Using motivation theories to

sustainably maximise outcomes in school.

Goals: to fill the spaces untouched by programs like Art and Science of teaching and Visible Learning. to engage teachers’ motivation to improve teaching using autonomy supportive approaches. To engage student’s motivation to improve learning behaviours.

Core understandings (for teachers) Motivation is an internal and personal decision but can be changed by external

factors over time. Students are individuals whose motivations are derived from all previous

experiences. Motivations may be dysfunctional, but they aren’t ‘bad’ or ‘naughty’.

Motivational factors such as prior success are all high performers in Hattie’s effect sizes.

The more ‘autonomous’ or internalised motivation is, the more effective it is in affecting sustainable behaviours.

Sincerity is necessary for good professional relationships. Motivation can be effected by environmental factors (nudges) that meet the

three needs of efficacy, relatedness, and autonomy. Efficacy , relatedness, autonomy, social maturity and emotional maturity all

interact in producing motivation. Efficacy beliefs (expectations of possibility and probability of success or failure)

in a specific context is a key driver in motivation and continued effort. Rewards and punishments (including grades and comparison) are demotivating. Autonomous supporting environments are better for motivation than controlling

environments. Ability beliefs are better for motivation than competence beliefs. (similar to

growth and fixed mindset) Learning goals are better for motivation than performance goals. Growth mindset is better for motivation than fixed. Specific efficacy beliefs eg that students are capable of success in this task or

context are more important than general beliefs such as a growth mindset.

Core understandings (for students) My brain develops when I put in effort to learn. Improvement = success, learning = success. Effort leads to improvement through learning Abilities can improve with effort Putting in effort at school is useful in later life Teachers and school support my growth Teachers do not judge, just evaluate. Learning can be enjoyable. Feedback is just useful information The work at school is designed so that I can succeed at it. What happens to me depends a lot on what I do Success (progress/learning) at school is valuable to me.

Motivation theories say that high quality motivation occurs when:Teacher relationships and classroom climate

1. Relationships of teachers and school with students is autonomy supportive, ie meeting 3 needs of autonomy, relatedness and efficacy.

2. Relationships of administrators with teachers is autonomy supportive.3. Teachers accept and work with each student’s perspective (even if they

appear dysfunctional to start with).4. Teachers are accepting of students’ responses to learning eg boredom or

disinterest, appreciating both inner and outer obstacles to motivation.5. Students perceive themselves as supported (never judged).6. Use of controlling language, where directives and words that convey control

—words such as should, must, and have to, are minimised.7. Use of autonomy supportive language, where words that convey choice,

possibility and social or empathic benefits are maximised.8. Processes, language and behaviours that respect autonomy are internalised

and systematised.9. Teachers convey a sense of invitation rather than coercion.10. Opportunities to explore and try new things without pressure are provided.11. Teachers provide structure, including clear guidelines, goals, and limits,

without a controlling attitude or approach a. Structures that minimises necessity for control.b. Structures that provide direction with flexibility and trust.c. Structures that minimise necessity for correction.

12. A meaningful rationale is provided when asking students to do something.13. Feedback is perceived as informational, not judgmental. Specific and clear

positive feedback about what was done well tends to enhance autonomous motivation.

Task/curriculum design14. Explicit improvement is clearly aligned with effort (efficacy, growth mindset)15. Classroom and task structures are designed to convey messages of

autonomy, efficacy and relatedness16. Students perceive they have real choice, particularly cognitive choice (not

just content or context) either individually or as a group. Eg instead of 3 teacher-generated options, explain the rationale of a task, ask for possible approaches and select the 3 most manageable. (autonomy)

17. Students understand the purpose of learning (value).18. Students understand the process of learning (competence).19. Students have a process for integrating feedback. (efficacy, value, cost)

20. Productive response to feedback is expected and time given for it. (competence, efficacy, value, cost)

Oversight and compliance requirements21. Teachers themselves need to experience autonomy, competence, and

relatedness in their jobs.22. Goals are focused on learning for intrinsic purposes such as:

a. contribute to society, b. be physically fit, orc. grow as a person.

