Abstract
Academic persistence is a central concern in higher education because students' decisions to continue investing in their studies are shaped not only by their academic abilities but also by the quality of their educational experiences. Among the factors that may influence persistence, teacher support is particularly important because lecturers interact with students at the point where academic expectations, motivation, competence, and belonging converge. This study examines the relationship between perceived teacher support, psychological need satisfaction, and academic persistence among undergraduate students from the perspective of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Specifically, the study proposes that supportive teacher behaviours contribute to students' satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which subsequently strengthens their willingness to persist in academic activities and pursue their educational goals. A quantitative explanatory research design is proposed, with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) used to examine the hypothesized relationships and mediation effects. The conceptual model proposes that teacher support positively predicts psychological need satisfaction and academic persistence, while psychological need satisfaction positively predicts academic persistence and mediates the relationship between teacher support and persistence. The study further considers autonomy, competence, and relatedness as distinct dimensions of psychological need satisfaction. The proposed framework contributes to higher-education research by shifting attention from persistence as an individual student characteristic toward the relational and psychological conditions within which persistence develops. It suggests that students may be more willing to continue when they experience their lecturers as supportive, when they believe they are capable of succeeding, when they have meaningful ownership of their learning, and when they feel that they belong. The study has implications for teacher education, student-support programmes, university retention strategies, and the development of learning environments that promote both academic continuation and positive student functioning.
Keywords: teacher support; psychological need satisfaction; academic persistence; undergraduate students; Self-Determination Theory; autonomy; competence; relatedness; higher education; Structural Equation Modelling.
INTRODUCTION
For many students, entering university represents the beginning of an important personal and academic journey. It is a period characterized by intellectual development, new relationships, greater independence, and preparation for future careers. At the same time, university life can expose students to demanding coursework, financial pressures, social expectations, uncertainty about the future, academic failure, and the challenge of managing responsibilities with increasing independence.
Not every student responds to these challenges in the same way.
Some students encounter academic difficulties and continue. They seek assistance, adjust their strategies, recover from disappointing grades, and remain committed to completing their programmes. Others gradually withdraw. They may attend less frequently, lose confidence, disengage from academic activities, or eventually consider leaving their programme.
This difference raises an important question for higher education:
What helps students keep going when university becomes difficult?
Academic persistence is often viewed as a characteristic located within the student. Students who persist are frequently described as motivated, resilient, disciplined, or committed. Although these characteristics matter, students do not pursue their education in isolation. Their academic experiences are shaped by relationships with lecturers, classmates, advisers, and the wider university environment.
Among these relationships, the relationship between students and teachers is particularly significant.
A lecturer can influence whether a student feels capable or incapable, included or excluded, encouraged or discouraged. A supportive lecturer may provide constructive feedback, recognize students' efforts, listen to concerns, explain difficult concepts, encourage questions, and provide opportunities for meaningful participation. Such experiences may influence students' psychological experiences of university and, ultimately, their willingness to persist.
Self-Determination Theory provides a useful framework for understanding this process. The theory proposes that people have three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Satisfaction of these needs supports high-quality motivation, psychological growth, and well-being.
In educational environments, autonomy involves experiencing a sense of ownership and meaningful choice. Competence involves feeling capable of understanding and accomplishing academic tasks. Relatedness involves feeling respected, valued, and connected to others.
Teacher support may contribute directly to these experiences.
For example, an instructor who provides meaningful choices may strengthen autonomy. An instructor who offers useful feedback and scaffolding may strengthen competence. An instructor who demonstrates care and respect may strengthen relatedness.
These psychological experiences may then influence persistence.
The present study therefore moves beyond the simple question of whether teacher support is associated with academic persistence. It asks how teacher support may influence students' willingness to continue.
The proposed answer is psychological need satisfaction.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The increasing concern about student retention and completion has made academic persistence an important issue in higher education. Universities invest considerable resources in recruitment, academic support, counselling, financial assistance, and student-success initiatives. Yet retention cannot be understood entirely through institutional policies or student characteristics.
The quality of everyday educational interactions also matters.
Students spend substantial amounts of time interacting with lecturers through lectures, tutorials, assessments, feedback, supervision, and other academic activities. These interactions can communicate more than academic information. They can communicate expectations, trust, respect, competence, belonging, and value.
