Abstract
Guided by Knowles (1984)’s adult learning theory on andragogy and Deci and Ryan (1985)’s self-determination theory (on various kinds of motivation), this study explores the nature and reasons of principals’ PD and CPTD participation in one rural district in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, who were still highly active in PD. Through a qualitative case study, interviews and document analysis were used as data collection methods from five principals (serving four ordinary and one special public schools), as well as with one official from the District Teacher Development Centre and another from the SACE Provincial Office. The findings highlight skewed attention towards two extrinsic motivations (identified regulation and introjected regulation), although this seem to align with the prediction from the andragogy theory, as well as the findings about PD and CPTD motivators and hindrances; a prevalence of under reporting in CPTD-IS; and the dominance of informal PD across all levels (although more towards a personal level).