23. Excessive oversight of teachers externalises and therefore limits motivation.24. Teachers have the resources and permission to attend to the (three) basic

psychological needs of students.25. Teachers and students are NOT asked to focus on outcome measures beyond

‘improvement’, and metrics are not required to be met.

Potential school environment changes/interventionsAdministrator’s mindset and beliefs• Accept that each teacher’s perceptions of their job at school is their

reality.• Clarify what you mean by a functional teacher to use as a base line for

improvement.• Meet each teacher’s needs and respectfully support them to replace

dysfunctional behaviours with more functional.• Absolutely avoid judgement of a teacher because of behaviour or

outcomes. Regard behaviours and outcomes as information to guide your next strategies.

• Be subtle in your behaviours to support sincerity and trust.• ‘Sit beside’ teachers and appreciate what they are doing rather than

praise.• Accept that assessment is for ‘discovering what students know’ rather

than ‘seeing how well they have done’.• Define (and describe) success as ‘progress’ and ‘learning’.• Accept an action research model of personal/professional

improvement.

Teacher’s mindset Accept that each student’s perceptions of their life at school is their reality. Meet student’s needs and respectfully support them to replace dysfunctional

behaviours with more functional. Be subtle in your behaviours to support sincerity and trust. ‘Sit beside’ students and appreciate what they are doing rather than praise. Clarify meaning (to oneself) of ‘pass conceded’ or C- (think functional in that

subject or situation). Assessment is for ‘discovering what students know’ rather than ‘seeing how

well they have done’. Define (and describe) success as ‘progress’ or ‘learning’.

Structure/design Create curriculum that is clearly developmental so students perceive

improvement. Monitor improvement explicitly and involve the students. (Note A – E is a poor

metric for this. Explicit learnings or learning continua are better). Use ‘NY’ in reporting (where possible) to signify not learned yet whenever

effort is being made. Keep clear separation when reporting on learning, effort, and behaviour. Build processes that allow effective monitoring and support of learning. Personalise curriculum, assessment, and learning processes. Allow interim success to contribute to final success. Design processes to reduce ‘cost’ to students where possible.

o Time – do more in school time, less at home except for enrichment or by choice.

o Emotional – be autonomy supportive, avoid judgement or criticism, help students reframe their beliefs about success and failure, give early feedback on basics, front end assessment, guarantee outcomes.

Design everything to make ALL forms of value explicit (but subtle). o Pleasure in learning – successfully solving problems, group work and

creativity, immediate real application.o Utility value

i. (long term) for the good of society, environment, personal growth, health and wellbeing.

ii. (short term) grow brain, improve chance of success in other areas, recognition of interim success.

Design tasks as problems that can be solved in multiple ways and at multiple levels.

Provide a mixture of novelty and consistency in lesson/task design. Give meaningful choice in unit design. (topic, mode, method and complexity)

Design assessment to discover what students know rather than see how they have done on what was taught.

Pedagogy Ensure clarity of outcomes, processes, requirements of a task or learning

experience. Explicitly teach core learning intentions and support students to self-monitor

success criteria. Describe and teach effort. Ensure effort is rewarded with improvement. Individualise curriculum. Actively build and maintain professional relationships. Smile and know your students as individuals. Model pleasure in discovery and learning. Avoid rewards unless they can be framed as measurement (of improvement). Avoid punishment by treating problematic behaviour as an ‘opportunity to

learn’. Explicate ‘intrinsic or socially sound goals for learning. Give constructive, informational feedback without grades (initially) and class

time to discuss or act on it. Minimise oversight and compliance but build processes that allow effective

monitoring and support of learning. Give students opportunities to ‘share’ their knowledge to ‘help’ others. Organise for easily managed early informational feedback to ensure direction

and key skills are correct. Teach about how the brain changes while learning (Paul). Use Growth mindset questionnaires. Use pre, and post-tests, and effect size (with care).

