Instructional Program Coherence: A Structural Support for Teacher Psychological Needs

Previous research identifies instructional program coherence as a school condition that has positive effects on student performance. This study investigates how instructional program coherence (IPC) operates as a social mechanism that supports teachers’ psychological needs. We hypothesized that IPC would be positively related to teacher perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Hypotheses were tested in HLM 7.0. As expected, instructional program coherence had a statistically significant relationship with teacher autonomy and teacher relatedness. Interclass correlations for competence satisfaction did not reveal adequate variation at the school level, suggesting that in this data sample, teacher perceived competence had more to do with individual experiences of teachers rather than school-level differences. Findings in this study suggest that instructional program coherence works by creating conditions that enable teachers to thrive in the classroom, specifically by satisfying their needs for autonomy and relatedness.