Date

3-22-2024

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)

Chair

Mary Strickland

Keywords

resilience, contribution, positive, veteran, teacher, intrinsic motivation

Disciplines

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study is to examine the resilience and contribution in the lived experiences of positive veteran teachers with more than five years of teaching experience. Using self-determination theory (SDT), this study links the resilience and contribution of teachers to the fulfillment of the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The central research question for this study was: What are the contributions in the lived experiences of positive veteran teachers to their school communities due to their resilience? A triangulation of journal prompts, individual interviews, and focus groups provided data from the lived experiences of 15 teachers who have remained committed and effective in their teaching practice for more than five years. Teachers from four continents across the world who met these qualifications participated in this study. Data were collected and coded. Groups of codes were gathered, patterns analyzed, and the themes of communication, community, growth mindset, healthy boundaries, intrinsic motivation, and support emerged. Positive veteran teachers seem to face the same stressors as all teachers while primarily relying on intrinsic motivation to overcome the difficulties of teaching. Students may receive benefits from positive veteran teachers in the form of a connected and challenging learning environment that foments learning for students’ own reasons. Positive veteran teachers in the study supported students and teachers practically and emotionally and sought increased connectivity and growth in their school communities.

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