Ng, Betsy Ling Ling

This paper aimed to elucidate teachers' perceptions of using autonomy support in Singapore's classrooms. Science and mathematics teachers (N = 10) were gathered for semi-structured interviews after a 10-week autonomy support intervention. Interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis with emerging themes pre-conceived from the literature. The qualitative data provides meaningful insights into the teachers' understanding of what autonomy support entails, to which relevant examples of what teachers said and did to be autonomy-supportive were illuminated. The findings present an in-depth description of teachers' experiences of autonomy support, suggesting the interconnected nature of the autonomy-supportive features. Teachers should practice the features of autonomy support in a meaningful and simultaneous manner to support the students effectively. Despite the limitations, the concrete examples of autonomy-supportive practices delineated in this paper can be used as a springboard for teacher education programs and autonomy-support training workshops.

Teachers’ motivational strategies can be categorised into two types of motivating styles—autonomy-supportive style versus controlling style (Reeve in Educ Psychol 44:159–175, 2009). Several factors can affect the teachers’ use of motivational strategies, and student-related factors are some influential reasons. In this study, we focussed on identifying the student-related reasons that could affect the teachers’ motivating styles through 56 teacher interviews from 17 secondary schools across Singapore. From the teachers’ accounts, we identified “student profiles”, “students’ behaviours”, “students’ engagements”, and “students’ feedback” as the student-related factors that could affect the teachers’ motivating styles. By identifying these factors, we hope to raise awareness amongst the teachers (at the personal level) and their social environments (at the contextual level) on what can facilitate or thwart the expression of autonomy-supportive teaching. We also hope to provide useful information on what the social environments can do to support teachers in autonomy-supportive teaching.