Conference Program

Contemporary educational systems are undergoing continuous transformation, placing increasing professional demands on teachers and reshaping the conditions under which they perform their work. Beyond individual competencies, growing attention has been directed toward contextual factors that influence teachers’ wellbeing, motivation, and practices (OECD, 2025), highlighting the need to understand how the professional environment supports teachers’ psychological functioning. Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2017) offers a valuable framework for examining how contextual conditions influence teachers’ motivation and professional behaviour. According to SDT, the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness supports wellbeing, professional engagement, and the adoption of motivating teaching styles. For teachers, autonomy refers to the experience of volition and professional agency; competence reflects the perception of effectiveness in managing instructional tasks; and relatedness concerns feeling connected and supported by significant others within the school context, including colleagues and students. When these needs are supported, teachers are more likely to internalize professional values and enact teaching practices that support students’ motivation (Moè et al., 2022; Vermote et al., 2024). Among contextual factors, collegial relationships represent a crucial yet underexplored source of support for teachers’ psychological functioning. More specifically, perceived autonomy support from colleagues may foster a work climate that facilitates teachers’ basic psychological needs and, in turn, supports motivational teaching practices.

The present study investigates the role of perceived autonomy support among colleagues as a contextual factor associated with teachers’ psychological need satisfaction. A convenience sample of 150 lower secondary school teachers completed a self-report questionnaire assessing perceived autonomy support from colleagues and basic psychological need satisfaction. To measure perceived autonomy support, an adapted short version of the Work Climate Questionnaire (Baard, Deci, & Ryan, 2000) was used. Items were reworded to reflect the teaching work context and to assess autonomy support perceived from colleagues within the school environment. Exploratory analyses provided preliminary psychometric evidence supporting the internal consistency and structural coherence of this adapted autonomy-support measure. Basic psychological need satisfaction was assessed using a previously validated instrument (Germani, 2024). Correlation analyses indicated that perceived autonomy support from colleagues was positively associated with teachers’ autonomy satisfaction and with relational dimensions, both in relation to colleagues and students. In contrast, no significant association emerged with competence satisfaction, suggesting that feeling effective and capable in one’s professional role may be less dependent on work climate. These results indicate that autonomy-supportive climates may be particularly relevant for fostering teachers’ sense of professional agency and relational connectedness within the school environment. Although based on a small convenience sample, findings are consistent with recent international evidence emphasising the need to strengthen collaborative teaching practices and professional conditions that foster collegiality and shared responsibility (OECD, 2025). Promoting autonomy-supportive professional climates may therefore represent a meaningful pathway for enhancing teachers’ wellbeing and supporting the adoption of motivational teaching practices.