Abstract

• This study aimed at investigating the relationship between professional identity and work motivation of teacher educators. A total of 402 teacher educators from ten teacher education institutions participated in the quantitative study. The instruments used in this study were Teacher Professional Identity Scale (TPIS) to examine teacher professional identity and Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale (BPNWS) to assess work motivation of teacher educators. Regarding teacher professional identity, the result of independent samples t-test revealed that there was no gender difference in teacher professional identity of teacher educators. ANOVA results indicated that there were significant differences in values subscale, perception subscale and the overall scale of teacher professional identity by age. Moreover, ANOVA results indicated that there were significant differences in values subscale, commitment subscale, perception subscale and the overall scale of teacher professional identity by designation. Regarding work motivation, the results indicated that there was no significant gender difference in work motivation of teacher educators. ANOVA results indicated that there were significant differences in autonomy subscale, relatedness subscale and the overall scale of work motivation of teacher educators by age. Furthermore, ANOVA results indicated that there were significant differences in autonomy subscale, relatedness subscale, competence subscale and the overall scale of work motivation of teacher educators by designation. Finally, the results indicated that there was a positive correlation between teacher professional identity and work motivation of teacher educators.