Self-efficacy and motivation to learn : how does the change in teachers' self-efficacy affect their motivation to receive training?

Abstract

This study employed a longitudinal cross-lagged panel design to evaluate the effect of teachers’ self-efficacy on their motivation to participate in professional development. Data were collected from 43 Hong Kong secondary school teachers at 2 measurement points. The cross-lagged panel analyses revealed teachers’ higher self-efficacy predicted lower motivation to join the professional training programme. However, this negative effect brought by self-efficacy was only significant if the programme was appealing to the teachers at Time 1. Correlation statistics also showed that teachers with higher self-efficacy tended to rate their familiarity of the programmes higher at both measurement points. The meaningfulness of the programmes was also positively correlated with the motivation to join the programmes.