Opinions and proposals offered by teachers looking to incentivise professional motivation

Abstract

This article outlines the partial results of a qualitative study carried out in some
state schools in Rome, aimed at finding out the opinions of teachers regarding
their professional motivation in the workplace and what tangible steps they believe should be taken in order to incentivise this motivation. A theoretical frame of reference containing contributions from the fields of pedagogy, sociology and psychology has been developed from a systemic viewpoint (Ravaglioli, 2010), seeing as how the particular interpretation and analysis offered by these sectors is the best way to achieve scientifically-founded knowledge on the subject under examination, relevant to the study’s objectives and shared by all educational sciences (Baldacci, 2001). One of these objectives is to disclose the results of the study in a logically organised and analysed way. This should spark joint discussions between teachers and school administrators, as members of the school community, so that each may become aware of the other’s professional needs and of the possible strategies to meet these needs. The final objective is to raise awareness, albeit partial awareness, of the school environment from the perspective of those who live within it and help it to function daily, since their reports are precious sources of information
on the procedures and changes being made within the educational systems
(Cavalli & Argentin, 2010).