Chapter 10: Culture, Context, and Collective Confusion: Exploring Teachers’ Motivation in Cross-Cultural Contexts

Researchers in educational psychology are paying increasing attention to the importance of cultural values and beliefs and their relationships with motivation in educational settings. In fact, the influence of culture on motivation has been labelled “one of the most important issues in educational psychology today” (Zusho, Pintrich, & Cortina, 2004, p. 142). In the last decade, we have conducted a series of studies examining teachers’ efficacy beliefs in a variety of settings, including Canada, Hong Kong, Nepal, Oman, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In this chapter, we examine how teacher efficacy influences teachers’ effectiveness and well-being in a range of contexts. We highlight and synthesize our findings, and provide a cautionary tale along with suggestions for future cross-cultural research in this area.