Summary information
Study title
Studies of Teachers' Emotion Percepts in Relation to Their Self-efficacy and Agency, 2020-2022
Creator
Porter, K, University of St Andrews
Study number / PID
856301 (UKDA)
10.5255/UKDA-SN-856301 (DOI)
Data access
Restricted
Series
Not available
Abstract
A series of studies were conducted to gather data illuminating teachers' experiences of emotions that motivate their professional engagement, together with associated relevant cognitions and actions. The first qualitative study involved interviewing teachers at the start of the pandemic lockdown. Analysis of interview transcripts confirmed an a priori assumption that teachers were motivated by CURIOSITY about the subjects they taught, and about effective pedagogical practice. Additionally, themes of motivation by CARE, COOPERATION and CHALLENGE were identified. Links to teachers' beliefs about their efficacy and their volitional actions were also identified.
Survey data was then collected to examine relations between the four emotional motivators and teachers' self-efficacy and agency. Based on emotional motivations, five profile types were identified, each with distinct levels of self-efficacy and agency.
A subsequent qualitative study gathered interview data from seven primary teachers who were initially introduced to findings from the first two studies, giving them insight into four proposed emotional motivators. Over the course of four interviews each, participants demonstrated how they used their new awareness as a framework to reflect on their practice, resulting in them prioritising self-care to optimise their capacity to perform effectively and persistently.A doctoral research project examining the role of emotion percepts on teachers' beliefs about their professional efficacy, sense of agency, and subsequent behaviours.
Consideration of teacher agency to date has not examined the role of emotion percepts on the beliefs that teachers have about their capabilities to perform effectively, their goals and values, and the degree of choice that they perceive themselves to have to act in ways that are congruent with their percepts and cognitions that are relevant to the circumstances in which they operate. This project aims to elucidate which, if any, emotion...
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Keywords
Methodology
Data collection period
01/03/2020 - 29/03/2022
Country
United Kingdom
Time dimension
Not availableAnalysis unit
Individual
Universe
Not availableSampling procedure
Not availableKind of data
Numeric
Text
Data collection mode
Interviews and surveys.Participants in the qualitative studies were recruited using opportunistic sampling through advertisements on professional support groups on Facebook and other social media platforms whose members were primarily teachers in Scottish secondary schools. Potential participants who contacted the researcher were provided with a participant information sheet giving details of what was required, inclusion criteria, and a consent form. All respondents agree to participate in an interview and none were excluded for failing to match the inclusion criteria. One set of transcripts is of interviews carried out between March and June 2020 between Karen Porter, a PhD student, and teachers (13) working in secondary schools in Scotland. These 13 participants were interviewed only once each. The second set of transcripts is of a series of interviews carried out between December 2021 and March 2022 between an undergraduate student and seven teachers working in primary schools in Scotland. Each teacher was interviewed four times, at approximately monthly intervals. In addition to completing interviews, the seven teachers also answered survey questions prior to the first interview and just prior to the final interview. In all cases, interviews were transcribed in full using a combination of otter.ai software and manual transcription by the PhD student and the undergraduate student.Participants in the study collecting survey data were recruited through an online platform (prolific.co) that allows for pre-selection of participants matching defined inclusion criteria. In the current case, potential participants had to be teachers working at any stage in educational settings in the United Kingdom. Potential participants had to read the participant information sheet and agree to the consent form. The resultant quantitative data files include the raw data of over 500 teachers working in the United Kingdom. Over a series of worksheets, the data extraction and transformation steps are recorded that enabled relevant analysis to be carried out on the data.
Funding information
Grant number
ES/P000681/1
Access
Publisher
UK Data Service
Publication year
2023
Terms of data access
The Data Collection is available for download to users registered with the UK Data Service.
Related publications
Not available