A student who receives constructive feedback after failing an examination may interpret the experience as an opportunity for growth. Another student receiving only criticism may interpret the same failure as evidence that they do not belong in the programme.
These experiences matter because persistence is partly psychological.
Students need reasons to continue, but they also need to believe that continuing is possible and worthwhile.
This makes psychological need satisfaction a potentially important bridge between the classroom environment and persistence.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Despite extensive research on student persistence, several issues remain insufficiently understood.
First, academic persistence is sometimes conceptualized primarily as an individual characteristic. Such approaches may overlook the influence of the educational environment.
Second, studies examining teacher support often focus on academic outcomes such as achievement, satisfaction, or engagement. Less attention has been given to whether teacher support contributes to students' willingness to remain committed to their academic programmes.
Third, psychological need satisfaction provides a theoretically meaningful explanation for why supportive teachers may influence student behaviour. However, autonomy, competence, and relatedness are not always examined together within a single structural model of academic persistence.
Fourth, university students experience different forms of academic difficulty. A student may understand the academic material but feel socially isolated. Another may feel connected to classmates but lack confidence in academic ability. A third may feel competent but believe that they have little control over their learning.
Consequently, treating psychological need satisfaction as a single undifferentiated psychological experience may conceal important differences among autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
The central problem addressed by this study is therefore: There is insufficient integrated understanding of how teacher support contributes to undergraduate students academic persistence through the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between teacher support, psychological need satisfaction, and academic persistence among undergraduate students using Self-Determination Theory as the primary theoretical framework.
Specifically, the study seeks to:
1. Examine the relationship between teacher support and psychological need satisfaction
2. Determine the relationship between teacher support and academic persistence.
3. Examine the relationship between psychological need satisfaction and academic persistence.
4. Determine whether psychological need satisfaction mediates the relationship between teacher support and academic persistence.
5. Examine the individual contribution of autonomy satisfaction to academic persistence.
6. Examine the individual contribution of competence satisfaction to academic persistence.
7. Examine the individual contribution of relatedness satisfaction to academic persistence.
8. Develop and test a Self-Determination Theory-based structural model of academic persistence.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What relationship exists between teacher support and psychological need satisfaction among undergraduate students?
2. What relationship exists between teacher support and academic persistence?
3. What relationship exists between psychological need satisfaction and academic persistence?
4. Does psychological need satisfaction mediate the relationship between teacher support and academic persistence?
5. To what extent do autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction individually predict academic persistence?
6. Does the proposed Self-Determination Theory model adequately explain academic persistence among undergraduate students?
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
Teacher support positively predicts psychological need satisfaction.
Teacher support positively predicts academic persistence.
Psychological need satisfaction positively predicts academic persistence.
Psychological need satisfaction mediates the relationship between teacher support and academic persistence.
Autonomy satisfaction positively predicts academic persistence.
Competence satisfaction positively predicts academic persistence.
Relatedness satisfaction positively predicts academic persistence.
The proposed structural model demonstrates an acceptable fit to the observed data.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The study is grounded primarily in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) developed by Deci and Ryan.
SDT provides a broad theory of human motivation and psychological development. It proposes that people possess three fundamental psychological needs:
autonomy;competence; andrelatedness.
When these needs are satisfied, individuals are more likely to experience autonomous motivation, effective functioning, and positive psychological outcomes.
The theory is particularly appropriate for educational research because learning occurs within social environments. Students do not simply bring motivation into the classroom; their motivation is influenced by the conditions created by teachers and institutions.
SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY AND EDUCATION
In educational contexts, autonomy-supportive environments allow students to experience meaningful choice and ownership rather than feeling excessively controlled.
Competence-supportive environments provide students with appropriate challenges, clear expectations, constructive feedback, and opportunities to experience improvement.
Relatedness-supportive environments communicate respect, care, inclusion, and connection.
Research grounded in SDT has consistently emphasized the importance of these psychological needs for students' motivation and functioning.
The present study extends this perspective by examining academic persistence as a behavioural outcome.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The proposed model is: Teacher Support → Psychological Need Satisfaction → Academic Persistence
A direct path from teacher support to academic persistence is also proposed.
