Pressure from above and pressure from below as determinants of teachers' motivation and teaching behaviors

When teachers are more supportive of autonomy and less controlling, students demonstrate higher levels of intrinsic motivation and self-determination. The purpose of this study was to examine social-contextual conditions that led teachers (N = 254) who taught classes from Grades 1 to 12 to be more autonomy supportive versus controlling with their students. Using structural equation modeling, the authors observed that the more teachers perceive pressure from above (they have to comply with a curriculum, with colleagues, and with performance standards) and pressure from below (they perceived their students to be nonself-determined), the less they are self-determined toward teaching. In turn, the less they are self-determined toward teaching, the more they become controlling with students.