Detrimental Effects of Disempowering Climates on Teaching Intention in (Physical Education) Initial Teacher Education

Abstract

Previous research has looked at the positive consequences generated by teacher-generated climates on the motivational experiences of pre-service teachers. However, there is scant research focusing on the adverse motivational consequences that affect the perceptions of future teachers during the training process. The objective of this study was to explore the dark side of Duda’s multidimensional conceptualization, its influence on academic engagement, and the intention of pre-service teachers to be educators. A total of 1,410 university students in initial teacher training (including physical education pre-service teachers) (59.6% women; 40.3% men; 0.1% other; Mage = 23.85; SD = 5.13) participated. The following scales were used: disempowering motivational climate, frustration of basic psychological needs, academic motivation, academic engagement, and the intention to choose teaching. The results of the structural equation model with latent variables show the positive prediction of the disempowering climate on the dark side and its negative influence on the intention to be a teacher. Controlled motivation preceded by academic engagement significantly mediates the relationship between a disempowering climate and the intention to be a teacher, increasing the total effect on the latter variable. Therefore, this research highlights for both teachers and researchers the impact of a disempowering motivational style, as well as its influence on the dark side as a negative promoter in trainee teachers regarding their intention to become teachers.

Relationships Between Needs Satisfaction and the Quality of Motivation With Academic Engagement in Pre-Service Physical Education Teachers

“…Contrasted with our hypotheses, pre-service PE teachers’ competence satisfaction positively predicted their controlled motivation. This result differed from Kaplan and Madjar’s (2017) study that revealed that both variables were unrelated in pre-service generalist teachers, while it was partially aligned with the López-García et al’s (2023) research, given that a positive association was found from pre-service generalist teachers’ need satisfaction to their controlled motivation. This finding makes us suggest that when pre-service PE teachers feel their competence as satisfied, they could also have controlled reasons toward their initial teacher education program.…”

“…Indeed, it is thought that controlled motivation might be an effective way to foster short-term academic engagement among pre-service PE teachers; however, there is a need for longitudinal studies to analyze if the effects of controlled motivation on academic engagement would be maintained throughout initial PE teacher education. Moreover, and following López-García et al’s (2023) research, our results also displayed a negative association of amotivation on academic engagement. This could be explained in that when pre-service PE teachers with levels of futility, inefficacy, undervaluation, and disinterest in their initial teacher education program, they will be prone to have a lower academic engagement with their teaching career.…”

“…Partially consistent with the hypotheses of this study and following the SDT framework (Ryan et al, 2021), our results reported autonomous both autonomous and controlled motivation positively predicted academic engagement, with autonomous motivation having a higher prediction. These findings shed some light on the relationships between autonomous and controlled motivation with academic engagement in pre-service PE teachers given that Kaplan and Madjar (2017) only found a positive association of autonomous motivation on academic engagement, while López-García et al (2023) revealed a positive relationship between controlled motivation and academic engagement. These results further suggest that a large quantity of the two higher qualities of motivation would be enough to keep the pre-service PE teachers’ academic engagement with their initial PE teacher education program.…”

“…Therefore, the objective of the current SDT-based research was to analyze the relationships between the satisfaction of each of the four needs and the quality of motivation with academic engagement in pre-service PE teachers. Building upon SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2017) and following previous research in the general context of initial teacher education (e.g., Burguen˜o et al, 2022;Kaplan & Madjar, 2017;Lo´pez-Garcı´a et al, 2023), we hypothesized that autonomy, competence, relatedness would be positively associated with autonomous motivation, while each would be negatively related to controlled motivation and amotivation. We also hypothesized that autonomous motivation would be positively related to academic engagement, while controlled motivation and amotivation would do it in a negative way.…”

“…To date, only two SDT-based studies with pre-service teachers were found indicating a positive relationship between autonomous motivation and academic engagement (Kaplan & Madjar, 2017), and a negative association of amotivation with academic engagement (López-García et al, 2023). Nonetheless, there was an unclear relationship between controlled motivation and academic motivation, such that López-García et al (2023) reported a positive association among both variables, and Kaplan and Madjar (2017), instead, revealed a non-significant relationship between them. Although these studies conducted with pre-service teachers made a valuable contribution by shedding some light on the relationship between motivation and academic engagement, it is important to underscore that the interplay between the three qualities of motivation and academic engagement remains still to be explored in the specific context of initial PE teacher education.…”