SDT Educator Pre-Conference

Classroom Tools from Two of Our Best

Join us for a day of increased knowledge and practical skills for classroom effectiveness! Our pre-conference workshop will steep participants in everyday applications of Self-Determination Theory’s most carefully researched, most recently developed, and most powerful tools for supporting students’ motivation and creating a social climate that nurtures the well-being of both students and their teachers.

Register Now

Morning Session: Maarten Vansteenkiste, PhD – “A Helicopter Perspective on Motivating Teaching: The Teaching Compass”

Maarten Vansteenkiste is a professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences in the Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology at Universiteit Ghent (Belgium). He is a CSDT International Scholar, a prolific researcher, and highly respected writer on a variety of topics central to self-determination theory.

  • 9:00 – 9:30 – Introductions, a brief questionnaire & video
  • 9:30 – 10:00 – Basic Needs, Resilience, & Student Motivation
  • 10:00 – 10:30 – The Teaching Compass
    • Autonomy-Supportive Teaching: What it is, how it benefits
    • Setting Structure: How to do it, how it helps
  • 10:30 – 11:00 – The Teaching Compass as a Practical Guide 
  • 11:00 – 11:15 – Coffee Break

Late morning, early afternoon: Johnmarshall Reeve, PhD – “Autonomy-Supportive Teaching: The What, Why, & How To”

Johnmarshall Reeve is a professor in the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney. He is a CSDT International Scholar, and one of SDT’s acknowledged experts on teachers’ motivating styles and students’ agentic engagement. Dr. Reeve is the lead author of Supporting Students’ Motivation: Strategies for Success.

  • 11:15-11:45 – The What & Why of becoming an Autonomy-Supportive Teacher (AST)
  • 11:45-13:15 – How Do I know I am being autonomy supportive? The “How to” of AST: Perspective Taking, Interest Support, Value Support, and moving from “teacher control” to “structure delivered in an autonomy-supportive way”.
  • 13:15-15:10 – Lunch Break

Afternoon session: (both presenters) “Skill Development and Efficacy Building”

  • 15:10-15:30 – AI Activity to Build Strong, Resilient Teacher Self-Efficacy for AST (Teaching Challenges, AI-generated Feedback)
    Complete post-workshop questionnaires (AST, TSE) (Reeve)
  • 15:30-15:45 – Overview of Obstacles and Success Factors (Vansteenkiste)
  • 15:45 – 17:00 – Panel Discussion or Reception for SDT International Scholars (to be announced)

Participants will learn …

    • To use the Teaching Compass for assessing classroom climate and fine-tuning teaching practices
    • To interact with students in ways that show the most promise for both supporting intrinsic motivation and internalizing extrinsic motivation at school
    • The “hows and whys” of SDT strategies: how they decrease teacher burnout, increase student motivation, and improve student relationships with both peers and adults
    • To combine autonomy support and structure for optimal academic and social-emotional growth.

Classroom teachers, school leaders, curriculum developers, educational consultants and virtually everyone who deals with young people in an educational environment.

Johnmarshall Reeve, PhD,

is a professor in the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney, and one of the most prolific and respected researchers on self-determination theory’s educational practices for motivation at school. He is the lead author of the 2022 book Supporting Students’ Motivation: Strategies for Success, and author of Understanding Motivation and Emotion (2018).

Maarten Vansteenkiste, PhD,

is a professor in the Department of Developmental, Personal, and Social Psychology at Universiteit Gent, in Belgium, and an SDT researcher whose work spans a tremendous variety of areas, from clinical psychology and mental health to adolescence and motivation. Doctor Vansteenkiste is a key developer—with a handful of his talented teaching and research colleagues—of the “circumplex approach” to diagnosing and fine-tuning classroom procedures, otherwise known as the “Teaching Compass” that will be shared with workshop participants.

Doctors Vansteenkiste and Reeve will combine their presentation times, practice activities, and discussions and other interactions with participants in a format woven together, throughout the day. A morning session will take place. After a one-hour lunch break (participants on their own), there will be an afternoon session.

The prices below are Early Bird rates and are applicable only until 30 March 2026:

  • Pre-Conference Only: 195 CHF

  • Pre-Conference + Conference Scholar/Professional: 789 CHF

  • Pre-Conference + Conference Student: 549 CHF