What motivates students at school? Students’ motivation profile from a Self-Determination perspective

In this study, 243 upper and 29 lower secondary school students from a private school in Bologna responded to a survey measuring the students’ academic motivation, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and teacher autonomy support according to the Self-Determination Theory. The purpose was...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Laura Carlotta Foschi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2023-07-01
Series:Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://rpd.unibo.it/article/view/16679
Description
Summary:In this study, 243 upper and 29 lower secondary school students from a private school in Bologna responded to a survey measuring the students’ academic motivation, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and teacher autonomy support according to the Self-Determination Theory. The purpose was to investigate the distribution of these variables and school-level-based differences in the sample analysed. Results show that, overall, students have a high mean level of autonomous motivation and satisfaction of competence and relatedness needs. Instead, students report a medium level of teacher autonomy support and a low level of autonomy need satisfaction. The results also show a decrease in almost all motivational variables in the transition from lower to upper secondary school. These findings constitute an element of interest in orientating the learning-teaching process towards improving students’ motivation.
ISSN:1970-2221