by Nick Gray, Bushey Meads School

Motivation is a challenge for teachers; on the one hand we know that motivated students are the ideal if we want them to succeed in our classroom, but what actually motivates them to work hard in our lessons is less tangible and open to influence from many different variables. Knowing that pupil motivation can change is important, but what perhaps interests us most as educators is why students’ motivation does change depending on the class or subject.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Whether in the classroom or in our day to day lives, ‘motivation – both intrinsic and extrinsic – results when, as humans, we believe that we will benefit as a result of the action or behaviour’ (Moore, 2019). As Ryan and Deci stated, ‘extrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it leads to a separable outcome, but intrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it is inherently enjoyable’ (Ryan and Deci, 2000). While it may be that we do certain things for an external reward, behave for house points for example, we also want students to enjoy working in our classrooms as ‘according to Bandura, internal rewards for goal attainment can be more powerful influences on effort and achievement than external rewards such as praise or grades’ (Tollefson, 2000). What is important for us as teachers to understand is that ‘it may be more important for teachers to think about the best techniques to improve student performance, rather than techniques to increase their short-term engagement or interest’ (Boxer, 2019). While research suggests that extrinsic rewards can help support and develop motivation in the classroom, it is often for a limited time, ‘rewards can increase the frequency of desired behaviours while decreasing the frequency of undesired behaviours; rewards can improve the behaviour of unmotivated students, although these effects tend only to be in the short term’ (Bear, 2013). So, whilst rewards and praise have a place in any effective classroom, they must be used prudently to create a positive climate of learning, and any rewards should not be given ‘without regard for completion or quality’ (Akin-Little and Little, 2009). What you praise or reward is just as vital as when and how you praise or reward. We want students to develop their own intrinsic motivation, and so, as Covington wrote, ‘students should be taught to analyse the causes of success and failure in constructive ways, in which they can value their hard work and effort as a source of personal worth (Covington, 1998).

Self-determination Theory

Ryan and Deci’s seminal work on self-determination theory allows us to look in greater detail at what motivates us in any given scenario. ‘Self-determination theory declares that, as humans, we all have three basic psychological needs that need to be satisfied for us to be intrinsically motivated to perform at our best: relatedness, autonomy and competence’ (Moore, 2019). In our classrooms it is important that we are creating the culture for students to learn at their optimum level, in terms of behaviour for learning clearly, but also in motivated students who want to learn. As humans we need to feel a ‘sense of belongingness and connectedness to the persons, group, or culture disseminating a goal’ (Ryan and Deci, 2000), and our students need to feel trusted to complete a given task, or make choices on their own. The third element, which we will look at in greater detail is that they also need to be able to succeed – tangible and real success because they have worked hard. ‘Relatedness needs reflect the universal human desire to be valued, respected, and desired important by others’ (Cerasoli et al., 2016). Therefore, what we need to create as teachers is a culture of learning that thrives on motivation, but in order for that to occur, it must ‘be based on trust and have collaboration at its heart’ (Moore, 2019).

In order to fully understand the variables that impact on student motivation we need to look in more detail at what has been raised by self-determination theory. While it is clear that the climate for learning needs to be nurturing and supportive, allowing students to feel connected to one another and vitally, trusted by their teacher. There are also other elements that students need in order to be motivated to work hard in your lessons.

Competence

Ryan and Deci argue that ‘a vital component of individual motivation is competence’ (Boxer, 2019). In fact, ‘the need to feel competent has to be fulfilled for students to be successful in learning’ (Sun and Chen, 2012). It is natural for humans to avoid tasks they do not feel competent at, or do not believe they can do well. For our students this can be magnified by their peers depending on the climate in your classroom but our desire to become competent ‘refers to the desire to demonstrate and improve one’s abilities’ (Cerasoli et al., 2016). We all enjoy getting better at something, feeling like an expert and so do our students. The intrinsic motivation garnered by feeling that you can achieve is a powerful factor. ‘When students master a task, their expectation that they will master similar tasks in the future increases’ (Tollefson, 2000), and this is a factor that we must not underestimate in our classrooms.

