Keywords

Introduction

This chapter is woven with three threads: teacher motivation, teacher motivation for professional development, and English Language Education (ELE) in the Indian education context. Teacher motivation is an emerging domain of interest and investigation in education. Until recently, most of the motivation-focused educational research centered on students. However, the educational reform initiatives necessitated by the rapid changes in social, economic, political, and knowledge spheres in the wake of globalization has brought teachers back to the center of educational activities along with students. The literature on educational change and innovation (Fullan, 2007; Hargreaves, 1994; Hoban, 2002) shows the direction of changing winds in education where teachers are acknowledged as executive decision-makers, holding decisive powers to make or mar the change and innovation. This focus on teachers has led to increasing interest in teachers’ professional development in terms of its impact on the realization of change and innovation and enhancing student learning. As professional development is quintessentially a learning process, the discussion of professional learning motivation cannot remain neglected.

The English language is often discussed as one of the shaping forces of globalization. Considering its place, and its assumed and the anticipated roles, in the globalizing world, education, in general, ELE in particular, is witnessing the rapid onslaught of change and innovation in the areas of curriculum, materials, methods, teacher training, teacher professional development, and assessment. The focus on teachers has necessitated the exploration of their motivation for becoming and being teachers.

Primarily, the studies investigating motivational aspect in education keeping teachers at the center are far and few compared with students. This phenomenon is more pronounced in the Indian education context. However, teacher motivation studies are gaining momentum by exploring motivations for joining, staying, and growing professionally in teaching (Hiver et al., 2018; Padwad, 2015; Richter et al., 2019). These explorations are of particular importance as they include motivation for professional development in discussing teacher motivation. However, going by the growing body of research (see Han & Yin, 2016) teacher motivation for professional development is yet to be given its due place. This chapter, drawing on the exploration of general educational and ELE literature and personal experience, attempts to explore and understand teacher motivation for professional development in the Indian ELE context. The flow of the chapter is as follows:

  • An overview of teacher motivation

  • Discussion of teacher motivation for professional development

  • Presentation of a few strategies for initiating and sustaining teacher motivation for professional development.

Before proceeding further, here are a few words of caution about the notions of teacher motivation and teacher motivation for professional development. The widely used terms to describe and discuss various aspects of a teacher such as interest, willingness, commitment, desire, etc., are to be taken as constituent parts of the notion of teacher motivation. The other term “professional development” includes senses evoked by continuing professional development (CPD), teacher development, professional growth, and professional learning.

Teacher Motivation

Motivation is an elemental entity that enables survival. It is a natural phenomenon that directs energy and investment to accomplish set or anticipated goals. “Like the national economy, human motivation is a topic that people know is important, continuously discuss, and would like to predict” notes Wlodkowaski (2008: 1) to suggest its ubiquitous nature.

The term “motivation” is derived from the Latin word “movere,” which means “to move.” It presents a real mystery as it is used widely and variedly (Dörnyei, 2001). As Covington (1992: 1) rightly observes, “Motivation, like the concept of gravity, is easier to describe in terms of its outward, observable effects than it is to define.”

Teacher motivation (TM) has gained wide currency in education discourse in the last 20 years. It is often discussed as motivation for career choice and motivation of teaching. As such, TM is a psychological aspect of the work called teaching, or often discussed as vocation. It continues to be explored from the cognitive perspectives, such as self-efficacy, goal setting, self-determination, etc., and work motivation frameworks drawn from business management. The key players who have paved the path for the emergence of this domain include Pennington (1995), Bess (1997), Dörnyei (2001), Watt and Richardson (2008), Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011, 2021), Lamb (2017) among others. The history of TM investigation shows that it began via repurposing theories and frameworks, for example, self-efficacy theory or self-determination theory, to explain student motivation for learning. The first part of this section portrays TM in general education discourse followed by TM in ELE. An attempt has also been made to include the relevant, though very few, Indian studies in this portrayal.