Language Mean what you say. Describe all learning as brain exercise not for future benefit or achievement. Always describe inability to do something as ‘yet’. Describe success as learning or progress. Avoid talking about ‘passing’ at all. Focus on learning and improvement. Use autonomy supportive language in all school interactions and documents. Language of appreciation is better than praise. Praise little but honestly. If you praise, praise process and effort, not intelligence or achievement. Avoid punitive, comparative, or judgmental language. Say ‘yes and’, rather than ‘not until’ to requests to imply autonomy and build

self-control and delayed gratification. Use positive language of assessment e.g. assessment is a ‘chance to get credit’

and mean it.

Using motivation theory to maximise student outcomes and wellbeing - a sustainable ‘nudge’ based pedagogical framework.

Learning behaviours: engagement, focus, performance, persistence, resilience

Outcomes – achievement. wellbeing

Teacher mindsets

Martin: Personal Best

I am able to do the work.

Language of school communications

I know what my job is

I value success at school

Putting in effort at school will be useful to me in later lifeStudent

decides(EVT)

Level and type of motivation

(SDT)

Attribution training

Attribution theory theory

What happens to me depends a lot on what I do.

Pedagogical quality

Parent supportPedagogical style

Performance vs learning goals

EQ: SWPBDweck: Mindset

Locus of control

Feedback is just useful information

Hattie: Effect size s

Teachers and schoolsupport my growth

I am not judged

Effort equates toimprovement

Learning = Improvement = success

My abilities can improve with effort

Teacher behaviours

and language

Pedagogy

Assessment designMy brain develops when I

put in effort to learn.

I enjoy learning

I value my teacher’s opinion

I can ‘do’ school

Ability vs competency beliefs

Marzano: Guaranteed and viable curriculum

Deci, Ryan: Self Determination Theory

Environmental Influences that are controllable at school.

Impacting theories/ideas

Policies, procedures.

Student mindsets

Autonomy supportive environment

School climateFlexibility and personalisation of

teachingStudent/teacher

relationships

Curriculum structure

Masters: Curriculum as continuum, assessment of what

you learn

Expectancy Value/cost

Environmental Influences not controllable at school

previous achievement, SES, family, cultural milieu

I valuelearning

Task specific beliefsSelf concept of ability

Perceptions of task difficulty

Interpretations of past eventsAttributions

ExpectanciesEfficacy beliefs, outcome expectations

Current, Future

Perceptions of socialiser’s attitudes and expectations

Goals and general self schemataCritical self schemata

Long range goalsImmediate goals

Perceived task valuesIntrinsic valueUtility value

CostAttainment value

Achievement behavioursChoice, performance, persistence, resilience

EVT

Hattie High influence activities Visible Learning p256

Gould: Task design, pedagogy, assessment characteristics

Socialisers values, beliefs and behaviours

Performance goals vs learning

goals

Ability beliefsVs

Competencebeliefs

Past performances Cultural

milieu

Broad achievement

goals and narrowtask achievement

goals

Fixed vs Growth mindset

Autonomousvs controlled environment

A growth mindset correlates strongest with learning goals

Types of motivation (modified from Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci)

Motivation is best understood as a continuum from amotivated to intrinsically motivated as in the following diagram:

Amoti

vate

dN

o ad

equa

te re

ason

to e

ngag

e

Extrinsic IntrinsicExternal regulation Introjection identification Integration

Authority Approval from others Conscious valuing of activity with goals

Complete consistency

between goals and values

Inherent satisfaction

The behaviour is maintained because it is:

demanded by threat or reward expected by others linked to future

goals

consistent with internal beliefs and

goals

consistent with basic needs and

pleasureStudents engage because

they are made tothey know parents

and/or teachers want them to

they want good results

they know it is a good thing for

them

they are interested

Effective learning behaviours, such as focus and attention, increase from left to right through the forms of motivation, with minimal in amotivation. Adopting as one’ s own, an extrinsic goal requires that one feel efficacious with respect to it. Students will more likely adopt and internalize a goal if they understand it and have the relevant skills to succeed at it. Thus, we theorize that supports for competence (e.g., offering optimal challenges and effectance-relevant feedback) facilitate internalization.Controlling contexts may yield introjected regulation if they support competence and relatedness, but only autonomy supportive contexts will yield integrated self-regulation. To fully internalize a regulation, and thus to become autonomous with respect to it, people must inwardly grasp its meaning and worth. It is these meanings that become internalized and integrated in environments that provide supports for the needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy.

