Teachers and leaders I speak to are increasingly interested in enhancing their pupils’ engagement and belonging in school. In the education secretary’s words: they want to support pupils to achieve and thrive, and they want rigorous, evidence-informed approaches to do so.
The increase in the use of cognitive science to inform instruction over the past decade has helped many teachers enhance their pupils’ achievement. However, there is a range of evidence, including from the OECD PISA measures, to suggest that pupils’ thriving has not kept pace with advances in academic outcomes. This trend worries teachers and parents.
The shift towards applying research evidence to teaching means that educators are now even more discerning about practices they bring into their schools. This is no doubt positive, but may have led to some scepticism that an evidence-informed approach could help pupils to thrive, because this area is “too fluffy”.
The good news is this simply isn’t true. There are theories, tested in a range of school settings, that can guide teachers to foster pupils’ motivation and engagement over time.
I’ve spent the past 18 months reviewing this evidence base, and have chosen to frame the resulting research-based guide to pupil motivation and engagement around self-determination theory, which is based on over 40 years of rigorous research.
Self-determination theory predicts that the source of a person’s motivation has a big impact on their effort, attainment and wellbeing. An important comparison is made between external and internal sources of motivation.
Sources of external motivation include rewards, sanctions or emotional pressure (for example ‘You know you’ll be disappointed in yourself if you don’t get a 5 in GCSE maths’). These can be effective in driving short-term behaviour change (for example getting pupils to start completing their homework).
However, external motivation is likely to be lower-quality and less durable than internal motivation, not least because removing the external pressure means a person’s behaviour is likely to return to what it was.
External motivation is likely to be lower-quality than internal motivation
Sources of internal motivation include interest, enjoyment and curiosity but, more realistically in school, can also come from pupils seeing the value in what they are asked to do.For example, a child may work hard for their English GCSE because it will help them to access their preferred college course.
This can also apply to behavioural expectations. A child may decide not to shout out in lessons because they begin to value learning in a classroom where everyone’s voice is heard. This can lead to self-determined motivation because the child agrees with and values what they are being asked to do.
There is strong evidence that when pupils are motivated for internal reasons, it benefits the quality and quantity of their work as well as their general wellbeing.
The good news is that schools can foster more internal motivation over time by helping pupils to see that what they ask them to do is not arbitrary – that there are good reasons behind it.
When teachers know their pupils’ needs and interests, they can explain compelling reasons why a topic, task or expectation could be valuable or interesting. This is bolstered when pupils experience success, adding to the personal importance of the learning.
Interactions like these meet three basic needs all humans have: to feel successful, valued, and listened to. Where pupils feel these three things – or in the academic language, where their needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy are met – their internal motivation to engage with school increases.
It can be tempting to think meeting these needs is only possible for teachers who are naturally good at interacting with young people.
However, strong research evidence suggests that all teachers can learn to interact in ways that improve the quality of pupils’ motivation. Indeed, programmes that focus on teacher-pupil interactions are some of the most successful professional development programmes ever.
Our report offers much more detail on how schools and teachers can meet children’s needs and foster internal motivation over time – including implementation guidance.
We hope this will contribute to rich discussion in the sector about how we can support pupils to achieve and thrive.
Read the full report, ‘Achieve and thrive: A research-based guide to pupil motivation and engagement’ here
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