TM is increasingly treated as one of the core aspects of education. UNESCO notes that motivated teachers are one of the pre-requisites for Education 2030 Agenda. It acknowledges that motivation plays a critical role in teacher performance which in turn influences student learning. The literature concurs on the significance of TM on three counts: student motivation, educational reform and change, and teacher well-being.

As far as student motivation is concerned, Richardson and Watt (2010: 140) observe, “Teachers’ goals, sense of professional autonomy, and enthusiasm for teaching, impact their students’ perceptions and behaviors.” Atkinson (2000: 46) emphasizes TM stating, “the lynch pin in sustaining, enhancing or decreasing motivation is very often the teacher, and that their influence upon pupil demotivation is an important factor that cannot be ignored.”

TM has acquired a pivotal role in education reform discourse. National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) (2009: 4) states that teachers should be placed at the center of educational reforms as they have the decisive power to make reforms a reality. According to De Jesus and Lens (2005), TM is essential to advance change and innovation in education. They point out that, “motivated teachers are likely to work for educational reform and progressive legislation … more importantly it is a motivated teacher who guarantees the implementation of reforms originating at the policymaking level” (De Jesus & Lens, 2005: 120).

Regarding teacher well-being, De Jesus and Lens (2005) suggest that teachers often suffer from occupational lack of motivation. This can be attributed to the absence of contingent career path, frequent curriculum change, unwritten management procedures of institutions, etc. Atkinson (2000) highlights that TM is crucial in the contemporary rapidly changing professional world—advocacy of technology, new notions of accountability, new curriculum and assessment. It is believed that a motivated teacher can cope with these pressures.

There is no comprehensive and agreed definition of teacher motivation. It has multiple interpretations, as it relates to teachers working in varying contexts. The range of variables considered to define TM includes punctuality (attending school and classes on time) to professing learning. For example, in the Indian education context, “A motivated teacher comes to school every day, does what he is told and provides information the higher-ups want!” (Ramachandran et al., 2005). Sinclair (2008: 37) defines TM in terms of, “what attracts individuals to teaching, how long they remain in their initial teacher education courses and subsequently the teaching profession and the extent to which they engage with their courses and the teaching profession.” For Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011), TM is concerned with the motivation to teach and to remain in the profession. The Teacher Motivation Working Group (TMWG) defines TM as:

the desire, willingness, and commitment to teach to the best of one’s ability in order to ensure equitable and quality instruction for all students. Teacher motivation is derived from a range of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that encourage or inhibit teachers in reaching their full potential. (n.d.)

TM is shaped by a blend of cultural, financial, contextual, and personal factors. The definitions presented above indicate the way teachers and teaching are conceptualized. For example, in the Indian context, motivation is attributed to passivity, adherence to rules and regulations, readiness to provide the required information. In a sense, it is inclined toward peripheral issues of education rather than the core aspect of teaching and learning. Sinclair (2008) and TMWG’s definitions highlight personal and professional teaching factors that determine the degree of engagement with the profession. The issue that stands out in the TM field is that it is teachers’ desire to join and stay in the profession, though three conceptions of TM can be discerned in research: (i) teachers and teaching in a generic sense, (ii) teaching as work, and (iii) teachers as human beings.

Self-efficacy theory, goal orientation theory, and self-determination are the frequently used social psychological theories to explore and explain TM in the generic sense. The critical aspects of these theories are given in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Overview of theories pertinent to TM
Full size table

