Relationship between teaching motivation and teaching behaviour of secondary education teachers in Indonesia (Relación entre la motivación docente y el comportamiento docente en profesores de educación secundaria en Indonesia)

Research on teacher motivation is increasing substantially. Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between the motivation and teaching behaviour of teachers. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the perceived motivation of teachers and their actual teaching behaviour in the context of secondary education. A survey on teacher motivation yielded responses from 315 teachers from 28 schools across 13 provinces in Indonesia. These teachers were observed in their classrooms by trained observers using a validated observation scheme. Results of a multilevel analysis indicate that: (1) perceived controlled motivation does not predict actual teaching behaviour; (2) perceived autonomous motivation is a positive predictor of at least some domains of actual teaching behaviour. Higher levels of perceived autonomous motivation are associated with higher scores on classroom management and clarity of instruction. There is also a slight tendency (p <.10) for autonomous motivation to explain differences in other domains of teaching behaviour, with the exception of activating teaching. This study highlights the importance of autonomous motivation in relation to teaching quality.