A systemic approach to supporting motivation and behaviour in secondary classrooms during COVID: a professional development intervention using self-determination theory

ABSTRACT This exploratory study employed mixed-methods to investigate outcomes associated with an online self-determination theory (SDT) based teacher professional development (PD) intervention, and explored teachers’ perspectives about re-engaging students following COVID-19. Participants were 33 secondary school teachers from across England and Wales. Quantitative data from a single group pre-test-post-test design were analysed, and a range of teacher outcomes were analysed through paired (dependent) sample t-tests. Qualitative data from teachers’ written responses were analysed using framework analysis (FA). Quantitative findings indicated significant increases in teachers’ self-efficacy, and personal responsibility, and moderate teacher control beliefs, and significant reductions in teachers’ negative beliefs about student misbehaviour, and high teacher control beliefs. The overarching themes within the framework included a priori generated themes of autonomy, relatedness, and competence, as well as an emergent theme highlighting the importance of prioritising psychological needs. The combined findings have important implications for practice and suggest the need for approaches that put the psychological needs of students first. Further research is suggested to expand the evidence base, and to address the limitations of the current research.