Becoming a school leader: the effect of age and self-efficacy on teachers’ motivation to become school leaders
Summary
In countries all over the world, primary schools are struggling to find potential school
leaders. As many school leaders were teachers before, teachers are an important group to
investigate. Previous research showed that teachers often believe they are capable of carrying
out tasks of a school leader but also perceived themselves as too young. Therefore, this
research aimed to investigate the effects of self-efficacy beliefs and age of Dutch primary
school teachers on their motivation to become school leader. In addition, to measure
motivation an extension between internal and external motivation have been made. Teachers
were asked to participate in a survey with 30 items. The goal was to examine the effects of
age and self-efficacy on motivation by conducting a regression analysis. Results have
indicated a significant effect of self-efficacy on teachers' motivation to become school
leaders. This study indicates that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs positively impacts the
motivation to become school leader. Therefore, improvement on teachers’ self-efficacy
beliefs and confidence about carrying out school leader tasks could improve the motivation of
teachers. Additionally, internal motivation turned out to be higher, which shows that teachers
are more likely to be interested in internal motivators such as improving education and
supporting teachers.