Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation that aims to explain individuals’ goal-directed behavior. Motivation resides along a continuum, with intrinsic motivation on the far right, extrinsic motivation in the middle and a motivation on the far left (Levesque et al., 2008). Intrinsic motivation is ideal; people engage in an activity because of internal factors and are therefore likely to sustain the activity for their own reasons. Extrinsic motivationis driven by external forces; it is a less preferred state than intrinsic motivation, but better thana motivation, which is a complete absence of motivation (Vansteenkiste et al., 2004). The critical component of the theory concerns the degree to which individuals fulfill their basic psychological needs; the more they attain these basic psychological needs, the more their behavior is self-determined. The three needs are autonomy, competence and relatedness. 

The term self-determination has two primary meanings, both of which have a long history of use outside the disability field. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2011) identifies self-determination as a noun and defines it as: 1) Determination of one's own fate or course of action without compulsion; 2) Freedom of the people of a given area to determine their own political status; independence. Self-determined and self-determining are listed as adjectival forms of the noun self-determination. That is, a self-determined person is someone who determines his or her own fate or course of action without compulsion, whereas a self-determined country is one in which the people have the freedom to determine their own political status. Both meanings are roughly synonymous with the term self-governing, an adjective that means (1) exercising control or rule over oneself or itself or (2) having the right or power of self-government. The difference between the two meanings is the referent for the noun self, which can be defined either as referring to a person (e.g., oneself) or an entity (e.g., itself). The first meaning of the construct is one of a personal self-determination; controlling one's life and one's fate. The second meaning refers to a national, political, or collective self-determination; the right of a nation or a group of people to self-governance.

Professional self-determination of intended special educators – a meaningful maturity process, that begins from the first study days. Students’ professional self-determination is directly related to acquired individual experience, thus, it is important to enable a student during the study process to analyse own experience through reflection revealing new perspectives and insight, to strengthen learning and general personal and professional efficiency. Students’ professional self-determination is directly related to acquired individual experience; thus, it is important to enable a student during the study process to analyse his/her personal experience through reflection (Oliver et al., 2010; Hong et al., 2011).

Special educators’ work is specific because the activity is grounded on interrelationships between the participants of the educational process and there are many problems encountered in practical activities, namely: personal contradictions, inadequate approaches, experiencing of contradictory feelings, etc.  (Brownell et al., 2005; Kirch et al., 2007; Welch & James, 2007). Significance and meaning of reflection as learning is the development of students’ personal perfection, reflection and the learning to learn competence as well as the method providing the educator with the information about the student’s problems, needs and expectations and making students’ experience outstanding, grounded in many works (Shepherd, 2006; Lyons, 2006; García & Roblin, 2008; Quinton & Smallbone, 2010).

Research issue is determined with the following question: what essential factors determine students’ professional self-determination, perception and acceptance of their role as intended specialist?

Research subject are the factors determining professional self-determination of intended special educators.

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