21st century teachers should focus on helping students to become confident, motivated learners
___Current research shows strong connections between students' beliefs about themselves as learners, their level of motivation to succeed in learning tasks and their achievement at school.
The media, policy makers, schools and parents debate falling literacy rates, the curriculum, class sizes and private-versus-public schooling but, while these are important, we know that the most significant determinants of student outcomes lie with the student and with the student-teacher connection (Martin, 2011). |
_21st century teachers should focus on helping students to
become confident, motivated learners because this is a desirable
outcome in itself and because it plays a central role in affecting other
desirable educational outcomes (Marsh & Martin, 2010).
Confidence and Motivation
_In order for children to do well at school, they need to be confident, motivated learners. This means they need to have both a belief that it is possible for them to succeed and a desire to succeed (Stiggins, 1999).
It is not enough for a student to be either confident that he can succeed at a task or to have a strong desire to succeed.
Both are important because:
It is not enough for a student to be either confident that he can succeed at a task or to have a strong desire to succeed.
Both are important because:
_
Motivation and confidence are personal attributes that relate to the individual student but teachers have a central role to play in fostering their development. This is particularly important in the early years of schooling when children are beginning to construct a view of themselves as learners.
In this website, I look at how teachers can help to motivate students and to build their confidence in themselves as capable learners.
The key aspects of this are:
I will focus on primary school students however the same principles apply to students of all ages. The main pillar involved in this discussion is psychology, although elements of sociology are also discussed.
To navigate the site, you can click on the in-text links or any of the tabs at the top of the page.
- a student who is confident of his ability to succeed at a task may not be motivated to do it, either because he perceives the task as irrelevant, because he views it as too easy or because he is unhappy in the classroom.
- a student may be highly motivated to succeed at a task but still believe he is unlikely to do so, no matter how much effort he makes. This may lead him to act in ways that undermine his success. Self-handicapping behaviours can include reducing the level of effort put into a task, setting unattainably high goals, procrastinating and cheating (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).
Motivation and confidence are personal attributes that relate to the individual student but teachers have a central role to play in fostering their development. This is particularly important in the early years of schooling when children are beginning to construct a view of themselves as learners.
In this website, I look at how teachers can help to motivate students and to build their confidence in themselves as capable learners.
The key aspects of this are:
- how children develop self-concepts and academic self-concepts;
- the teacher-student connection: teachers knowing, valuing and respecting students;
- motivation and success and their reciprocal effects;
I will focus on primary school students however the same principles apply to students of all ages. The main pillar involved in this discussion is psychology, although elements of sociology are also discussed.
To navigate the site, you can click on the in-text links or any of the tabs at the top of the page.