have lower rates of absenteeism
and attrition (i.e., leaving the profession) than
unmotivated (or demotivated) teachers. Absenteeism,
and particularly attrition, result in teacher shortages
and loss of instructional time, both of which stress the
entire education system. Fewer teachers teaching
mean larger classes which can exacerbate resource
issues, adversely impact educational quality, and
negatively influence student learning outcomes
(especially in critical subject areas such as STEM).
Teacher shortages, especially in rural areas and poor
communities, exacerbate regional inequities, and many
times, tensions. Additionally, teacher attrition places
enormous financial burdens on educational systems —
for example, in the U.S., $2.2 billion annually (Alliance
for Excellent Education, 2015).

Program implications
Teacher motivation is also important for the
advancement and implementation of educational
reforms. Motivated teachers are more likely to embrace
and enact specific educational reforms and support
educational reform and progressive legislation in
general (Jesus & Conboy, 2001).
From an implementation perspective, intrinsically
motivated teachers undertake and complete
professional tasks—such as transferring what they
have learned in professional development to their

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 classrooms. They do this, not simply to be compliant,
but rather because they perceive the inherent value of
such reforms or innovations (Jesus & Lens, 2005).

In addition to implementing reform and new practices

from formal professional development opportunities,
teacher motivation is also related to general teacher
improvement. Broadly speaking, motivated individuals
are more likely to focus on new ideas, devote more
time to learning a task, and be more likely to remember
and retain new information, and generally want to keep
improving their craft. Motivation has an emotional
component, so teachers who want to improve some
aspect of their craft will be engaged by and enjoy the
effort; believe such efforts will yield some kind of
improvement to what they do; and feel greater
satisfaction when they succeed. Again, these
motivational aspects—expectancy, instrumentality and
valence—may in fact help teachers consolidate new
information (Speelman & Kirsner, 2005, cited in Abadzi,
2015).

Effects on Students
Motivation is also linked to practice. Teacher motivation
is seen as a good predictor of teaching quality
(Chalmers, 2007) and caring for students (Noddings,
2001). Both of these components—quality (and the
bundle of behaviors that form part of quality) and care
are the core of effective teaching (Ferguson et al.,
2015). Indeed, research on teacher effectiveness
suggests numerous linkages between teacher
motivation, teacher effectiveness and student
motivation. Motivated teachers are more likely to
motivate their students to learn and help them learn
more effectively. In essence, motivated teachers
motivate their students.

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 Unfortunately, studies show that teachers suffer more
than other professional groups from the occupational
lack of motivation (Jesus & Conboy, 2001). Further,
teaching, in many parts of the globe, has become an
increasingly insecure profession. This is the result of
budget cuts; weak national economies that cut public
servants’ pay; poor remuneration; its lack of
attractiveness as a professional destination vis-à-vis
other occupations; and in many cases, the blame that
governments and societies cast on teachers for the
failures of the entire education system.

A lack of teachers, in particular, a lack of motivated

teachers imperils both the education system and (since
education and economic growth are so tightly linked) a
country’s economic well-being. Therefore, how can
policymakers begin to promote policies and initiatives
that promote teacher motivation?

Factors that Impact Teacher Motivation

It’s important to first identify some of the factors that
drive teacher motivation. While the list below does not
encompass every aspect associated with motivation, it
does suggest that the factors affecting teacher
motivation are complex, discrete and interrelated:

• Social recognition/occupational status: In

countries where the occupational status and social
recognition of teaching are high (Singapore, Japan,
China, and Finland), Ministries of Education are able to
attract the best candidates to the teaching profession
and retain them. They are also able to ensure, through
extensive preparation or rigorous examinations, the
“fitness” of these candidates to be teachers. Rigorous
recruitment, high expectations for teachers, making the
threshold for entry into the profession more exacting,
mutual accountability (on the part of teachers and the
institutions that prepare them) together confer a higher
degree of respect, value, and professionalism—all of

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 which are associated with teaching as a high
occupational status.
• Pay and benefits: Teacher pay often arouses
opposition from governments or the public at large,
especially in low-performing educational systems. The
evidence may be mixed on the degree to which
increased pay (in the form of monetary incentives) and
benefits contribute to motivation. However, low
remuneration deters many potentially effective
candidates from joining the profession and leads
others to leave or hold extra jobs which in turn often
leads to absenteeism and denigrated performance.
Research is fairly consistent that salary and an
appropriate system of incentives can both motivate
and retain good teachers (Vaillant, 2006).
• Working conditions: Supportive, stable, safe,
stimulating working environments, decent labor
conditions, perceptions of being treated fairly, access
to teaching materials and resources and an
environment where teacher voice is heard, valued, and
respected all contribute to teacher motivation and job
satisfaction (NCTAF, 2016).
• Preparation and support: Quality preparation,
professional development, mentoring, opportunities to
learn with peers, supervisory feedback, and helping
teachers along a trajectory of lifelong learning are
tightly connected to classroom practice and to student
learning (Vaillant, 2006). The quality of these
professional learning experiences and their empirical
impact on both teacher practice and student
achievement is tightly linked to increased self-efficacy
(the belief that he/she can teach well), teacher
engagement and motivation (Timperley, 2008).
• Participation in reforms: Integrating teacher voice
in formulating policies and programs that impact them
as individuals, their working condition, their schools
and their students (NCTAF, 2016) is also associated
with teacher agency and teacher motivation. If the
goals of a particular innovation or reform are clearly

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 defined, moderately challenging, and accepted by
teachers, they are more likely to embrace and enact
them (Heneman & Milanowski, 1999).

