Cognitive Motivation and its Correlation to Professional Competence Among Secondary School Teachers

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the level of cognitive motivation and professional competence among high school teachers in general, to determine the level of cognitive motivation and professional competence among high school teachers according to demographic variables (sex, years of service, expertise), to determine the relationship between academic motivation and professional skills among high school teachers. The researcher used the descriptive correlational method. The community of this study consists of all high school teachers in public schools for the academic year (2024-2025) in the Pishdar district, which included (660) teachers of both sexes. The study sample was (420) teachers; stratified random sampling was used to select from the population. The measurement tools used are (cognitive motivation and professional skills) which were adapted by the researcher. After testing the validity and reliability of the measurements, they were divided onto samples of the study. The Results were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The most important findings of this study are: cognitive motivation and professional skills among high school teachers in the Pishdar directorate of education are at a high level , It is found that cognitive motivation is statistically related to all three dimensions (cognitive, behavioral, emotional) of professional skills; the type of correlation is linear. That is, with increasing cognitive motivation, professional skills increase, and vice versa. In terms of strength, this correlation is considered moderate.