Objectives and Theoretical Framework
Current trends suggest that high school student motivation is at an all-time low (Statistics Canada, 2002) and empirical work reports that teachers feel underprepared to deal with this crisis (Turner, Christensen, & Meyer, 2010). At the same time there is increasing pressure for schools and teachers to produce intrinsically motivated learners who display creativity and innovation, skills linked to success in the knowledge economy (Kalantzis et al., 2003). Why do students appear so unmotivated? Research from the area of achievement motivation suggests a host of intuitive school-based reasons why students’ motivation may decline over time including, but certainly not limited to difficult or easy schoolwork, overly demanding teachers, more compelling non-academic activities, or simply a lack of interest (Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000). Some of these factors have received much empirical investigation (e.g., interest) and others remain primarily speculative. Wanting to look at the opinions of those who interact with students regularly, we sought to investigate pre-service and in-service teachers’ perceptions of threats to student motivation.
Numerous ways to think about motivation exist; on a macro level, one could consider Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs (1943) as a global approach …show more content…
Of the 39 in-service teachers surveyed, 28 were female and 11 were male with a median age of 28, ranging between 25-56 years. In total, they averaged 8 years experience with all but two in-service teachers not working in Canada. Although provinces differ in their classifications of elementary, junior, and high school grade categories, it appears that nearly half of the in-service respondents taught grades 7 and/or higher and about 25% of the pre-service teachers intend to teach secondary
Current trends suggest that high school student motivation is at an all-time low (Statistics Canada, 2002) and empirical work reports that teachers feel underprepared to deal with this crisis (Turner, Christensen, & Meyer, 2010). At the same time there is increasing pressure for schools and teachers to produce intrinsically motivated learners who display creativity and innovation, skills linked to success in the knowledge economy (Kalantzis et al., 2003). Why do students appear so unmotivated? Research from the area of achievement motivation suggests a host of intuitive school-based reasons why students’ motivation may decline over time including, but certainly not limited to difficult or easy schoolwork, overly demanding teachers, more compelling non-academic activities, or simply a lack of interest (Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000). Some of these factors have received much empirical investigation (e.g., interest) and others remain primarily speculative. Wanting to look at the opinions of those who interact with students regularly, we sought to investigate pre-service and in-service teachers’ perceptions of threats to student motivation.
Numerous ways to think about motivation exist; on a macro level, one could consider Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs (1943) as a global approach …show more content…
Of the 39 in-service teachers surveyed, 28 were female and 11 were male with a median age of 28, ranging between 25-56 years. In total, they averaged 8 years experience with all but two in-service teachers not working in Canada. Although provinces differ in their classifications of elementary, junior, and high school grade categories, it appears that nearly half of the in-service respondents taught grades 7 and/or higher and about 25% of the pre-service teachers intend to teach secondary