Self-efficacy theory is mainly helpful in explaining the teaching career choice. It is primarily relevant to explore and explain the motivation for teaching before joining the profession. Watt and Richardson (2007), leading teacher motivation researchers, have devised Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) for measuring and explaining TM. In contrast, goal orientation theory is mostly successful in accounting for motivation of teachers after joining the profession. It takes classrooms as achievement arena for teachers and students. Butler (2007; cited in Watt and Richardson, 2015: 67) in her attempt to explore teachers’ goals has identified four factors that reflect (i) mastery orientation (acquiring and developing professional competence), (ii) ability approach orientation (demonstrating superior teaching ability), (iii) ability avoidance orientation (avoiding displaying inferior teaching ability), and (iv) work avoidance orientation (to get through the day with as little effort as possible). Unlike the first two theories, self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) highlights the significance of three fundamental human needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—for motivated behavior. This theory facilitates the explanation for intrinsic regulation and extrinsic regulation of human behavior. The experience of independence, confidence about competence, and feeling of being a community member intrinsically regulate and drive actions. Contrary to this is the need for external regulation of behavior implying the absence of autonomy, competence and relatedness.

These predominantly used theories address TM in terms of joining and staying in the profession. So the joining and staying aspects have received greater attention than growing in the job through professional learning in TM studies (see Han & Yin, 2016). However, there is an emergent critique of current trends in TM research. Padwad (2015: 37) observes that the theories used for TM studies treat TM as a static entity and it being a human trait is susceptible to change over time. He elaborates:

Teacher motivation may comprise three distinct dimensions – motivation to join the profession, motivation to stay in the profession and the motivation to grow in the profession. The current conceptualization of teacher motivation, as manifested in the prevalent theories, does not seem to take these three separate dimensions into account. They seem to assume no essential difference between motivation to join, stay and grow, implying that factors motivating teachers to join teaching also continue to motivate them to stay and grow in the profession. (Emphasis in the original)

Secondly, work motivation framework is also deployed to understand TM. Thornton et al. (1973) undertook a comparative study of the motivation of educators and industrial managers. For this, they adapted the Education Work Components Study (EWCS) tool developed by Miskel and Heller (1972), which is cited in Thornton et al. (1973). The objective elements of the job situation and need and value systems of workers were the two broad categories used to develop EWCS. The results indicated that teachers showed less concern for rewards of success, less tolerance for work pressures, and were more concerned with job security, hygiene factors, better working conditions, interpersonal relations, technical supervision, accountability, etc. Industrial managers’ response was contrary to teachers as they valued more challenging work and rewards exhibiting incidental concern for hygiene factors. Reeve and Su (2014: 349) discuss TM considering teachers’ own motivation on the one hand and their interpersonal motivating style toward students on the other. They note that teachers’ motivation, “revolves around teachers’ day-to-day experiences while delivering instruction, and concludes with a consideration of how well versus how poorly teachers function in terms of enthusiasm and satisfaction versus exhaustion and frustration.” On the second aspect related to students, they state:

[It] begins with an analysis of autonomy-supportive versus controlling teaching, revolves around whether teachers take their students’ perspectives and support their initiatives (autonomy-supportive teaching) or neglect their students’ perspectives and prescribe what their students should think and do (controlling teaching), and concludes with a consideration of students’ and teachers’ flourishing with autonomy support but suffering from psychological and behavioral control. (Reeve & Su, 2014: 349)

These two representative studies highlight three kinds of responses to teaching: (i) high-value attachment to hygienic factors, (ii) self-control (especially controlling emotions and avoiding burn out) or its absence, and (iii) preferred teaching styles in terms of autonomy-supportive or autonomy-restrictive.

Lastly, Dӧrnyei (2001) and Dӧrnyei and Ushioda (2011) discuss TM considering teachers as human beings engaged in a human endeavor. TM involves a prominent intrinsic component as the main constituent, and is closely linked with contextual factors (or hygienic factors). It has a temporal dimension, and it changes over time in one’s career. Besides, it is fragile and hence can be adversely influenced by trivial factors such as low evaluation by a few students.