Autonomy

Ryan and Deci also state that ‘competence needs to be accompanied by a sense of autonomy’ (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Our students need to feel that they have an element of control in their work, “if individuals are forced or manipulated to engage in a task, they lose the intrinsic desire to subsequently do so” (Cerasoli et al., 2016). Our role as teachers is to create the environment where students are well supported, trusted, engaged and successful, not in comparison to others but rather ‘success on the task needs to be attributed to ability or effort’ (Tollefson, 2000).

Creating the Culture

We all want our students to master our subject and the expectations we hold for students can have a large impact on this. Studies have shown that ‘students who expect to do well in school earn higher grades than students with like ability who expect to fail’ (Battle, 1966; Eccles, 1983), and so we must ensure that our lesson climate promotes deep thinking, embraces the struggle and supports students in order to help them achieve. ‘The importance of creating a supportive, collaborative learning  environment  that  enables students to feel comfortable in accepting challenges is key to building confidence; this includes avoiding practices that make students feel isolated or threatened in their efforts to meet the teacher’s expectations (Brophy, 2004). Mastery goals allow students to focus on ‘self-development or skill development’ (Poortvliet, 2016). ‘Students can be motivated by mastery goals in particular as they emphasise the challenge of learning and understanding, with a goal of continuous improvement despite how many mistakes might be made’ (Moore, 2019).

Supporting Students

Ensuring that your lessons support students in their journey from novice to master is an important skill. ‘Brophy (2004) proposes that teachers should minimize elements of competition and social comparison, while encouraging students to adopt mastery goals, and providing the instructional scaffolding and personal support needed to enable them to attain these goals successfully’ (Moore, 2019). Essentially, we need to ensure that the target is the same for all students, but the level and type of support we offer each child differs depending on their need. This sounds like a great deal of work, but it could be a simple as a well-chosen question, a resource at the appropriate time or some specific and actionable feedback. Be aware of Cognitive Load Theory when presenting material to your class, is this causing overload that disengages students and demotivates them? Think about the environment you have created in your classroom, what new strategies could you instigate to further support your pupils?

There is a wealth of literature surrounding strategies to best support teaching students. Making Every Lesson Count and Teach Like a Champion (see Strategy Check below) are just two which provide multiple ideas to develop challenge and high expectations in the classroom. In order to best support our students we should be attempting to scaffold pupils towards one goal; being able to successfully complete whatever task we have set. This may be writing a paragraph in English or completing a calculation in Maths – even throwing a ball in PE, but it is our interactions with students during their attempts, and the input we give, that will have the greatest impact. As Allison and Tharby state, our role, ‘is to respond to and support students during lessons, and over weeks, months and years, so that they all strive to reach…this common goal’ (Allison and Tharby, 2015).

Willingham’s work on developmentally appropriate practice highlights four areas where we can hopefully benefit our students:

1. Use information about principles, but not in the absolute – be aware of what is written on student development, motivation and behaviour, but also know your students – you are the best person to guide them because you know them so well.
2. Think about the effectiveness of tasks – Sometimes everything works perfectly, but occasionally students don’t make the progress you were hoping for. This may have been the task you set, but it could have been that some students didn’t grasp a certain aspect. Work with other teachers to create a bank of tasks for different scenarios to help your planning.
3. Think about why students don’t understand – Just because a task hasn’t worked doesn’t mean that there is anything inherently wrong with what you have done, the pupils may have been missing background information, they may not have understood the task, they may understand the concept in one format but not another. Make sure you understand why a pupil can’t do something.

4. Recognise that no content is inherently developmentally inappropriate – Ensuring that all students reach their potential is more often about scaffolding and support rather than content. If we strive to ensure that all students can reach or excel our goals for them then anything is possible. This challenging quote is taken from Bruner’s research: ‘we begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development. It is a bold hypothesis and an essential one in thinking about the nature of the curriculum. No evidence exists to contradict it; considerable evidence is being amassed that supports it’ (Bruner, 1960).

