Fulfilling the Needs of Change Agents: Linking the Psychological Need Fulfillment Teachers with the Future Orientations of Their Underprivileged Students

Abstract Book of the 9th World Conference on Research in Teaching and Education

Year: 2025

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Fulfilling the Needs of Change Agents: Linking the Psychological Need Fulfillment Teachers with the Future Orientations of Their Underprivileged Students

‪Wesam Ayuob‬‏

ABSTRACT:

Reports indicate parents’ lack of upward social mobility being passed on to their children, especially at the lowest social classes. Such “sticky floors” often impede upward mobility despite education systems’ efforts to decrease social inequality. This study focuses on Arab vocational schools’ students, who suffer from multiple exclusions, as they are mainly dropouts of mainstream education and are also minority group members. They further suffer from educational tracking and limited employment prospects.
Notwithstanding the importance of changing the societal structures that serve to maintain the unfavorable conditions of Arab vocational schools’ students, we propose that there are educational factors in which change may encounter fewer barriers. Specifically, we propose that teachers can contribute to bridging social gaps and that their personal experiences, beliefs, and attitudes are critical to this process. Based on self-determination theory, we propose that if teachers’ basic psychological needs are fulfilled, they can serve as change agents for students’ perceptions about their ability to achieve a better future – if they have the internal motivation. Here, we examined links between fulfillment of teachers’ basic needs and students’ future orientations.

Keywords: Student Future Work Orientations, Student Future Study Orientation, Teacher Autonomy, Teacher Relatedness, Teacher Competence