What They Don't Teach You During Teacher Training: Part 6 - Motivation

• Part 1: Time Management

• Part 2: Parents

• Part 3: Vulnerable Children 

• Part 4: Bullying 

• Part 5: Colleagues

• Part 6: Motivation

This series of blog posts covers areas that I feel are often missing from the PGCE year and teacher training in general. That's not a criticism - there simply isn't time to cover everything but I have been using my extra pandemic time with the university library and the World Wide Web at my finger tips to search for answers to questions that have been perplexing me for some time. It turns out that many people have thought about these things a lot more than me so I'm excited to be sharing the insights that resonated the most.

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For my final entry in this series I want to share the research that I have done on motivation, and more specifically motivating students, because after all what is teaching if not motivating children to do productive work, grow and learn? As a child I remember thinking that the teacher "controlled" the class, but as a teacher I realised quickly that it isn't true. A bad teacher coerces the students into behaving, a good teacher makes them want to behave well. And while it seemed that content was something that was poured into me and the students I now realise that I was lucky. Learning came naturally to me and I was intrinsically motivated to learn. When I met students who were not like me, later as a teacher, I really felt quite helpless.

During my PGCE I had carried out research on a reward and sanction classroom management system that the school I did my Teaching Practice in used. As part of the literature review (bibliography at bottom of post) I took hard look at extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and what I found was illuminating but incredibly complex. What I found out will, I hope, change my teaching forever. 

The Basic Principles of Motivation

1. Intrinsic motivation (motivation that comes from within the student themselves) is more effective than extrinsic motivation. Since teachers cannot make students be intrinsically motivated teachers need to cultivate self-esteem and self-discipline so that intrinsic motivation can grow and be careful not to damage students' intrinsic motivation either. 
2. It is necessary to provide extrinsic motivation when a student does not have intrinsic motivation. This may be a reward or a sanction. Both rewards and sanctions can be effective if used correctly. Remember that even a cross look or verbal reprimand is included under the idea of sanction. Rewards are generally thought of as being more effective than sanctions however the devil is in the detail... 
3. Students are incredibly sensitive and averse to being manipulated, with an exception for only the very youngest students. Students can be very suspicious of praise, often believing that teachers praise the least able students because they need the most encouraging. For this reason public rewards and praise are best used for groups and private rewards and praise for individuals, because it will make the praise seem more sincere. 
4. In order to promote intrinsic motivation teachers should aim to praise effort and process rather than ability. If students think you think they are good at Maths they may be unwilling to try for fear of proving you wrong. What is more, to make praise a useful part of feedback it should be as specific as possible. "Great work!" is nice to hear "I can see that you planned out your paragraphs well" is more gratifying because it seems more sincere and is undoubtedly more helpful for the student. 
5. Rewards work best when they are unexpected. Rewards which are routinely given out and expected by students can become outright demotivating. It should go without saying that rewards are most effective when they are something that the students really desire.
6. Sanctions work best in environments with high levels of trust (your classroom, hopefully) so building relationships and consistency with students is important. 
7. Allow students to keep their dignity in tact. It is hard to stay focused and alert all day. Students report that public reprimands are the most likely form of sanction to make them stay quiet and switch off. Remember that compliance does not equal learning so like with praise keep warnings, corrections and sanctions as private as possible, or use them anonymously when in public ("I'm waiting for one set of eyes").
8. If students believe a rule to be unfair the chances of them complying are low, so it is important to stress why the rule is necessary ("We have these rules to keep everybody safe" rather than "Do it because I said so!"). Doug Lemov calls this principle Purpose over Power. Likewise when giving a sanction make sure that students understand that it is to help them learn to manage or correct their behaviour, not just a punishment. 
9. Taking away a privilege can be one of the most effective kinds of sanction because humans have 'Loss Aversion'.
10. A telephone call home or a good or bad report can be one of the most powerful motivators for most children and young adults. If you call to say something positive keep it clean with no ifs or buts for the biggest impact. 

When I think back to my own time in education two teachers stand out for being at opposite ends of the spectrum. One was utterly lovely but she used to praise us even when we got the answers wrong and pretend that we had given her the correct answers. Perhaps she thought she was being encouraging but we got the impression she thought we were all a bit dim. The other was a real character and used to regularly complain that he didn't know what he had done to deserve students who wrote as badly as us. Of course, the second was horrendous for our motivation but our confidence was dented with both extremes. Like with most things in life, rewards, praise, corrections and sanctions need to be done in moderation. 

Bibliography

• Bear G. et al (2017) 'Rewards, praise and punitive consequences: relations with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.' Teaching and Teacher Education July 2017 65 (10-20) DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2017.03.001
• Cameron, J. and David, W. (2002) Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: Resolving the Controversy. Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 2002
• Dweck, C. (2016) 'Praise the effort, not the outcome?Think again' TES Magazine https://www.tes.com/news/praise-effort-not-outcome-think-again 
• Payne, R. (2015) 'Using Rewards and Sanctions in the Classroom: pupils perceptions of their own responses to current behaviour management strategies' Educational Review. Nov2015, 67 (4), p483-504. DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2015.1008407
• Naughton, C. & McLaughlin, T. (1995) 'The Use of a Token Economy System for Students with Behaviour Disorders.' B.C. Journal of Special Education. January 1995 19.
• Rose, N. (2017) 'Why Punishments and Rewards don't work.' TES Magazine https://www.tes.com/magazine/article/why-punishments-and-rewards-dont-work