Teacher Motivation in ELE

Dӧrnyei and Ushioda (2011) observe that TM in ELE is yet scarce. Pennington’s (1995) investigation of the motivation of English as second language (ESL) teachers in the American education context is considered to be the first study on TM in ELE. The objective of this study was to explore the work satisfaction and motivation of teachers of English. The study results indicated that the intrinsic elements of moral values and social service were the primary motivational forces for teachers. A study by Doyle and Kim (1999) highlights three themes influencing teacher motivation: intrinsic motivation in terms of the desire to help students realize their aspirations, negative influences (e.g., low salary), and mandated curriculum and tests. Another study by Shoaib (2004), cited in Dӧrnyei and Ushioda (2011), reports that TM is a complex phenomenon operating at three primary levels: individual teacher level, managerial/administrative level, and institutional level. Hayes (2008) and Wong et al. (2014) state personal liking for English language and language teaching trigger TM. What emerges from this brief survey of a few studies is that TM in ELE too revolves around career choice issues validated by the consideration of intrinsic factors like satisfaction, intellectual stimulation, and sense of engaging in meaningful activities and extrinsic factors like salary and job security. In India’s case, a study by Dixit (2014) indicates that the perceived social status of English teachers is also a decisive factor alongside clichéd intrinsic and extrinsic aspects.

Key Themes in TM Research

Drawing on the previous discussion on TM and TM in ELE, it is possible to list a few recurrent themes like stress, autonomy, absence of intellectual challenge, and career structure. A consideration of these themes is pivotal to explore and explain TM for professional development.

First, stress is one of the frequently mentioned issues in TM studies. It is widely acknowledged that teaching is one of the stressful professions that involves juggling multiple stakeholders’ agendas in education. The stress has the potential to lean teaching toward autonomy-restrictive mode. Dӧrnyei and Ushioda (2011: 169) note that teachers use specific strategies to keep pressure in check to (i) depersonalize the individual student and insist that no one receives special treatment, (ii) attempt to reduce the need for decisions by reliance on ritualized task performance, and (iii) avoid change and maintain status-quo. Second, autonomy is a recurring issue in TM discourse. Studies such as Pennington (1995), Pelletier et al. (2002), and Batra (2005) concur that teachers have restricted autonomy. They rarely feel themselves the origin of their decisions and actions. Third, absence of intellectual challenge is prominent issue. It is a well-known fact that teachers teach the same subject year after year without updating and reviewing. The lack of intellectual challenge is a potential source of demotivation. Fourth, career structure presents a different picture of teaching altogether. Dӧrnyei and Ushioda (2011: 173) note that the occupation of teaching offers a “closed contingent path.” It results in making teachers feel that they have “got stuck.”

Teacher Motivation for Professional Development

Byod et al. (2003: 47) state that intensive efforts are needed to attract teachers toward professional development and professional development providers have to make sure that they “have something of high quality that will encourage them to work.” In their comprehensive review and knowledge database on motivation for professional development, Schieb and Karabenick (2008) have identified as many as 11 specific issues to explore TM for professional development.

First, teacher self-direction and teachers’ sense of self-efficacy are vital to the success of professional development, as research has recognized positive relationships between teacher levels of self-efficacy about motivation and professional development opportunity. Second, teachers’ feeling of isolation is an impediment to TM for professional development. Third, studies emphatically showing that professional development programs are most beneficial when teachers maintain input and control over the professional development process. Fourth, there is a strong correlation between positive teacher and administrative relationships and opportunities for professional development. Studies show that those in an educational leadership position can support teachers in areas such as motivation, reflection, evaluation, recognition, rewards, and improving work culture. Fifth, provision of learning opportunities and materials can enhance TM for professional development. Sixth, studies indicate that acknowledging teachers’ existing beliefs and practices is a significant factor in their motivation to engage in professional development. It plays a central role in facilitating change. Seventh, there is broad coverage of the many ways that professional development can be offered to reflect the needs of the individual school environments and contexts in motivational implications. Professional development can take many forms. Eighth, the primary factors that motivate teachers for professional development include the degree of independence in teachers’ decisions to participate, the relevance of the program to the needs of the teachers and their students, the alignment of their professional and personal goals with the purpose of the professional development, convenience, costs and anticipated rewards and skills gained. Ninth, inclusion of both traditional and newer teaching approaches results in motivating teachers toward professional development. Tenth, research has claimed that professional development programs should include the role of intrinsic rewards, such as the impact that teachers’ sense of self-worth and accomplishment have in developing positive attitudes and motivation toward their participation and anticipation of successful implementation. And eleventh, professional development programs that consider teachers’ needs, motivations, and students’ abilities enhance TM for professional development.

