I’m currently in Denmark where I gave the keynote address at the Innovation in Education conference.
As well the conference, I’ve been working with different schools and organisations around the concept of student (and staff) engagement.
Whilst working with the Department of Pedagogy at the University of Aarhus, one researcher told me of his study that showed that – whilst many teachers and thinkers (myself included) are suggesting students should be allowed more autonomy in education to find their passions and develop goals around their areas of interest – students report not wanting this.
These 16 and 17 year-old students reported wanting in fact needing to be directed as to what they should be doing, even as far as to what they should be passionate about!
So does this mean that those like myself who are pushing for more autonomy in schools are wrong?
You could argue yes.
But I’d suggest that this research could serve as a wake-up call.
Here we have teachers trying to engender and develop intrinsic motivation in their students, and the students are rejecting it.
What becomes of these students when they leave school.
Will they find the same support networks in the workplace or tertiary education?
My experience says no, they won’t.
Intrinsic motivation is an essential component of engagement. If we are genuine about wanting engaged students in school, then we must encourage autonomy from an early age before they become conditioned to having everything done for them.
Even their thinking.
Author: Dan Haesler, he is a teacher, consultant, and speaker at the Mental Health & Wellbeing of Young People seminars He writes for the Sydney Morning Herald and blogs at http://danhaesler.com/ and tweets at @danhaesler
Dan you raise a valid point. Many students prefer to be directed, at least in the beginning. They find it easier to be told what to do and believe ‘easier is better’. It seems as though we need to teach them how to be engaged, before we can encourage them to be engaged. Although it is tempting to point at helicopter parenting and a tendency to restrict risk taking behaviour as contributing factors, I think we also need to look closely at student’s actual skills and their perceived level of their skills. Sometimes we need to ‘teach’ engagement because students haven’t recognised they actually have the skills to perform a task – or they lack confidence in their ability to learn.
When we teach ‘how’ to learn, we give students students the tools for flexible thinking. This feeds confident learning which boosts courageous learning and encourages students to make their own choices. I guess what I’m trying to say is perhaps engagement, as with any skill, has a more progressive step by step learning path than we perceive.
So true… I work at a homeless refuge for youth aged 15-21 and I’m finding they too want their workers to do everything for them, rather than be empowered to do it for themselves. Unfortunately, many welfare agencies are supporting this very attitude. Our youth deserve better!
Agreed. Does this come back to parenting and the intial psychological stages of development? I’d be curious to look at whether intrinsic motivation is something that develops when really young children are, at times, fending for themselves. For example, when I was growing up I had so many siblings that our Mum just couldn’t give all of us attention all the time. There are photographs of me, at 3 years old, buttering my toast (very badly mind you) and doing things that I suppose many parents do for their children at that age. Sure my toast sucked, but as much as i didn’t want to have to do it, i’d eat it because it was my own. To this day, I will attempt something without guidance and if it doesn’t work, I then ask for advice :). In my practice of Youth Work (within a refuge environment), I see all the time young people who are absolutely intrisically motivated, that is they don’t wait for people to tell them what to do – they do, and then face the consequences. It’s not always helpful or healthy things they are doing, but, it was their decision and they live with the consequences. I have collegues who work within schools (in the ACT) and they tell me they are working with young people who seem to prefer to be directed. These work experiences are also leading me to consider the POWER of parenting, however one does it.