According to Self-Determination Theory [SDT], autonomous motivation depends on the satisfaction of the three innate psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) because social environment encourages intrinsic motivation (Gagné, 2009) as well as it promotes internalisation of extrinsic motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). In other words, social contexts that support controlled motivation, they do not satisfy the three basic psychological needs. Among innate psychological needs, autonomy is essential for self-determined behaviour because it is related optimal engagement and psychological well-being (Ryan, 1993), therefore, controlled environments cannot satisfy it (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

SDT establishes hypothesis that satisfaction of the three innate psychological needs promotes high performance in creative activities as well as in tasks that require effective solutions (Gagné & Deci, 2005) because the activity is enjoyed during the action (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Therefore, SDT is an alternative for promoting the self-determined learning in educational context (Ryan & Deci, 2000) because autonomy of teachers determines the relationship among epistemic knowledge, students, and education context (Zufiaurre, 2010). From empirical research linked teaching, several studies have demonstrated the importance of innate psychological needs on the motivation of educators. As a matter of fact, basic psychological needs directly impact on teacher health because they influence either strengthen their professional commitment (Domenech, 2013) or, on the contrary, abandonment of teacher activity (Lauermann, 2014).

Currently, the educational system in Spain has started to undergo deep changes after enactment of the Organic Law for the Improvement of Education Quality. Nonetheless, such educational reform poses some inconsistencies (Belletich, Wilhelmi & Angel-Alvarado, 2016; Gimeno-Sacristán, 2014) because it advocates for teaching autonomy, but at the same time, it promotes an exhaustive regulation to pedagogical work.

In accordance these social environment elements, this study formulates the next question: What satisfaction level have teachers reported in their innate psychological needs?

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