In their first ever study on TM for professional development, Karabenick and Conley (2011) observe that teachers prefer professional development which improves their subject matter knowledge, is enjoyable and fun, enhance their career, and not require too much time and effort. Their most preferred professional development formats consist of a series of workshops on topics of concern. Less preferred formats include summer institutes, institutional, professional learning communities, and lectures. Teachers’ desire to participate is directly related to whether professional development would make their lessons more engaging and more effective for student learning, improve their students’ achievement, enhance the degree to which their students learned the required material, capture students’ interest in the subject they taught, show students they truly cared about them, and establish a positive relationship with students.

Husman et al. (2014) propose a new framework focusing on teaching career future to explain TM for professional development. They introduce a notion called “future time perspective” (FTP) which has been defined as “the degree to which and the way in which the chronological future is integrated into the present life-space of an individual through motivational goal setting process” (Husman et al., 2014: 182). An extended FTP is mandatory for in-service teachers’ motivation to learn, enabling individuals to envision their future and create paths to making that vision a reality, allowing for emotional links between activities in the present, for instance, fully engaging in a workshop, and ongoing and open-ended goals, for example, becoming a better teacher. FTP is conceptualized as a time bubble extending into both the past and the present. Husman et al. (2014: 183) propose that:

For teachers to remain focused and motivated, regarding professional learning, it is important that they have a broad, extended time bubble. Such teachers may be more likely to engage in productive teacher learning activities and are more likely to be self-reflective and concerned about the development of their “future teaching self.”

Thus, developing a “teaching self” constitutes the professional development of teachers.

Considering this significance of TM for professional development, it is significant for English language teachers in the Indian education context for at least three reasons: (i) inadequate pre-service training, (ii) onslaught of change and innovation, and (iii) teacher well-being.

Inadequate pre-service training: One of the salient features of ELE in India is the absence of comprehensive ELE component in the pre-service teacher education. The critical elements of teacher education include general educational philosophy and psychology, school administration and classroom management, current issues of concern like population education, environmental education, etc. The ELE component usually comprises the basics of linguistics, grammar, teaching methods, and a small practicum of 20 h. The in-service teacher education is often restricted to the introduction of change and innovation. It does not cater to teachers’ demands and needs nor considers their working contexts and their concerns. Generally, the manifestation of in-service teacher education is the one-off workshops or training sessions led by experts in the field. It is an attempt to provide “training-based solution” (Prince & Barrett, 2014: 19) to real-life classroom challenges. One of the salient features of in-service teacher education in India is the narrow view of teachers’ professional development wherein teachers are introduced to new techniques assuming teachers’ knowledge about the technique is enough to implement it. It also reflects on how the professional development policy conceptualizes teachers.

Onslaught of change and innovation: Change is an all-pervasive phenomenon. The world has changed for teachers as it has for other professionals. Hunter and Benson (1997: 96) suggest that change cannot be separated from education. They observe that “Educational institutes serve both as sites for the perpetuation of society (a stability thesis) and as sites for the changing, developing and creating of society (the improvement of society thesis).” Day and Sachs (2004: 3) note that the impact of the changing economic, social and knowledge contexts upon the education service as a whole has caused a move from the traditional postwar model of the autonomous professional in which decisions about the curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment are the business of teachers. Now what students learn, what they must achieve as the outcome of learning, and what standards apply are explicitly the state’s everyday business. Concerned with the need to raise standards of achievement, and improve their positions in the world economic league tables, governments in the recent past have intervened more actively to improve schooling. Higher expectations for higher-quality teaching demands teachers who are well qualified, highly motivated, knowledgeable and skillful, not only at the point of entry into teaching but also throughout their careers. In other words, teachers need to become lifelong learners.

