Samenvatting

The purpose of this study was to identify push and pull factors that affect the motivation of primary school teachers within the association PCBO Smallingerland in Friesland. A survey was sent to the headmasters of all participating schools. After permission the headmasters sent it through to the teachers. Some teachers were also asked to participate in an interview. The results suggest firstly that five pull factors (space, management, preconditions, social commitment and career prospects) are considered to be of importance for teacher motivation. Only ‘space’ has a significant influence on ‘the perceived motivation of teachers’. Secondly, the survey as well as the interviews show that five push factors (workload, space, autonomy, social climate in school and accompaniment) are perceived to be of great influence on a possible decision for teachers to leave the profession. The push factors were ranked (1) workload, (2) space, (3) autonomy, (4) social climate in school and (5) accompaniment, where (1) is perceived to have the most influence on a possible decision to leave the teaching profession.