Increasing sustainable value

Definitions:Ability beliefs Broad beliefs about competence in a given domain, that tend to be fixed.Achievement values Importance of doing well (integrated extrinsic), intrinsic or interest value, utility value (identified extrinsic) or usefulness of the task, and costAttributions The meaning people apply to experiences based on their internalised belief systems.Autonomous Internal to oneself, arising from the person themselves and integrated into their belief system.Autonomy-supportive approaches

Behaviours that aim to meet the three needs of students in classrooms (Efficacy, Autonomy and Relatedness), entail taking students' perspectives, acknowledging their needs and feelings, providing support when they face obstacles, and providing choice and supporting initiative where possible. In addition, positive, non-evaluative feedback that is informational rather than pressuring or performance driven, supports autonomy.

Climate The ‘feeling’ in a context such as a classroom or whole school that conveys messages or expectations.Choice In school, choice can be superficial or meaningful. Meaningful choice can have a significant impact on motivation.Competence beliefs Ability to be successful in a given task (similar to efficacy).Control beliefs The beliefs one holds about one’s power to effect outcomes. Relates to locus of control. An internal locus of control is when someone believes they are the

major effector of their outcomes eg by studying or not. An external locus of control is the opposite eg that poor performance is because the teacher is ‘bad’ etc.Controlled External to oneself, arising outside the person (eg a system or teacher or rule)Controlling approaches Behaviours such as rewards, punishments, demands, and evaluative pressures to control behaviour and to foster desired achievement outcomes.Cost (of behaviour) A general term for the time, effort and risks of behaving in a certain way. In Expectancy-Value theory, cost is weighed against expectations of success and

outcomes and the value of achieving those goals.Cultural Milieu The range of messages arising from the whole environment, media, friends, family, etcEfficacy Ability to be successful in a given task (similar to competence)Efficacy expectations (or expectancies)

Specific beliefs about whether one can effectively perform the behaviours necessary to produce the outcome (e.g., “I can practice sufficiently hard to win the next tennis match”).

Expectancies Set of expectations about potential success, outcomes or results of an action.External regulation Least autonomous. External motivators such as classic rewards and punishments widely given to control people's behaviours.Extrinsic motivation Motivations external to the behaviour or task such as reward or punishment, socially in favour or marginalised. In SDT theory, there are 4 levels of extrinsic

motivation from least (worst) to most (best) autonomous – external, introjected, identified, integrated.Fixed mindset The belief that one’s intelligence or ability is fixed at birth and can NOT improve with effort.Goal An aim that one is committed to that serves as a guide for future behaviour.Growth mindset The belief that one’s intelligence or ability can improve with effort.Internal regulation Most autonomous. Internal motivators such as personal goals, personal improvement, being of social benefit.Intrinsic motivation Motivations related to interest in the behaviour or task itself.Learning goals Seeking after new skills, knowledges or ideasMotivation The internal drive to engage in a behaviour. It can be intrinsic or extrinsic.Outcome expectations (or expectancies)

General beliefs that certain behaviours will lead to certain outcomes (e.g., the belief that practicing will improve one’s performance

Overjustification effect The effect of decreasing a person's intrinsic motivation to perform a task due to an expected external incentive such as money or prizes.Performance-approach goals Desire to demonstrate competence and outperform others.Performance-avoidance goals Desire to avoid looking incompetent.Relatedness The connection one feels towards people, places, contexts (eg school) or eventsResilience The ability to try again in the face of adversity.Socialisers People (or systems) that influence a person’s belief systems, teachers, parents, friends or schools, home-life, clubs etcValues The ‘worth’ and social importance of an outcome, or abstract, desirable end state that people strive for or aim to uphold, such as freedom, loyalty, or tradition.