VOCATIONAL TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN LITHUANIA: THE ROLE OF MOTIVATION AND JOB SATISFACTION

Both teachers' motivation for professional development and their job satisfaction have been widely studied by many researchers in recent decades.However, the motivation for professional development and job satisfaction of teachers in vocational education institutions are insufficiently assessed compared to teachers in other educational levels.Perhaps for the first time in Lithuania, this study explores the links between teachers' motivation for professional development and their job satisfaction by conducting research with 426 teachers from 27 vocational education institutions.The purpose of this study is to identify factors related to professional development that have significant predictive value for vocational teachers' job satisfaction.Vocational teachers' motivation for professional development was measured using the Questionnaire of Motivational Factors in Predicting Academic Achievement (Pang, Lee, 2013).Participants were also asked to assess their overall job satisfaction, the peculiarities of participation in professional development activities (participation in professional development activities in the past 12 months, etc.) and to indicate sociodemographic characteristics.The results of this study suggest that teachers of vocational education institutions are motivated to grow professionally, and 78.2 percent of vocational teachers indicated that they are generally satisfied with their work.A statistically significant relationship was found between teachers' motivation for professional development and their job satisfaction, and significant differences in motivation for professional development and job satisfaction were also identified by gender, age, qualification category and seniority.Finally, regression analysis revealed that factors such as intrinsic motivation for professional development, qualification category, and time spent in professional development events have statistically significant prognostic value for vocational teachers' job satisfaction.