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Conceptualizing Teacher Educators' Beliefs of Student Agency and Motivation

Parker, Hannah Callahan
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3290-3840
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1720888250074576

Abstract Details

2024, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership.
Teacher educators play a multifaceted role in designing and implementing curriculum to nurture preservice teachers' growth in content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and teaching efficacy. Amidst evolving educational landscapes and diverse classroom environments, there's an increasing emphasis on fostering teacher agency and autonomy to navigate these complexities effectively, particularly in unique contexts such as School-based Agricultural Education (SBAE). Self-Determination Theory was used as a guiding lens for this study and offers a comprehensive framework for understanding human motivation. Supporting the basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence can enhance students' motivation, academic outcomes, self-regulation, and well-being. Research on motivation within the context of SBAE has seen considerable growth in recent years. Scholars who investigate the relationship between motivation and engagement agree that engagement consists of three main components: behavioral engagement, emotional/affective engagement, and cognitive engagement. However, scholars applying Self-Determination Theory to the study of student engagement have delved into how autonomous motivation encourages a fourth type of engagement, agentic engagement. Through this grounded theory study, I aimed to conceptualize the beliefs of agriculture teacher educators regarding student motivation and agentic engagement within the context of SBAE teacher preparation programs. Two research questions guided this study: (1) What do SBAE teacher educators believe about student motivation and agency within a teacher preparation program? and (2) How do SBAE teacher educators integrate beliefs of student motivation and agency within a teacher preparation program? Grounded theory was used to generate a substantive theory for SBAE teacher educators to conceptualize student agency and motivation. Working under a pragmatic lens, I aimed to capture SBAE teacher educators’ experiences with students and how their motivational beliefs influence student engagement. Participants in this study included eight SBAE teacher educators. I collected six sources of data: initial interviews, classroom observations, field notes, program artifacts, teacher educator journal reflections, and post-observation interviews. Constant comparative analysis was used across all data sources during analysis, continuing until saturation was reached. I used open, axial, and selective coding that align with suggestions of grounded theory approaches. Rigor and ethical considerations for general qualitative research were utilized throughout the duration of this study. Findings emerged into five main themes: (1) beliefs of student agency, (2) agency supporting practices, (3) contextual influencers of SBAE teacher preparation program structure, (4) prioritization and justification of beliefs, and (5) approaches to align beliefs of agency to agency supporting practices. Beliefs of student agency emerged as a starting point, driving participants’ conceptualization of student agency within the SBAE teacher preparation programs. Agency supporting practices explored participants conceptualization of how they integrate beliefs of student agency into SBAE teacher preparation programs. The theme of contextual influencers of SBAE teacher preparation programs pinpoints the emergence of influencers within the unique parameters of each program, highlighting the diverse ways in which program structure influenced participants’ beliefs of student agency. The prioritization and justification of beliefs theme explored the self-reflective process and awareness of conceptualizing student agency as participants connected their beliefs to practices. The final theme, approaches to connect motivational beliefs to practice connects the four preceding themes through three approaches that support the conceptualization of student agency. From the five themes, a substantive theory was developed, approaches of SBAE teacher educators’ integration of motivational beliefs of student agency. Within the substantive theory, SBAE can approach supporting student agency by following the approaches presented within the theory. The findings from this study align with previous research exploring student motivation, particularly concerning the nuanced concept of student agency. As SBAE teacher educators grapple with the concept of student agency and the conflicting beliefs surrounding student motivation, it is recommended that SBAE teacher educators are encouraged to use the substantive theory as a reflective tool for themselves to further support student agency. SBAE teacher preparation programs and their administrators are encouraged to evaluate their teacher evaluation system as this was a stressor for SBAE teacher educators to let go of instruction control to allow student agency. Future research should include further conceptualization of student agency and the delineation between student agency and agentic engagement.
Amanda Bowling (Advisor)
Shannon Washburn (Committee Member)
Kellie Claflin (Committee Member)
212 p.
Agriculture; Educational Psychology
Student Agency, SBAE Teacher Educators Beliefs, Student Motivation, Career Technical Education, School-Based Agricultural Teacher Preparation, Motivation, Self-Determination Theory, Grounded Theory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Parker, H. C. (2024). Conceptualizing Teacher Educators' Beliefs of Student Agency and Motivation [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1720888250074576

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Parker, Hannah. Conceptualizing Teacher Educators' Beliefs of Student Agency and Motivation. 2024. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1720888250074576.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Parker, Hannah. "Conceptualizing Teacher Educators' Beliefs of Student Agency and Motivation." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1720888250074576

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1720888250074576
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© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.