SCHOOL MOTIVATION: CAUSES, EFFECTS AND ACTIVITIES - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The school motivation is an internal process by which students feel an independent desire to learn, improve grades, increase their knowledge and generally set goals related to the educational context. It is one of the most important factors for good academic results.

The essence of motivation in any context is the presence of great energy to take action and the presence of behaviors related to achieving goals. When a student is motivated, she will not only do the minimum, but will look for a way to expand her range of action in order to achieve better results.

The study of school motivation is one of the fields of greatest concern to educational psychologists, since in most developed countries, school dropouts are growing more and more and academic results are getting worse with each generation. Due to this, there are many studies related to this topic that seek to shed light on how to increase motivation towards studies.

Today we know a multitude of factors that can influence the presence or absence of school motivation. In this article we will look at some of the most important ones, in addition to studying the effects of low levels of motivation and the most effective ways to raise it.

Causes of lack of motivation

School motivation is a complex psychological phenomenon, and as such it is not easy to point to a single factor that builds or destroys it. On the contrary, there are a multitude of causes that can lead to a student being passionate about what he does, or that, on the contrary, he has a very low motivation.

- Lack of control

One of the factors that most influence the presence of motivation is the feeling that we control our own goals, the rate at which we work on them, and the direction in which we are moving. Unfortunately, in traditional educational contexts this sense of control is practically non-existent.

In modern educational systems, students have to follow an externally imposed training itinerary, in addition to fulfilling objectives chosen by their teachers or by the center in which they study. Research shows that this greatly reduces motivation.

- Presence of reinforcements and punishments

According to the latest research in this field, there are basically two types of motivation: extrinsic (caused by factors external to the person) and intrinsic (created by internal factors). Although both can have their utility, normally the intrinsic one is much more effective when it comes to achieving goals and is maintained longer over time.

In the traditional educational context, the factor that most affects most students is the presence of reinforcements (good grades) and punishments (failures) based on their behavior. This is not very effective in creating internal school motivation, and in fact it can be an impediment for it to appear.

- Lack of applicability

Another of the most important factors for the appearance of school motivation is the presence of what is known as «significant learning». This phenomenon refers to the acquisition of knowledge or skills that may be useful for the student in their daily life, or that they can relate to their previous experiences.

Unfortunately, in traditional educational contexts it is not very common for meaningful learning to take place. This factor, added to the previous ones, causes that the majority of students do not present a great motivation or desire to learn.

Types of school motivation

Extrinsic motivation

In this case, it is intended to receive a certain external prize or perhaps avoid something, since the action is performed by expecting something from the outside, such as a prize.

For example, when the child performs a school assignment in order for teachers to give him a higher grade or reward him by letting him go to recess earlier.

Intrinsic motivation

It is about that objective that the student sets for his own feeling towards something. On this occasion, it does not depend on anything external, only the competence and a personal goal that the person sets, sometimes for personal improvement.

For example, it is that motivation that arises for a pleasure, as is the case of knowing the names of the characters in a television series. As we can see, the student does not expect a reward, he does it for his own interest.

Effects on learning

We have already seen some of the most important factors that cause the majority of students to have a low level of school motivation. But what does this really imply? Is it really so important that students feel motivated and eager to face their educational challenges?

The research on this seems to make it very clear: a lack of school motivation can cause all kinds of adverse effects on student results, as well as on their emotional state. Therefore, it is essential to improve this factor in some way.

School problems

Among other things, low school motivation largely explains phenomena such as dropouts, poor educational results, inappropriate behavior in classrooms, and comprehension difficulties. A student who is not motivated will have many problems paying attention, and as a result will not acquire the knowledge he needs.

Psychological problems

On the other hand, some experts believe that a very low school motivation can end up causing more serious problems. For some students, spending a large part of the day doing something that doesn't motivate them at all can lead to low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, rebellious attitudes, depression, and a sense of lack of control over one's life.

How to increase school motivation?

The effects of lack of school motivation can be really adverse for students who suffer from it. For this reason, in recent decades, motivation experts have tried to find ways to artificially improve this psychological factor in students.

As we have already seen, there is no single element that explains why a student has more or less motivation to study. Therefore, it is not possible to find a single solution that eliminates this problem for all students. However, some tools have been found that can help solve it at least in part.

Clear and short-term goals

On the one hand, it has been found that the presence of clearer and short-term goals in learning can help to increase the extrinsic motivation of students, which can somewhat alleviate the effects of the lack of intrinsic motivation. It is recommended that teachers make it clear what they are trying to achieve at each moment so that students feel that they have more control.

Relate content to everyday life

On the other hand, education experts recommend trying to relate the content that is studied in the classroom with the most typical concerns of students in their day-to-day lives.

This can increase the presence of significant learning, which in turn would have a very significant impact on school motivation.

Strategies to improve motivation

The teacher may find situations where he must intervene through an improvement of motivation in the students. Next, we present a series of strategies where you can work it:

- Reinforce students when they show positive behaviors.

- Give prizes for the achievement of short, medium or long term goals.

- Make classes participatory, inclusive and tolerant. The student may participate without the means to receive criticism or ridicule.

- Eliminate negative criticism towards others from the dialogue in group work.

- Use group work as a means for everyone to collaborate equally.

- Evaluate positively the relationship of the members of the groups and the characteristics of each one, strengthening their good work.

- Analyze the causes of possible failures and fortunate successes.

- Attribute significance to all learning, since meaningful learning implies faster learning.

- Adapt learning to all levels, without forgetting those lower levels, as they are the ones that require more attention and increased motivation.

- Use the use of decision-making, facilitating the autonomy of students and group work.

- Use dialogue as the main tool in the classroom, as it is the best technique to increase motivation as well as self-esteem.

References

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2. "Motivation in Education: What it Takes to Motivate Our Kids" in: Positive Psychology. Retrieved on: April 12, 2020 from Positive Psychology: positivepsychology.com.
3. "A fresh way of looking at Motivation in schools" in: Humanutopia. Retrieved on: April 12, 2020 from Humanutopia: humanutopia.com.
4. "Motivating students" in: Teach. Retrieved on: April 12, 2020 from Teach: teach.com.
5. "8 Factors that Affect Students' Motivation in Education" in: Built By Me. Retrieved on: April 12, 2020 from Built By Me: builtbyme.com.