Teachers’ innovative activity—expressed in the purposeful adoption, adaptation, and creation of new pedagogical solutions—has become a decisive condition for improving learning outcomes, sustaining curriculum reforms, and integrating educational technologies in general education schools. However, innovation in teaching is rarely a purely technical matter; it is a motivational phenomenon shaped by how teachers interpret risk, workload, autonomy, professional identity, and the perceived fairness of leadership decisions. This article analyzes motivational management strategies that can strengthen teachers’ innovative activity at the school level, with particular attention to the role of the Deputy Director for Academic Affairs (often responsible for teaching and learning, curriculum coordination, instructional supervision, and professional development). Using an integrative conceptual approach grounded in contemporary motivation theory and educational change research, the paper argues that motivational management is most effective when it aligns three domains: autonomy-supportive leadership practices, capacity-building structures that reduce the “implementation burden,” and recognition-and-feedback systems that strengthen teachers’ efficacy and professional meaning. The discussion differentiates between short-cycle motivational tactics that trigger initial experimentation and long-cycle strategies that sustain innovation as a stable feature of school culture. The analysis demonstrates that the Deputy Director’s impact is strongest when motivational mechanisms are embedded into instructional routines—lesson study, formative observation, collaborative planning, and evidence-informed reflection—rather than treated as add-on incentives. The article concludes with an interpretive model of motivational governance for innovation that emphasizes trust, psychological safety, disciplined follow-through, and ethically grounded accountability, positioning the Deputy Director as a mediator between policy demands and teachers’ lived professional realities.

Teacher innovation, motivational management, deputy director for academic affairs

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