94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Teacher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1499444
Exploring Science Teachers' Self-Selection Attitudes into Professional Development Programs: Motivations, Preferences, and Implications for Practice
Provisionally accepted- 1Rice University, Houston, United States
- 2University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Introduction: Professional development is essential for science teachers so they can stay current with educational trends, address diverse student needs, and integrate emerging scientific phenomena into their teaching practices. This study explores factors that motivate science teachers to self-select into multi-year-long professional development programs.Methods: The study’s sample included 14 exemplary science teachers enrolled in multi-year programs and 58 teachers in one-year professional development programs. Quantitative data were collected from all participants using the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work Scale and qualitative data were gathered from the multi-year program participants through semi-structured interviews. Results: Grounded in self-determination theory, the quantitative data revealed that exemplary science teachers reported low job satisfaction and significantly lower scores in the relatedness construct, indicating they felt undervalued in their workplaces compared to other participants. Qualitative findings supported these results, as teachers expressed their motivations for participating in multi-year professional development programs driven by a desire for personal growth, continuous learning, and a collaborative learning environment, as well as a lack of rigorous in-school professional development options.Recommendations: The results inform recommendations for professional development organizers and educational leaders to prioritize offering sustained long-term professional development programs tailored for exemplary teachers so they can feel supported and valued.Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of tailoring professional development programs to the diverse needs of exemplary science teachers such that they feel they belong in the field of science education.
Keywords: Professional Development, self-selection, self-determination, Motivation, exemplary teachers
Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 08 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zafar, Alston, Nichol and Tu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Faiza Zafar, Rice University, Houston, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.