Motivational Factors That Sustain Experienced Teachers in High-need, Low-performing Public Schools in North Carolina: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe factors that sustained public school teachers in high-need areas in North Carolina. Teacher sustainability was generally defined as teachers who remained in a high-need public school located in southeastern North Carolina beyond the initial three years of teaching. This study explored the following: (1) How do public school teachers describe their experience working in a high-need educational community in North Carolina? (2) How do public school teachers perceive their former life history as having an impact retaining their profession beyond the initial three years of teaching in a high-need, low-performing public school? (3) What intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors do public school teachers describe as encouraging them to sustain their teaching profession beyond the initial three years of teaching in a highneed, low-performing public school? The theoretical framework that guided this study was mindset and motivation theory studied by Carol Dweck, andragogical adult learning theory studied by Malcolm Knowles, and transformative learning theory studied by Jack Mezirow. For the purpose of this study, teachers were identified as those who had been teaching beyond the initial three years of their profession, recognizing the literature indicates a gap in research with teachers who remain beyond the first three years of teaching. The current research incorporated individual participant interviews, collective documentation, and an online focus group discussion for a collaborative mindset of motivational factors in sustaining the participants’ teaching careers. Moustakas’ (1994) transcendental phenomenological method was utilized in the study which included epoche/bracketing, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and a synthesis of composite textural and composite structural descriptions. Open coding, axial coding, theme analysis, and member checks were also incorporated to ensure an exemplary qualitative research