Variations in Need Supports in Education as a Function of Cultural and Economic Factors: Perspectives from Self-Determination Theory

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) posits that the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are universally essential to high-quality motivation and wellness in educational settings. A strong focus of SDT has been on the affordances and obstacles to supporting these basic needs, which can vary considerably between classrooms, schools, school systems, and cultures. In this review, we briefly review the evidence for SDT’s “universality without uniformity” claims, showing that the importance of these three basic psychological needs for student well-being and academic functioning is empirically well established across cultures. However, examining variability, our discussion focuses on how economic, societal, and cultural factors may impact parent and teacher practices and educational policies, affecting the extent to which learners’ basic needs are supported. Illustrating this, we describe the ways in which SDT has been received or applied in 10 different societal-cultural contexts. These observations suggest that as yet few countries have enacted educational policies with students’ basic needs in the forefront. Many instead emphasize practices and policies with little supportive evidence, such as pervasive grading, a focus on high-stakes testing, and limited content choice, factors that can lead to basic need frustration and disengagement for students and educators. Cultural ideologies can also create a bias against a focus on flourishing for all, and economic factors often limit teachers’ access to training and resources. Yet, some educational systems have incorporated SDT principles, and we identify factors that have contributed to this. We conclude by calling for a stronger focus on supporting learners’ basic psychological needs as part of both teacher training and educational policies.