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Ryo Okada, Kagawa University, JapanAbstract
Recently, researchers have focused on motivating students with diverse educational needs in regular classrooms. Some students find it difficult to maintain motivation. Motivational research has revealed the positive effect of teachers’ autonomy support on students’ motivation. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of beliefs regarding autonomy support for students with educational needs among Japanese preservice teachers. Participants were 214 Japanese undergraduates enrolled in teacher training courses. They evaluated the effectiveness of autonomy support for fictional students with and without educational needs in regular classes. General linear model analyses revealed that the preservice teachers rated autonomy support as more effective for both students who experience difficulties in daily classes and those who feel bored because of a mismatch between their abilities and the class level than for a general child. A controlling teaching style was perceived as less effective for students with educational needs. Furthermore, preservice teachers with high controlled motivation perceived controlling teaching as more effective regardless of students’ characteristics. These findings suggest that most preservice teachers understand the importance of autonomy-supportive teaching for diverse students at the level of educational beliefs. Teacher training programs should provide opportunities to learn concrete instructional strategies to support students with educational needs. On the other hand, informing preservice teachers with high controlled motivation regarding the evidence regarding the effects of autonomy support and control is also important.
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Conference: ACE2025Stream: Higher education
This paper is part of the ACE2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Okada R. (2026) Preservice Teachers’ Perceived Effectiveness of Autonomy Support on Children With Educational Needs ISSN: 2186-5892 – The Asian Conference on Education 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 749-763) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.57
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.57
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