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motivation

20 psychological principles for teachers #9 Motivation

2016-06-07T19:03:05+01:00June 6th, 2015|psychology|

The next four posts in my series examining the Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education's report on the Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Teaching and Learning will be on what motivates students. This time I look at Principle 9: “Students tend to enjoy learning and to do better when they are more intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated to achieve.” It goes without saying that motivation is important, but as Graham Nuthall said, “Learning requires motivation, but motivation does not necessarily lead to learning.” So do some kinds of motivation matter more than others? If we're intrinsically motivated we do a thing for its own [...]

Does engagement actually matter?

2017-02-10T07:42:19+00:00March 31st, 2015|learning|

Suggesting that student engagement might actually be a bad thing tend to get certain people's dander up. There was a mild spat recently about Rob Coe reiterating that engagement was a 'poor proxy' for learning. Carl Hendrick unpicked the problem further: This paradox is explored by Graham Nuthall in his book ‘The Hidden Lives of Learners,’ (2007) in which he writes: “Our research shows that students can be busiest and most involved with material they already know. In most of the classrooms we have studied, each student already knows about 40-50% of what the teacher is teaching.” p.24 Nuthall’s work shows that students are [...]

What if there was no outstanding?

2014-07-09T23:30:36+01:00March 16th, 2014|leadership|

The cynics are right nine times out of ten. H.L. Mencken Does the outstanding grade retard innovation or drive us towards excellence? This is just a flight of fancy; a thought experiment. What would happen if we did away with the outstanding grade for schools? What if 'good' was good enough? What would be different? Let's remember that Ofsted have acknowledged that there is no such thing as an outstanding lesson, but all schools are still judged on a four point scale with 'outstanding' being the highest accolade a school can receive. Imagine this bauble was taken away. What then? I [...]

Motivation: when the going gets tough, the tough get going

2014-02-06T17:47:22+00:00August 26th, 2013|learning, planning|

If ever you get embroiled in a discussion on Learning Styles you may well be confronted with the chestnut of motivation. Learning styles, it seems to me, are all about motivation and management, and nothing whatsoever to do with learning. There is of course a correlation between learning and motivation but often they get conflated. Much of what goes on in classrooms is predicated on the belief that if kids are sufficiently engaged in an activity, they will learn from it. But it doesn't take a genius to spot that we can really enjoy something without learning a whole lot from [...]

Team Meetings: some stuff I’ve learnt

2013-08-23T22:19:53+01:00September 1st, 2011|leadership|

What with the introduction of Personal Learning & Thinking Skills, I've done loads of team work with students over the past few years and it was timely that tonight's #ukedchat's topic was 'How do you build (or mould) a new team at the start of a new academic year?' One thing that came out of the conversation was how fortunate I am to have such a dedicated, hardworking team of teachers to work with. Sadly, this isn't everyone's experience. Lots of people were keen to point out that sharing your vision for the team is crucial in getting team members on side. [...]

Team Meetings: some stuff I've learnt

2011-09-01T22:40:33+01:00September 1st, 2011|leadership|

What with the introduction of Personal Learning & Thinking Skills, I've done loads of team work with students over the past few years and it was timely that tonight's #ukedchat's topic was 'How do you build (or mould) a new team at the start of a new academic year?' One thing that came out of the conversation was how fortunate I am to have such a dedicated, hardworking team of teachers to work with. Sadly, this isn't everyone's experience. Lots of people were keen to point out that sharing your vision for the team is crucial in getting team members on side. [...]

How to fix your attitude

2011-08-31T21:46:45+01:00August 31st, 2011|learning|

Can you change how intelligent you are? Can you alter your personality? Can a student predicted a D grade get an A*? Are there things it is simply impossible for us to do? I’ve always fancied the idea of being able to play the guitar but have made excuses like, I haven’t the patience to learn. The truth is, I’m not prepared to put in the effort required. I took lessons when I was about 10 years old and gave up after a few weeks. But why? Cos, my stupid teacher wanted me to learn stupid chords and I just wanted [...]

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