In the phenomenon of educational change, teachers take the central position. It is agreed that teachers are the key to the successful implementation of change (Claxton et al., 1996; Darling-Hammond, 1995; Day, 1999). The Indian educational policy documents also consider teachers to be a decisive factor in implementing change. The Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) notes that teachers are the key players in enacting educational change (MHRD, 2012: 4). To make the envisioned change a reality the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), and the Planning Commission of India conceptualize a new teacher with different roles and responsibilities. For example, MHRD (2012: 19) states:

The act of teaching is no longer considered synonymous with the transmission of information and knowledge. Instead, a teacher’s task is to facilitate learning by enabling the child to construct or generate understanding on the basis of his/her own observations, experiences, experimentation, analysis and reflection...This shift in thinking about teacher’s task is based on the premise that children have the potential to construct knowledge, make meaning and think independently, given a conducive and challenging pedagogic environment.

Professional development is seen as the medium to transition from traditional teacher to a new teacher possible. There is a lot of research on professional development as an instrument for successfully translating change into reality (e.g., see Day & Sachs, 2004; Fullan, 1993; Wedell, 2009). Claxton et al. (1996: 4) highlight the significance of professional development and argue that:

Continuing professional development is no longer a matter of the odd in-service course.... It is not an optional extra to be undertaken as a matter of individual choice by the teacher.... The continuous development of teachers’ skills is rapidly becoming a matter of necessity.

Professional development involves continuous learning. However, learning in professional development is not limited to subject matter but the acquisition of pedagogic skills, disposition, attitudes, values, and beliefs conducive to enacting educational change and meeting the policy’s anticipated educational ends. Claxton et al. (1996: 5) emphasize learning for teachers in present times observing “whatever their particular roles and responsibilities, no teacher is exempt from the demand to be a learner.”

Teacher well-being: Job satisfaction and positive emotions are the keys to well-being. The teaching profession suffers from the absence of intellectual challenges. Besides, teaching offers few opportunities on a career path in terms of higher or different roles. The varying notions of order at the institution and societal level, changing ideas of accountability, rising parental and policymakers’ expectations provide fertile soil for the emergence of negative emotions. Drawing on his experience and study, Dixit (2014) has observed that participation in professional development activities is a rewarding experience for enhancing knowledge and skills. It also creates opportunities for experimentation. Moreover, it facilitates networking among professionals, thereby reducing isolation.

Toward Theorizing Teacher Motivation for Professional Development

As noted in the previous sections, TM for professional development does not figure prominently in the existing discussions on TM. Besides, there appears to be a tendency to equate the motivation to stay in the profession with motivation for professional learning and teaching.

Inferring from the discussion on TM, TM’s location lies at the interface between the individual in a teacher role and the working context, say school or college. Though it resides in the individuals, it requires nourishment from the environment. For making sense of motivation for professional development, it is imperative to consider the role and place of environment in teachers’ work lives. Teachers participate in professional development activities for various reasons. Richter et al. (2019) suggest that teachers like to (i) expand their professional competences (which necessitate recognition from the environment), (ii) foster relationships with colleagues (an aspect of relatedness), and increase career opportunities (human interest to thrive).

In the case of the English language teachers in India, a few more reasons prompt teachers to undertake professional development activities. Some of them are to (i) improve their own English language proficiency, especially speaking, (ii) share teaching experiences and experiments, and (iii) acquire identity as a scholar (Dixit, 2014).

