Analysing the relationship between pre-service preschool teachers’ self-leadership skills and motivation to teach

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between pre-service preschool teachers’ self-leadership skills and motivation to teach. The study group included 186 pre-service preschool teachers who are senior students at Department of Preschool Education at three universities in Istanbul in spring semester of 2015–2016 school year. ‘Self-Leadership Scale’ and ‘Motivation to Teach Scale’ were used as data collection tools. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis H analysis were conducted for data analysis. Results have shown that there is a significant positive correlation between pre-service teachers’ Self-Leadership Scale total scores and Motivation to Teach Scale total scores (p < 0.01). It was also found that Behaviour-Focused strategies and constructive thought strategies of Self-Leadership Scale were in a significant positive relationship with both Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation dimensions of Motivation to Teach Scale. In addition, students’ mean scores of Self-Leadership Scale significantly differ according to their GPAs on behalf of students with higher GPA.

Keywords: Motivation, preschool, pre-service teachers, self-leadership.