(Willingham, 2008) *Italics added

References

• Akin-Little, A., & Little, S. G. (2009). The true effects of extrinsic reinforcement on ‘‘intrinsic’’ motivation. In Akin-Little, S. G. Little
• Alison, S. & Tharby, A. (2015). Making Every Lesson Count, Crown House Publishing
• Bandura, (1982), Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist.
• Battle, S. (1966). Motivational determinants of academic competence. Journal of personality and social psychology.
• Bear, (2013). Teacher Resistance to Frequent Rewards and Praise: Lack of Skill or a Wise Decision?, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation
• Boxer, (2019), What is the best way to motivate students in your subject? Impact Journal
• Brophy, (2004). Motivating Students to Learn, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishing
• Bruner, 1960. The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Cerasoli CP, Nicklin JM and Nassrelgrgawi AS (2016), Performance, incentives, and needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness: A meta-analysis. Motivation and Emotion
• Covington, V. (1998) The will to learn: A guide for motivating young people. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Deci, Edward & Ryan, (1985). Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior.
• EEF Toolkit, Parental engagement
• EEF Toolkit, Metacognition and self-regulation
• Eccles, J. (1983), Expectancies, values and academic behaviours. J.T.
• Feather, T. (1969). Attribution of responsibility and valence of success and failure in relation to initial confidence and task performance. J. Personal. Social Psychol.
• Hattie, J. & Yates, (2013), Visible Learning and the Science of how we learn, Routledge.
• Lemov, (2015). Teach Like a Champion 2.0, Jossey-Bass
• Moore, (2019). The Importance of a Learning Culture for Teacher Motivation. Impact Journal
• OFSTED, Schools and parents
• Poortvliet, (2016). Mastery Goals, Springer International Publishing.
• Rosenthal, R. & Jacobson,L. (1963). Teachers’ expectancies: Determinants of pupils’ IQ gains. Psychological Reports.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist
• Tollefson, (2000). Classroom applications of cognitive theories of motivation. Educational Psychology Review.
• Willingham, (2008). Ask the cognitive scientist, What is developmentally appropriate practice?, American Educator, AFT.

Further Reading

• https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/go–with–me–on–this/parental–eng agement-parents-UtWHcnYLpde/
• https://theteachingbooth.wordpress.com/2019/02/22/dr–differentiation–o r-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-challenge/
• https://impact.chartered.college/article/importance–learning–culture–te acher-motivation/
• https://chartered.college/how–to–nurture–students–motivation–read–refle ctions-recommendations
• https://impact.chartered.college/article/what–is–the–best–way–motivate–s tudents-your-subject/
• Lemov, D. (2015). Teach Like a Champion 0, Jossey-Bass, p.89 – p.127
• Alison, & Tharby, A. (2015). Making Every Lesson Count, Crown House Publishing, p.14 – p.50

by Richard Morton, Sir John Lawes School

The most celebrated “expert on expertise”, Anders Ericsson, identified a process he called “deliberate practice” as the essential method of achieving mastery in any field (Ericsson and Pool, 2016), and the concept has an understandable appeal to teachers wishing to help their students succeed.  Ericsson’s work provided the academic background to the famous “10, 000 hours rule” which attempted to quantify the duration of practice needed to achieve expert performance, although Ericsson himself emphasises that this is merely an arbitrary number and that quality of practice is just as important as quantity.  A key element of deliberate practice that Ericsson identifies is the guidance of a skilled coach who can provide detailed feedback and design a sequence of specific practice opportunities to maximise learning – in other words, a good teacher.

The best teaching I have ever experienced was from an elite sports coach.  To be clear, I have never been an elite athlete, irrespective of how one may define that.  However, as a club-level rower I had the great fortune to be taught for several years by Marcus de Grammont, a coach with a deep practical understanding of deliberate practice and the experience of developing elite performers (in one case a world champion).  Despite my own modest achievements, the learning I experienced over time was spectacular, confirming to me the power of deliberate practice and suggesting a number of ways that, as a teacher, I can apply principles from elite sports coaching to support my own students.  Almost certainly, this is not limited to sport.  Although I have no first-hand experience of these (at any respectable level!) the literature on developing expertise identifies the same principles in elite musicians, performing artists and all other established domains of expertise.  Incidentally, I believe this is a powerful argument for maximising the extra-curricular provision of sport, music and the arts in our schools.

