Navigating authenticity through changing times - An international perspective on teacher educators’ professional motivation

Description

This study investigates the concept of authenticity in the professional lives of teacher educators in so far as we examine how teacher educators’ sense of personal-professional meaning influences their work. Teacher educators, while often lacking specific professional training in their roles, frequently face complex and emotionally demanding tasks. This lack of support can lead to feelings of isolation, overwhelm, or frustration (Yuan et al., 2022). This is why researching their experience of meaning as one elemental aspect of motivation and well-being is important for the trade.
Our research draws from previous studies on meaning in the workplace (e.g., Schnell & Hoffmann, 2020) and is grounded in psychological theories of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis (Frankl, 2020; Schlick 2017) and Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2012), exploring possible correlations between basic psychological needs (SDT) and experience of meaning. To explore these dynamics, we conducted a questionnaire study investigating teacher educators’ biographies and work context, experiences of meaning, values and self-determination. 100 teacher educators (79% female) from various contexts who were between 20 and 70 years old participated in this cross-sectional survey.
One aim of this study is to examine if teacher educators' experience of meaning is associated with their basic needs satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness) and what further context-related factors influence meaning experience. Preliminary multiple regression analyses showed that experience of meaning is positively predicted by autonomy (b = .40, p < .001) and competence perception (b = .28, p = .002) but not by relatedness (b = .04, p = .714). Correlations with further information about teacher educators’ professional biographies and work-context factors will be analysed.
By investigating the conditions that hinder or promote meaning in teacher education, this research contributes to understanding how teacher educators can cultivate a more authentic and fulfilling professional life and how their working conditions can be improved to ensure quality in teacher education.

Bibliography
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Self-Determination Theory. In P. Van Lange, A. Kruglanski, & E. Higgins, Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology: Volume 1 (S. 416–437). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249215.n21
Frankl, V. E. (2020). Man’s search for meaning. Rider.
Schnell, T., Höge, T., & Pollet, E. (2013). Predicting meaning in work: Theory, data, implications. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(6), 543–554. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.830763
Schlick, C. (2017). Was meinem Leben echten Sinn gibt: Die wichtigsten Lebensfragen klären. Scorpio.
Yuan, R., Lee, I., De Costa, P. I., Yang, M., & Liu, S. (2022). TESOL teacher educators in higher education: A review of studies from 2010 to 2020. Language Teaching, 55(4), 434–469. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444822000209

Period	27 Aug 2025
Event title	ATEE annual conference: The Making of Authentic Teachers in Ages of Artificiality?
Event type	Conference
Location	Dublin, IrelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International