Perceptions of the concept 'motivation' among school counselors and teachers

The authors examined perceptions of the motivation concept among 69 teachers and 77 counselors from Israeli secondary schools. Participants responded to 3 questionnaires that the authors constructed for this study on the basis of goal theory (e.g., C. Midgley, 2002). The authors also interviewed 10 counselors and 10 teachers. Results showed that counselors, as compared with teachers, viewed the task orientation as more representative of motivation to learn and the ego orientation as less indicative of motivation to learn. Counselors' perceptions of motivation also were more multi-dimensional than were those of teachers. Finally, similarity between the 2 types of educators grew when counselors had concurrent or prior teaching experience. Theoretical and practical educational implications of findings are discussed