Are there limitations to using sports coaching as a model in the classroom?  Of course.  Sport is an environment in which success can be clearly and quickly measured, skills can be repeated and (some) variables can be controlled.  While sport is certainly complex, it has nothing on teaching.  Hogarth (2010) compares “kind” learning environments, in which performance is easily measured and the consequences of actions are quickly apparent, with “wicked” environments where these are not the case.  With so many variables (both known and unknown) and with success only objectively measured by external exams once or twice in a student’s 12-14 year school career (and even those measure relative rather than absolute performance) even discovering the effect of a single intervention with any degree of confidence is extremely difficult.  In addition, sports coaches work with a largely self-selecting cohort – it is ok if athletes without the motivation and mindset to work hard simply drop out.  In school our students rarely have this option, so we are teaching in a very different context.  Despite this, I believe there are lessons we can learn from the highly developed – and constantly empirically tested – approaches of elite sports coaches.  Here are a few examples:

Feedback

Feedback from a coach is one of the most important aspects of deliberate practice, and is also a major part of a teacher’s role.  But do we approach it in different ways?  To start with, feedback from a coach is not subject to any accountability policy or schedule, but is simply concerned with improving future performance (“feed-forward”, as Michael Chiles (2021) calls it).  Good feedback focuses on a very specific, detailed aspect of performance chosen to have the greatest long-term effect, much as Harry Fletcher-Wood (2021) advocates and far from the generic feedback bemoaned by Dylan Wiliam (2011).  Indeed, Marcus focused on a single part of my rowing stroke for several years, and he was right – once I had developed it sufficiently I was able to make quicker progress on subsequent areas.  Feedback in sports coaching is usually immediate – “in the moment”, as Tom Sherrington (2017) describes it – no waiting a week for written comments in a book!  Marcus was able to strike a balance between giving immediate, specific feedback with being more detailed and thorough by establishing a rigorous continuity of language between training activities and our subsequent video analysis sessions.  For example, we developed a code in which we numbered each part of the rowing stroke (initially three, progressing to eight as I improved) and a consistent verbal shorthand for the technical information I might need “in the moment”.  One of my priorities in my own teaching will be to establish a similar common language with my students to connect the immediate (during tasks) and delayed feedback (such as test reviews or whole class feedback) that I give them.

Drills and skills

Daisy Christodoulou (2016) notes that many of the most effective tasks for long-term learning look very unlike the final tasks on which summative assessments will be made.  This approach is exemplified in sports, in which a coach will carefully select a specific drill to isolate a single aspect of performance, and rehearse this until a very high standard has been achieved.  In my training, this led to lengthy periods of time when I didn’t actually appear to be getting any faster, but it made me much faster when racing many months later (as Marcus had known it would).  In teaching this would translate into repeated practice of a skill or retrieval practice to develop extensive schema of knowledge – far beyond a token exercise to “show progress” in a single lesson before moving on to the next topic.  Although curriculum timing can be a limitation, regularly repeated practice of carefully chosen essential knowledge and skills – to the point of “overlearning” (Willingham, 2004) – would be time well spent in the long run.  And surely, in teaching as well as in sport, the only progress that is worth having is long-term progress.

