Evaluation of Teachers' Motivation and Participation Levels in Professional Development Activities

The aim of this research is to evaluate teachers’ levels of motivation and participation in professional development activities. The research is descriptive and designed according to the screening model. The sample of the study consisted of 388 teachers working in state schools in Istanbul in the 2019-2020 academic year and determined by the simple random sampling method. As a result of the analyses, it was determined that teachers' levels of motivation and participation in professional development activities were high. In addition, it was found that motivation levels of teachers differed significantly in favour of female teachers, those who had bachelor’s degree and choose teaching profession of their own will, whereas it did not differ significantly according to the branches. On the other hand, it was determined that participation levels of teachers in professional development activities did not differ significantly according to gender, branch and education level, however, they differed significantly in favour of those who chose teaching profession of their own will. Finally, a moderate level, positive and statistically significant relation was found between teachers’ motivation and their levels of participation in professional development activities. In fact, it was found that the highest relation with professional development activities was in the dimension of identified regulation, yet there was no significant relation with external regulation