Background: Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative communication style used to enhance behaviour change, and there is increasing support for using MI in schools. However, little is known about school-based MI from a teacher perspective and how MI is applied by teachers in their daily work. Understanding teachers' use and experiences of MI could provide valuable information for future school development and teacher education. Purpose: This study aimed to explore teachers' experiences and perceptions of applying MI in Swedish compulsory schools (grades 1-9; 7-15 years). Methods: Interviews were conducted with 13 teachers, who taught different subjects in grades 4-9 (10-15 years). The teachers were from five schools in five different municipalities. They all had received a three- or four-day intensive training programme in MI. A qualitative content analysis approach was used to analyse the data. Findings: Our analysis indicated that teachers perceived MI to be a useful method that provided concrete tools to apply in their daily work. The teachers thought that MI facilitated their relational work, and helped them to become more guiding and autonomy-supportive than before. Hence, the teachers expressed a wish that MI should be included in teacher education. In addition, some teachers felt that MI could be effective in conflict management, to respond to pupils with challenging behaviour and to strengthen pupils' motivation, as well as in conversations with parents. However, teachers considered that lack of time was an obstacle to the application of MI in school and noted that MI requires ongoing training and continuity in order to be effective. Conclusions: This small-scale study draws attention to MI's potential as a supportive tool. Further research is needed to determine how far it may help teachers in a range of educational settings as they seek to foster collaborative relationships in school and facilitate relational work with their pupils.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative communication style used to promote individuals’ motivation, and there is growing support for using MI in schools. This study aims to test whether a teacher-focused intervention program based on MI and autonomy-supportive teaching increases teachers’ autonomy-supportive teaching, teacher efficacy and students’ academic motivation and perceptions of autonomy support. In this intervention study with a short-term longitudinal design, teachers were trained in MI and autonomy-supportive teaching style, along with a control group in which the students’ teachers did not receive specific training. 14 teachers and 478 students (10–12 years) participated in the study. The MI-based intervention were found to significantly increase teachers’ perceived autonomy-supportive teaching and sense of efficacy in student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management from Time 1 to Time 2. However, the intervention did not increase students’ academic motivation or perceptions of teacher autonomy support over time. The current study indicate that school-based MI may be more important for teachers’ professional development than for younger students’ academic motivation. This study demonstrates that MI training can have an impact on teachers’ instructional behaviors and increase teacher efficacy, providing valuable insights for both teacher education and school leaders.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative communication style used to increase individuals' motivation. This study explored teachers' experiences of implementing school-based MI after participating in a compulsory teacher professional development (PD) programme. 23 teachers, teaching in grades 7-9, received school-based MI training. Four qualitative focus group interviews were conducted and reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Four main themes were generated: MI as a useful professional tool, Facilitators for MI implementation, Challenges when applying MI in practice, and Top-down as a barrier to implementation. Findings show that MI provides professional tools that facilitate teachers' relational work, and teachers suggested that MI training should be an element of teacher education. This study highlights the importance of designing PD programmes that are consistent with teachers' needs in practice. When applying MI in schools, several challenges were identified: to balance the fostering teacher role, lack of time, and students' lack of maturity. Hence, this study emphasises the need for ongoing training, allocated time, and well-defined objectives when implementing MI in schools. This study provides novel insights into the perceived benefits and challenges of MI training for teachers, thus providing valuable information for teacher educators and school leaders.