To make sense of these motivational triggers and the existing provisions and mechanisms of professional development, it is helpful to use Ozcan’s (1996) construct of TM. Ozcan proposes that teachers need to be considered human beings with attitudes, values, and beliefs to construct TM theory. He assumes that teachers as human beings are naturally motivated to survive, utilize their potential, and realize themselves and to achieve their ends, they need material and ideal resources. He notes that “possibilities to earn resources necessary to survive and self-realization motivate people to act” (Ozcan, 1996: 43). He proposes two categories of components behind teachers’ motivation: “interests” and “ideas.” The first impulse for a given action comes from “interests,” and “ideas” provide justification and define the situations in which interests are pursued. This framework of interests and ideas can be adapted to explain TM for professional development (Fig. 3.1).

Fig. 3.1
An illustration depicts how the T M for professional development uses ideas and interests from teachers and how the context and the teacher are interrelated.

(Adapted from Ozcan 1996)

Framework for explaining teacher motivation for professional development

Full size image

Interests

Interests are often described and discussed as material interests, ideal interests, economic interests, etc. Teachers have varied interests regarding professional development such as identity acquisition, enhancing own language proficiency, searching for job opportunities, networking with other practitioners, and seeking publicity, money/income. If these interests match the contextual affordances, then there appears a possibility of teachers’ engagement with professional development. In other words, the context in terms of professional development policy and provisions, institutions, experts, etc., is expected to listen and gauge teachers’ aspirations for professional development and thereby make provisions that interest teachers. For example, if teachers desire to write and publish, an institution can start its bulletin or magazine where teachers can begin publishing without many hassles. This initiation can trigger motivation to study the issues of concern further.

Lortie (1975: 82–108) observes that there is a tendency among teachers to deemphasize extrinsic rewards. However, the rewards teachers expect from teaching include extrinsic rewards, and they are as important as intrinsic rewards (Lieberman & Miller, 1984: 11). This is highlighted by research which shows that “teachers rarely leave teaching for the lack of psychological rewards, but they leave teaching for the insufficiency of extrinsic rewards such as economic income, prestige, and power” (Ozcan, 1996: 10). What it leads to is that extrinsic aspects such as recognition, incentives, and scope for exercising agency are essential to initiate and sustain motivation for professional development.

Ideas

This category contains knowledge, beliefs, norms, and values and is highly instrumental in understanding teachers’ behavior. The sources of ideas include peers, colleagues, institutional culture, interactional norms, etc. The point to draw from ideas relates to building an environment conducive to professional learning. For example, if teachers experience that professional learning is worthwhile from their colleagues or institution, they are more likely to invest their time and to some extent money in activities related to professional development. The English Teachers’ Clubs (ETCs) experiment (Padwad & Dixit, 2015) offers encouraging evidence for creating a learning culture. The member teachers considered it a resource for ideas. The ETCs started with teachers who often expressed their helplessness, saying “I am just a teacher” implying they were not meant and fit for any activities other than routine teaching. But over a period of ten years, teachers started experiencing agency and autonomy, exhibiting confidence in experimentation.

Strategies for Initiating and Sustaining TM for Professional Development

Based on Ozcan’s framework and the discussion on TM, this section presents three strategies that appear to help initiate and sustain TM for professional development. Personal experience and the ETCs example also warrant the potential of these strategies: (i) Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs) (Dӧrnyei et al., 2016), (ii) building vision (Dӧrnyei & Kubanyiova, 2014), and (iii) creation of teacher communities or professional learning communities.

In essence, DMCs are triggers or stimulations for action. Dӧrnyei et al. (2016: 2) note that they differ in terms of content, but they share a few common properties: (i) they suddenly undertake a task, (ii) they invest a considerable amount of energy, time and resources, and (iii) they achieve something remarkable.

