Situated within the National Embedded Cross‑Sector Teacher Education Pilot (NECSTEP), this study examines how school‑embedded models of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) foster teacher identity formation and autonomous intrinsic motivation, and how these processes contribute to long‑term retention in the teaching profession. Drawing on Self‑Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan, 2000), motivation is conceptualised as the fulfilment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness within authentic professional contexts. In addressing an identified gap in research on motivation, formation, and teacher identity within the Australian Christian Education sector, this study contributes theoretically, empirically, and practically to understanding how embedded ITE models may support sustainable professional commitment and workforce retention.

The study is framed by a critical realist epistemology (Bhaskar, 1975) and adopts Jonathan Edwards’ dispositional ontology, which understands motivation and identity as real, causally efficacious phenomena. From this perspective, motivation and teacher identity are not merely psychological states but dispositions of the will and affections that shape professional agency, commitment, and vocational endurance. Methodologically, the study seeks to capture how motivation and identity are experienced, internalised, and narrated by teachers in embedded ITE pathways. A convergent mixed‑methods design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018) integrates qualitative and quantitative data to explore the causal mechanisms underpinning autonomous motivation and strong identification with the teaching profession. Qualitative data are generated through semi‑structured interviews using narrative inquiry (Clandinin, 2006) and analysed through a combination of emic coding and SDT‑informed etic analysis. Quantitative data are drawn from the Work Tasks Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST) (Fernet et al., 2008) alongside measures of voluntary professional and community engagement, informed by recent Australian research (Mainsbridge et al., 2022).