Teaching style and academic engagement in pre-service teachers during the COVID-19 lockdown: Mediation of motivational climate

Abstract

COVID-19 and the resulting confinement has had a great impact on the educational environment. Although research in initial teacher education has focused on studying the factors that lead to increased academic engagement, there is no evidence that examines the role of teacher interpersonal style and motivational classroom in a virtual learning context. The aim of this research was to analyze the mediating role of motivational climate between teacher interpersonal style (i.e., autonomy support and controlling style) and academic engagement climate in pre-service teachers in a resilient context. The research design was observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, and non-randomized. A total of 1,410 university students (pre-service teachers) participated (Mage = 23.85; SD = 5.13) (59.6% female; 40.3% male; 0.1% other). The scales of interpersonal teaching style, classroom motivational climate, academic commitment, and resilience were used, and a structural equation analysis with latent variables was carried out controlling resilience and gender. The results of the structural equation model show the importance of student perception of teacher autonomy support on academic engagement of the pre-service teachers, as well as the mediation of the mastery climate between autonomy support and academic engagement. For this reason, in order to increase academic engagement in pre-service teachers, it is recommended the use of motivating styles and instructional strategies focused on supporting the decision-making process, initiative, and significant learning.

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

“…Recent advances in the educational field have tried to examine how socio-contextual classroom environments (i.e., the social-psychological environment) affect motivational processes, as well as the role the teacher trainer might adopt in the initial teacher training context [11][12][13][14]. In this sense, following self-determination theory (SDT) [15], various interpersonal teaching styles are recognised (e.g., autonomy support and controlling style) in the teaching intervention.…”

“…Previous research [33] has operationalized academic engagement across different dimensions: vigour, dedication, and absorption. Specifically, research in the teacher training context has shown the importance of academic engagement both as a consequence of socio-contextual classroom environments [14] and as a mediator between educational outcomes [13]. Although the use of academic engagement as an antecedent of future behaviours has been evidenced [34], few studies have evaluated its possible positive influence on behavioural intention (i.e., the intention to be a teacher) [35] despite its relevance in the teacher training context [8,10,36].…”

The Effect of the Motivational Climate on Satisfaction with Physical Education in Secondary School Education: Mediation of Teacher Strategies in Maintaining Discipline

“…Some studies [8,9] show that the teacher's role can be seen as one of the reasons for generating discipline in the PE classroom; so much so that some authors highlight the motivational climate generated by the teacher in the classroom as being responsible for the students' successful or failing behaviors [10]. Previous surveys [8,11] have demonstrated the need to investigate in more detail the role played by the teacher in sustaining discipline and influencing the social environment in the classroom. However, to date, we are unaware of any research that has examined the effects of the PE-teacher-generated social climate in the classroom on subject satisfaction.…”