Motivating students
Motivating students with varying background characteristics and ability levels: A teacher training in autonomy support and differentiation in structure.
General project description
A large proportion of Dutch pupils are not optimally motivated for school (Dutch Inspectorate of Education, 2014). Moreover, the motivation of many pupils decreases with age. Due to increasing variation in the student population of many schools, it is difficult for many teachers to meet the different motivational needs of all their pupils. Motivation is essential for an optimal school career of pupils and it is therefore important that teachers find ways to motivate all their pupils for school. In this project, which was carried out in collaboration with various primary schools and secondary schools for prevocational education, a teacher training was developed together with teachers, aimed at motivating pupils by providing autonomy support and structure. It was examined to what extent the training had an effect on the way of teaching and the motivation of pupils. In primary education, the effects of the training were limited, but in prevocational secondary education, the training increased experienced need support by pupils as well as their motivation for school.
More information
Funding
NWO grant This project was financed by the Netherlands Initiative for Educational Research (NWO-NRO).
Project members
- dr. Lisette Hornstra (Universiteit Utrecht)
- Prof. Thea Peetsma (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
- dr. Ineke van der Veen (Kohnstamm Instituut - Universiteit van Amsterdam)
- Desiree Weijers (Kohnstamm Instituut - Universiteit van Amsterdam)
- Diverse basisscholen en vmbo-scholen