Motivating Teachers to Motivate Students

Motivated teachers instantiate many of the qualities
that are associated with motivation and that are highly
correlated with improved student learning outcomes. In
brevi, motivated teachers motivate their students to
learn and transcend the limits of their own
expectations. As suggested by the previous section on
factors that influence teacher motivation, there is much
to do in the policy realm to create a critical mass of
motivated teachers, especially in high-need, at-risk,
more vulnerable communities and student populations.

Policy makers can and should collaborate with

teachers and involve them in policy making decisions,
versus ignoring them or involving them at the margins.
Together, policy makers and teachers can move in new
directions to promote higher qualifications, standards
and accountability among all education officials,
including teachers. But such policies must be
accompanied by equally serious efforts to improve the
status, professionalism and pay of the teaching
profession.

Policymaking is often a reflection of larger public and

societal values. In many parts of the globe, we need a
societal “reset” on the value and importance of
teaching and of being a teacher. Both in the public
space and in government offices, teaching must be re-
imagined for what it is and should be—a highly
complex craft involving cross-cutting knowledge and
skills in education, learning theory, psychology,
sociology, clinical social work, pedagogy, content,
technology, assessment theory, child and adolescent
development, and communication theory—versus how
it is currently regarded—as a semi-professional

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 occupation in which anyone with a moderate level of
education, low aspirations and a compromised work
ethic engages. And we must do this quickly and
seriously.

Teacher Motivation Working Group

For more information, resources and tools about
teacher motivation, please visit (and join) the Teacher
Motivation Working Group website. This working group
assembles research on the dynamics of teacher
motivation around the world; identifies gaps in the
research and guides an inter-organizational research
agenda; and serves as a clearinghouse for lessons on
teacher motivation and recommendations for
improving and sustaining teacher motivation as part of
the effort to improve student learning outcomes.

References
Abadzi, H. (2015). Training the 21st-century
worker: Policy advice from the dark network of
implicit memory. Retrieved from
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/reso
urces/wp-16-
training_21st_century_worker_eng.pdf
Alliance for Excellent in Education. (2014). On the
path to educational equity: Improving the
effectiveness of beginning teachers. Retrieved
from http://all4ed.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/07/PathToEquity.pdf
Burns, M. & Guajardo. J. (2014, February).
Teacher motivation in low–income contexts.
Global Partnership for Education, Education for
All Blog. Retrieved from
http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/teacher-
motivation-low-income-contexts
Chalmers, D. (2007). A review of Australian and
international quality systems and indicators of
learning and teaching. Sydney, Australia: Carrick

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 Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher
Education Ltd.
Ferguson, R., Phillips, F., Rowley, J.S.F. &
Friedlander, J.W. (2015, October). The Influence
of teaching beyond standardized test scores:
Engagement, mindsets, and agency. Retrieved
from
http://www.agi.harvard.edu/projects/Teachingan
dAgency.pdf
Heneman, H. G., & Milanowski, A. (1999).
Teacher attitudes about teacher bonuses under
school-
based performance award programs. Journal for
Personnel Evaluation in Education, 12(4), 327-
342
Kelley, C.J. & Finnigan, K. (2003). The effects of
organizational context on teacher expectancy.
Educational Administration Quarterly, 39: 603.
DOI: 10.1177/0013161X03257299
Jesus, S. N., & Lens, W. (2005). An integrated
model for the study of teacher motivation.
Applied Psychology: An International Review,
54(1), 119-134.
Jesus, S. N. & Conboy, J. (2001). A stress
management course to prevent teacher distress.
The International Journal of Educational
Management, 15(3), 131-137.
National Commission on Teaching and America’s
Future. (2016). What matters now: A new
compact for teaching and learning. Washington,
DC: Author
Noddings, N. (2001). The caring teacher. In V.
Richardson (ed). Handbook of Research on
Teaching (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American
Educational Research Association, 99–105.
Timperley, H. (2008). Teacher professional
learning and development. Educational Practices
Series, 18. Geneva, Switzerland: International
Academy of Education and International Bureau

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 of Education.
Vaillant, D. (2006). Documentos de Trabajo de la
OIE sobre el Currículo No 2, julio de 2006. SOS
Profesión Docente: Al Rescate del Currículum
Escolar. Retrieved from
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/resourcebank/workin
g_papers.htm

Mary Burns
(mburns@edc.org)
is a senior learning
technologist at
Education
Development
Center. She works
on issues around
teacher quality and
teacher professional development across the globe—
contributing to policy and research, designing teacher
professional development and support programs, and
teaching and coaching primary, secondary and
university instructors. Mary speaks Spanish, French
and Portuguese and has published widely on teacher
professional development and instruction.

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