The model can be represented as follows:
TEACHER SUPPORT Autonomy support Academic support Emotional support Feedback Availability
AUTONOMY SATISFACTION
COMPETENCE SATISFACTION
RELATEDNESS SATISFACTION
ACADEMIC PERSISTENCE
Teacher Support → Academic Persistence
LITERATURE REVIEW
TEACHER SUPPORT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Teacher support refers to students perceptions that their instructors are available, caring, respectful, responsive, and helpful in relation to their academic and personal development.
Teacher support can take several forms.
Academic Support
Teachers provide explanations, resources, feedback, and assistance with difficult material.
Emotional Support
Teachers demonstrate care, respect, understanding, and concern for students.
Autonomy Support
Teachers acknowledge students' perspectives, provide meaningful choices, encourage initiative, and avoid unnecessarily controlling language.
Competence Support
Teachers communicate clear expectations, provide constructive feedback, and help students experience progress.
Relational Support
Teachers create environments in which students feel accepted, valued, and included.
The present study treats teacher support as a multidimensional educational resource rather than simply lecturer availability.
TEACHER SUPPORT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED SATISFACTION
The relationship between teacher support and psychological need satisfaction follows directly from SDT.
Supportive teachers can create opportunities for students to experience all three basic needs.
When students are given meaningful choices, their autonomy may increase.
When they receive useful feedback and appropriate academic assistance, their sense of competence may increase.
When teachers demonstrate care and respect, students may experience greater relatedness.
Therefore, teacher behaviour can influence the psychological environment in which learning takes place.
This leads to; teacher support positively predicts psychological need satisfaction.
TEACHER SUPPORT AND ACADEMIC PERSISTENCE
Students willingness to persist may be influenced by how they perceive their educational environment.
When students believe that lecturers care about their learning and are willing to help them overcome difficulties, academic challenges may appear more manageable.
Supportive teachers may also reduce the likelihood that academic failure is interpreted as permanent inability.
Instead of thinking I failed, so I cannot succeed here; students may think, I struggled, but I can improve.
Such interpretations can support continued academic effort.
Thus; Teacher support positively predicts academic persistence.
PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED SATISFACTION AND ACADEMIC PERSISTENCE
Psychological need satisfaction may provide an important foundation for persistence.
AUTONOMY
Students who experience autonomy may perceive academic goals as personally meaningful rather than externally imposed.
COMPETENCE
Students who feel capable are more likely to approach challenges with confidence rather than helplessness.
RELATEDNESS
Students who feel connected may be less likely to experience university as an isolating environment.
Together, these experiences can provide psychological resources that support continued academic investment.
Therefore, psychological need satisfaction positively predicts academic persistence.
AUTONOMY SATISFACTION AND PERSISTENCE
Autonomy involves experiencing a sense of volition and ownership. University students often have more freedom than students in earlier educational settings, but this freedom can also become overwhelming. When teachers support autonomy, students can experience their academic work as something they have chosen and value. This may increase internal commitment to educational goals. Accordingly, satisfaction with autonomy positively predicts academic persistence.
COMPETENCE SATISFACTION AND PERSISTENCE
Competence refers to the feeling that one is capable of interacting effectively with one's environment. Academic life provides frequent competence-related feedback through assignments, examinations, presentations, laboratory activities, and classroom participation. Repeated experiences of failure without adequate support may weaken competence. Conversely, constructive feedback, achievable challenges, and evidence of improvement can strengthen competence. Students who believe they can succeed may be more willing to continue after setbacks. Thus, Competence satisfaction positively predicts academic persistence.
RELATEDNESS SATISFACTION AND PERSISTENCE
Relatedness refers to the need to experience meaningful connection with others. University students may struggle when they feel anonymous, isolated, or disconnected from their lecturers and peers. A teacher who knows students by name, listens to their concerns, responds respectfully, and creates an inclusive classroom can contribute to students' sense of belonging. Students who feel that they belong may be more psychologically invested in remaining within the academic community. Thus, satisfaction with relatedness positively predicts academic persistence.
PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED SATISFACTION AS A MEDIATOR
The central proposition of this study is that teacher support may influence persistence through psychological need satisfaction. Consider a student who receives detailed feedback after performing poorly. The feedback may initially represent teacher support. The student then realizes: I understand where I went wrong. This may strengthen competence. Greater competence may increase the student's willingness to attempt another assessment. The process becomes: Teacher Support → Competence Satisfaction → Persistence. A similar process can occur with autonomy and