The Importance of Motivation and Volition in Teaching

Teachers experience a tremendous amount of stress, with almost one-third stating that teaching is a ‘very or extremely stressful’ profession (Borg & Riding, 1991; Kyriacou, 2001). Work stress is often cited as a key reason for teachers leaving the profession after only three years (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). Contributors to work stress include a variety of factors, including role overload, disruptive students, over-demanding parents, lack of support from the school management, poor relationships with colleagues and high-stakes student testing (Kyriacou, 2001; Manthei, Gilmore, Tuck, & Adnair, 1996; Montgomery & Rupp, 2005). It is no secret that teachers with high motivation can help realize the objectives of education, but reforms in the education industry tend to reduce teachers’ autonomy over their work. Educational policies such as establishment of a national curriculum, implementation of packaged curricular materials and development of an accountability system have resulted in teachers having less control over how they should teach in schools (Bowe, Ball, & Gold, 1992; Connell, 1995; Mok, 2003). Teachers’ workloads are also increased without factoring time for their completion. Non-teaching duties like documentation, report writing, after-school activities and school public relations have overshadowed the time available for instructional and educational duties (Ball, 2003; Hargreaves, 2003; Smyth el at., 2000). These bureaucratic reforms placed great demands on work-life balance and erode the sense of identity and commitment, especially when teachers find themselves in the stressful dilemma of having to balance the needs of their families against their career progressions (Fink, 2003; Gardner & Williamson, 2006). Additionally,...

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