Improving The Teaching Profession Through Understanding Educators' Self-Motivation

The present study was conducted on 221 distance education students to investigate their self motivation towards teaching as a profession. Data were collected via an open ended questionnaire to elicit their perceptions on reasons in favor or otherwise of the teaching profession. Data were analyzed qualitatively using the phenomenological approach. Findings indicated that teachers have several reasons in favoring the teaching profession, such as. teaching being a noble profession, as an opportunity to contribute towards students' advancement, and development, and to fulfill self interest, and satisfaction. Another category that emerged from the findings, is the perception of teaching as a challenging career. On the other hand, reasons for not favoring the teaching profession include low salary, lack of promotion opportunities, unsatisfactory leader behavior, variety of workload, student discipline problems, uncooperative colleagues, and unconducive working environment. Some suggestions given by the respondents to improve self-motivation included understanding of personal traits, selection of good school leaders, review of educational system, salary scale, and workload. Implications of the study are discussed to understand current status of teachers' self-motivation in relation to individual well-being, and self-actualization.