ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of two parts. The first describes the research on students’ and teachers’ motivation in Israel, based primarily on Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017). The various studies demonstrate the importance of supporting autonomous motivation in students and teachers. The findings attesting to the importance of autonomous motivation for Bedouin students are especially important, as they highlight the importance of autonomy for students from a hierarchical-collectivist context as well. The intervention and training programs described suggest that is it possible to promote students’ and teachers’ autonomous motivation. The second part describes a new theoretical development that has emerged in Israel in the past decade (Assor, 2018): The striving to have an authentic inner compass (IC) as a major aspect of the meta-need for autonomy, which also includes the striving for freedom from control and for behavioral self-congruence. The authentic IC consists of action-guiding schemas (self-knowledge) which inform us on what we truly value and need, and how we can realize these basic needs and values within our personal and social constraints and affordances. The chapter describes positive outcomes of having an authentic IC, including resistance to deviant peer-pressure and autonomous motivation. Additionally, we also specify various ways of promoting authentic IC development not previously conceptualized or examined in most SDT-based research. Finally, we suggest that the development of an authentic IC is essential for teachers’ and students’ capacity to feel truly self-directing and able to face the difficult choices posed by the postmodern and relativistic information age.
