Teaching motivational profiles related to intention to leave the teaching profession

Abstract

Introduction.  Studies show that teacher motivation is related to the intention to leave the teaching profession, but there is a lack of studies that to research the relationships according to latent motivational profiles. Therefore, the objective of the study is to determine the influence of teaching motivational profiles on the intention to leave the teaching profession in a sample of Chilean school system teachers.     Method.  310 teachers who graduated from a Chilean university participated in the study. Latent profile analysis and one-way ANOVA test were used to assess the motivational profiles and differences in intention to leave.  Results.  The results support the fit of a model of four teacher motivational profiles: low quality (n = 16), high quantity (n = 89), low quantity (n = 82) and high quality (n = 123). Furthermore, teachers grouped in the profiles with the highest degrees of autonomy for teaching presented the lowest levels of intention to leave the profession. Discussion and Conclusion. It is inferred that teacher motivational profiles influence the intention to leave the teaching profession. More specifically, it is concluded that the teachers grouped in the motivational profiles with greater degrees of autonomy to carry out teaching work show less intention to leave the teaching profession.