DMCs are distinct from ongoing motivation as they have a short lifespan characterized by “intense burst of motivational energy focused toward clearly defined goal … it functions over and on top of the steady motivation” (Dӧrnyei et al., 2016: 2–3) (emphasis in the original). This appears to be relevant and useful in initiating motivation of teachers for professional learning. Teachers have their ideas and interests and are continually calibrating them to meet their desired goals. So, it seems natural to get attracted by things like teacher research or the use of technological tools in teaching. The ETCs offer evidence of DMCs in operation. At one point in time, a few members suddenly developed an interest in teacher research. One teacher was exploring the students’ reasons behind indulging in cheating practices in English language examinations. This teacher initially planned to collect data from 100 teachers but ended up reaching out to and collecting data from 400+ teachers. He was fascinated by the data he was receiving. The data and the subsequent study resulted in insights which the teacher found incapable of coping with, but that is a different story. What happened here is worth highlighting. The teacher's concern was “cheating practices,” which is rarely addressed by the professional development policy and provisions. It was the teacher’s interest, and probably, the teacher was looking for an opportunity to explore it. The teacher also had ideas that boil down to helping students learn by staying away from indulging in unethical practices. When the opportunity came via the local teacher association’s initiative, he grabbed it and embarked on a learning journey.

Vision is another concept from Dӧrnyei and Kubanyiova (2014) for motivating teachers and students. They remark that vision is made of three constituent parts: the future, the ideal, and the desire for deliberate change (Dӧrnyei and Kubanyiova, 2014: 9). This notion of vision comes closer to FTP construct discussed in the previous section. This notion corresponds to striving for a better life which is familiar to everyone. Teachers have their visions for peaceful living and thriving. Accordingly, their behavior sets goals taking mastery orientation or work avoidance orientation (see the discussion on goal orientation theory). These orientations offer glimpses of teachers’ vision. Again, the ETCs example evidences the potential of vision in triggering motivation for professional learning. In it, teachers joined with their interests and vision. Teachers’ desire and readiness to make efforts to improve their own language proficiency was one of the reasons for participation in ETCs activities. On further exploration (Padwad & Dixit, 2015), it was found that English language proficiency was related to the vision of the life they cherished for themselves. It was envisioned that their command of English would give them leverage, offer envied identity, and bring in some material rewards. So, the point to note is that attempts at creating environments for sharing and pursuing vision at local levels are potentially powerful for motivating teachers for professional development.

Lastly, the creation of communities has proven to be useful for generating motivation for professional development. Stoll and Louis (2007) emphasize the role of peers and colleagues operating together as a professional learning community in generating motivation for enhancing student learning and creating opportunities for professional learning. Such groups create spaces for sharing teachers’ concerns, offer opportunities to voice and test the validity of their ideas, and create safe environments. Teacher groups have the potential to enhance self-efficacy and self-determination. The ETCs experience confirms the powers of teacher communities. The ETCs were locations where teachers got exposure to various things such as methods, material, and assessment, heard about books, journals, and academic events, and shared stories of good teachers and good students. Wright (2000: 2) captures the essence of teacher development in asserting, “talk is the fuel of teacher development.” Talk in the ETCs involved talk about vision, interests, and ideas of teachers.

Conclusion

Teacher motivation is one of the fast emerging discourses in the contemporary education alongside reform, innovation, social equity, and the twenty-first century skills. The motivation for professional development is neither elusive nor mysterious. It has attracted the attention of research and academy but is yet to find its due place in the teacher education. The small evolving corpus of research on TM for professional development and a few experiences indicate that it can be successfully initiated and sustained. The application of the key motivational theories such as self-efficacy, goal theory, and self-determination theory is helpful in explaining TM at the individual level. The consideration of working context and the examination of how teachers carve out their own space vis-à-vis the institutional contexts appear to hold the key to explaining TM for professional development. The main issues to consider in this venture are the local affordances and challenges and teachers’ interests and ideas. The appropriate location for such a consideration could be the teacher community at the local level. In other words, teachers need to be the starting point in discourses about motivation for professional development.