Marginal gains

The concept of marginal gains was made famous by the success of British cycling teams around a decade ago, and has been well described by Matthew Syed (2015).  In reality however, it has been around much longer, since most sports are “highly developed fields” (Ericsson and Pool, 2016) and have consistent and well-understood methods of training.  Any method that led to a huge improvement in performance would already be in use, so (barring very occasional innovations) making marginal gains is the only way for the field to keep progressing.  Transporting athletes’ mattresses between team hotels – as Team Sky famously did – only worked because the rest of their training programme was already finely tuned.  Most of the training activities I did with Marcus were ones he had been using successfully for decades, refining when necessary.  Like sport, teaching has been around a long time and many great minds have devoted themselves to the challenge of doing it better.  If there were a silver bullet that could reliably produce great improvements we would probably all be using it by now.  While we can always improve our teaching, we shouldn’t expect the latest “fad” – be it dialogic marking, growth mindsets, cognitive science, ed-tech etc (or indeed learning from sports coaching!)  – to revolutionise our students’ performance.  As successful sports coaches know, sustained improvement for both individuals and organisations usually comes from constantly trying to optimise many individual aspects of performance, and perhaps this would be a better approach for us too.

Student welfare

An essential aspect of a good sports coach is that they care more for the welfare of their athletes than for their results.  This should be too obvious to need saying.  However, throughout history coaches have adopted a “winning at all costs” approach (Weil, 2011) in which the pursuit of results has negatively affected athlete welfare.  This is not good coaching, I’m not interested in any teaching techniques these coaches may use and I would argue that they have misunderstood the very nature of sport.  However, we must recognise that the same can apply in teaching if we focus on student attainment (on which teachers and schools are measured) ahead of student welfare (which is not measured).  Good coaches and teachers are prepared to adapt their teaching to take account of student welfare.  While we trained hard, Marcus knew when to reduce the intensity of sessions or increase rest in order to maintain quality and prevent injury.  Crucially, his experience had made him a much better judge of this than I was – perhaps we as teachers are in a similar position with our students (and colleagues)?  Winning an Olympic final or achieving an A* may be good things, but not at all costs – especially if that may involve damage to anyone’s physical or mental wellbeing.  With much current concern over “lost learning” and students “catching up” after lockdowns, there is the potential for conflicts to arise between performance and welfare, and I believe the example of good sports coaching may help us as teachers to focus on our greatest priorities.

I hope some of these areas have provided some food for thought.  I am sure some readers will have had more experience of elite performance – across a range of fields – than I have, and I’d be very interested to hear any feedback you may have.  Teaching is an extremely complex learning environment, and while not everything done in elite sports coaching can – or should – be transferred, I believe there are insights we can gain from another highly developed field that has benefitted from a rather “kinder” environment in which to learn and develop.

References

Chiles, M. (2021) The Feedback Pendulum; A manifesto for enhancing feedback in education Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Limited

Christodoulou, D. (2016) Making good progress?  The future of Assessment for Learning Oxford: Oxford University Press

Ericsson, A. and Pool, R. (2016) Peak; How all of us can achieve extraordinary things London: Vintage

Fletcher-Wood, H. (2021) Focussed feedback: why less is more available online at https://improvingteaching.co.uk/2021/02/28/focused-feedback-why-less-is-more/

Hogarth, R.M. (2010) Intuition: A challenge for psychological research on decision making. Psychological Inquiry, 21(4), 338-353

Sherrington, T. (2017) The Learning Rainforest; Great Teaching in Real Classrooms Woodbridge: John Catt Educational Limited

Wiliam, D. (2011) Embedded formative assessment Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press

Willingham, D. (2004) Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Practice Makes Perfect—But Only If You Practice beyond the Point of Perfection available online at https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2004/ask-cognitive-scientist-practice-makes-perfect

Weil, T. in Volker Nolte (Ed., 2011) Rowing Faster: Serious training for serious rowers (second edition) Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics

by Maria Santos-Richmond

For the last 3 years staff wellbeing has been a priority on our School Development Plan.

Year on year it has retained its position, not because we have made little progress in this area, but to recognise that, especially with the changing climate, this is not something we can just tick a box to say, done’.  I am not saying we have all the answers, but we have adopted a few ideas, established a few working practices, and maintained a clear focus that has helped us try to take care of everyone who works in our school.  I thought I would share with you a few of the easy wins that make staff feel valued and help us remind each other, that we all need time to reflect and refresh.

The Wellbeing Group

2 1/2 years ago we established a wellbeing group that meets half termly.  This is an open forum, anyone can attend, and the agenda and minutes are posted in the staffroom for all to read.  Currently meetings are being held remotely.  The aim of the group is to share ideas for staff wellbeing, raise issues and concerns, and to consider areas for improvement.  A number of initiatives have come from this group, including the establishment of the Wellbeing Email.

The Wellbeing Email

This is a dedicated email that all members of staff can email with questions, concerns, and ideas.  It has become a forum for sharing special offers, tips and general messages of support.  We have a regular Wellbeing Wednesday message that goes out to all staff, sometimes this has practical advice, like how to avoid eye strain why teaching remotely all day, to offers, like reminding staff about teacher discounts.  All in all, it is one small way we try and stay connected.

Cake Friday

This has been a feature in our school for getting on to a decade.  Sometimes a cuppa and a piece of cake is just what you need to shake off the week’s worries before heading home.  It can be a real bonus to those in smaller faculties and has proved popular with trainees. This is one of the things we look forward to reinstating after lockdown. During lockdown we have been drawing the names of a faculty out of a hat, and the winning faculty gets the Friday treats.  We would not want to lose all chances to spread a little happiness.

Thank you cards

At SJL we have ACE cards that we send to students who have done exceptionally well.  We also have a post box in the staffroom where we are encouraged to post thank you cards to each other.  Once a month a card is drawn from the box and the winning card receives a £10 voucher.

Access to counselling

On a more serious note we ensure that our in house student counsellor is also available for staff and appointments can be made with her in strictest confidence.

These are just a few of the things we do in my school and I know there are many blogs and articles out there about wellbeing with many more exciting tips for looking after yourself or others.  However, for me, ultimately staff wellbeing comes down to the 3 Cs: Communication, Compassion and Care.

In the current climate one of the factors contributing to people’s lack of wellbeing is loss of control over their own lives.  We are told where we can and can’t go, when and where we can work or socialise and have often been left to speculate about when it will all end.  Uncertainty is a major contributor to anxiety, and although we cannot conjure up answers where there are none, we must consider what we can do to reduce the impact of this uncertainty.  School leaders are at the mercy of the ever-changing landscape and have frequently had to react overnight to government changes in policy and procedures.  One of the easiest ways to reduce staff anxiety is to keep them informed.  If staff know as soon as possible what is happening, then they can work within the parameters to make things happen.  Thankfully in the world of email, it is easy to keep staff in the loop, to let them know that a solution is on its way, and to reassure staff that we are in this together.  But effective communication must be two way.  School leaders need feedback, what is working, what needs tweaking?  We have to ask ourselves whether we are making the job of our school leaders easier by communicating openly with them?

We have always advocated the staff wellbeing survey as a way of gathering feedback.  Since January we have engaged in much shorter and more frequent surveys, often in response to new initiatives.  These have been a real benefit to the Senior team, in trying to understand where staff are at, and a real opportunity for staff to have a voice that is taken seriously.

Of course, communication goes much further than keeping your team in the loop about developments, it is also about connecting with people.  How many people have you made direct contact with during this more recent lockdown?  How do you know who is feeling happy or safe in your team?  How do you know who is coping well with the on-line learning and/or working remotely?  If you are not a team leader, do you know if anyone has checked up on how your team leader is coping?  Also worth considering, who is looking after the smaller team?  The single person department or office worker who is on their own?  If no one else has taken that role, perhaps the person to make that contact could be you.

This is also where compassion comes in.  Do not be quick to judge, we never really know what is going on with someone and in this current climate, there will be many of our colleagues touched by tragedy.  Sometimes someone might need a little leeway, as they may be dealing with things we do not know about.

At the end of the day, however your school approaches staff wellbeing, the underlying message has to be about caring for everyone.  School workers, whether teachers or support staff, are all one team, one body, and when one part of the body isn’t functioning to full capacity, we all feel the pain.  So, it makes sense to look after each other, in whatever ways we can.  Wellbeing is a minefield and we won’t always get it right, yet we all have a responsibility to contribute, no matter how small that effort might be. In the words of Mother Teresa, it may only be a drop in the ocean, but that ocean would be less without that missing drop.